2015 was another mundane year for me. My new purchases were a water heater and a furnace, and a slew of medical bills for my family. My highlights are starting this website and continuing my podcast, Meeple Nation, past the year mark. I invest a ton of time into my family, but I also tend to waste time doing things that aren’t going to get me where I want to go. So, for 2016, I’m going to do things a little differently. This year, I’m going to invest in myself.
This year I’m going to get my writing published in some form one way or the other.
- Start a comic book. I even have the first 6 scripts written. I need to find an artist to partner with, or I need to find some capital to invest in the art.
- Enter a screenplay into the Nicohls fellowship contest. I have a draft of the script. I need to make it the best I can in the next few months. The early deadline is March 2.
- Enter the Writers of the Future Contest every quarter until I win it. That is 4 short stories a year. The next deadline is March 31. I already have a draft of the story I will submit.
- Attend as many writing conferences as I can fit into my schedule. This first will be Life the Universe and Everything Symposium in February.
- Send out 5 queries and/or submissions every week.
- Write every day, including updating this website regularly.
- Make it happen!
So far, I’m off to a great start. I entered a short story into the 1st quarter of the Writer’s of the Future contest on Dec 31. The story is about a pop starlet who wakes up from cryosleep 300 years after the fall of civilization to find the last boy on earth and his unstable mother. I like how it turned out.
So this year, I’m going to do more, do it better, and enjoy the process. New Year–New rules.
My new life rules for 2016:
- Invest in myself.
- Write as much as I can.
- Put my writing out into the world.
- Enjoy the process