This morning started with a rain shower. It has been raining a lot over the past two weeks and it seems it is not letting up yet. The garden is soaked.
It is the first day of 2025 and I am going to take that as permission to write about my writerly intentions for the coming year. But first a bit of background.
Background to my writing life
I have always wanted to be a writer. Or at least a creator of stories in some kind. As high school kid I wanted to direct movies. I eventually studied theatre in my late thirties and have directed a number of plays.
I committed to dedicate myself to writing novels in 2004. It has been a rocky road and I only managed to complete my first full novel last year in 2024. People say you should never publish your first novel but I don’t like to listen to good advice.
I have dabbled more than focused in my writing journey. I have deliberately and obstinately refused business advice on how to make a success of writing as an indie career. I have come to the end of a grace period and I can no longer treat it as a mere hobby.
Which brings me to my intentions for 2025
2025 Fiction Writing Focus
With one novel completed I have basic proof of concept. I can start and finish a long form piece of fiction. But I have yet to prove that I can sell such after I have published it, and making an income from it is a distant mirage.
- I will work this year to find and connect with possible readers of my stories. For this I have created a short story as gift (lead magnet) for newsletter subscribers. The story is in the final stages of editing and should be available early next week.
- I intend to send out a newsletter with one free short story every three months. Newsletter subscribers can therefore expect a free story at the end of March, June, September, and for Christmas.
- All these stories plus the new novels I will write this year will be in a shared military fantasy universe. I am still developing the world but lets for the moment say that it is a collage of the sorcery part of classic sword & sorcery with and secondary world at war, drawing elements from multiple historical wars from the 1900 to 1945.
- I intend to complete the story of The Seventh Kill as a standalone trilogy to be written and then published later in the year. Most of the planning and plotting for this have been done.
- I intend to slowly and systematically revise and publish all the novels I have written but did not manage to complete. At least all of them for which substantial drafts have been written. This will be a multi-year project.
January 2025 Writing Goals
What my readers can look forward to in this particular month are the following:
- The release of A Fading Memory as a gift to newsletter subscribers. A Fading Memory is a short story in the military fantasy series world Warden of Harrow. – Expected release 8 January 2025.
- The release of a completely revised and edited Abruptly. Abruptly is a collection of short stories I published in 2021. The volume has gained no traction so far and I hope to change its fortunes with a new cover (an image of the old cover is below) and a marketing drive.
- Weekly updates here on my blog on my progress on all my writing projects.
In short, 2025 is the year where I make the change of writing only for myself and my own satisfaction, to writing stories that would delight, engage, and enthrall my readers.
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