End of Year, Updates, Announcements, and a Look Ahead

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Hello and welcome to the end of 2023. I, for one, am happy to see it go. It's been a complicated year in both my personal and professional lives. The biggest change for me is that I have left my second job (by choice), and while I'll still be working full time, I won't be quite as overwhelmed as I was. It's a bit of a financial hit, but one I can (thankfully) afford. It'll be a big step for my mental health and will let me focus more on my writing.

Speaking of which, I am making my resolutions and plans for 2024 and it's looking like it's going to be a bigger year, writing-wise for me. Ready for a sneak peek?

Indie Ink Awards Judging: Trying something new

First up: I have been accepted as a Judge for the Indie Ink Awards! I have never judged a writing contest before and the Indie Ink Awards seem like a good one. They are supportive of diversity and a better future. Also, as a growing indie writer myself, I am happy to support these awards and get to read some awesome books.

Novels:

One reason I've written fewer shorts this year (other than the 2 jobs issue), is because I've been focusing on my longer fiction. My first novel, Lookout Point, a haunted small town murder mystery is complete and I'm polishing up my query letters to start sending out after the holidays. I'm very proud of my little book and if it gets picked up and all goes well, I've got plans to expand it into a 4 (maybe 5) book series of ghostly mysteries all taking place in my fictional town, River Falls, Ontario.

Not only will I be submitting Lookout Point, but I'm going to be taking this new free time and spend it writing even more. I've set myself a rigorous, but achievable writing schedule and plan to draft not only book 2 of my River Falls mysteries, but also a complete draft of a stand-alone thriller I've been wanting to write for a long time.

Ambitious, I know, but both of these books are eating me up inside and I can't hold them off any longer.

Short Fiction:

2023 has been a bit of a publishing dry spell for me. A lot of that is because I only sub'd 4 short stories this year, and none were selected. I do have one more out, so fingers crossed. In 2024, I intend to step up my short story writing again a bit (though I will be prioritizing my novels). I want to get back into flash fiction, and I've already taken the first steps by entering the NYC Midnight 250-word flash fiction contest. Round 1 is complete and the results come out in February. Wish me luck!

I'm also looking to step up my short story writing game by embarking on a little project. My TBR has become overloaded with short fiction and I'm going to be focusing on reading short fiction next year and blogging about it (details to come in the new year).

Other writing:

I'll be continuing to write reviews and articles for The Horror Tree throughout the year and at some point, I'll hit 100 reviews (since I started counting) there and on this blog, so I'm going to do something special for that.

 

 I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year and I'll see you all in 2024!


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