Overall, 2013 was a productive year for me though I missed a number of goals and opportunities. In 2012 I wrote between 100,000 and 150,000 words (estimating). This year I have 209,000 approximately, out of a 400,000 goal. So not bad, but definite room for improvement. I produced two new e-book titles, out of a goal of 25 new titles — disappointing of course, but those two titles were big practice, and helped me get through my publishing fears/anxieties.
My most productive months were January and February. I wrote and finished an untitled Tales from the Square novella, likely in January though it seems like years ago when I wrote it. A number of short stories were written in that time, but I don’t remember any of them (one of my quirks is I tend to forget what I write). It’ll be interesting going back through my files at some point.
May was also productive, which is around the time I wrote another TftS novella. That one is unfinished, unfortunately. I plugged along with constant writing over the summer, coming to a near halt in September. In October I started up my Dare to be Bad challenge with a serious push to follow Heinlein’s Rules — only two completed and published stories have resulted from that. In November I wrote about 18,000 words of a TftS novel, which I still vow to complete (though maybe at my own pace).
I wrote countless stories throughout the year, many of them don’t even have titles, a good number aren’t finished.
What do I have going for 2014?
Yet again, my word count goal will be 400,000 — but I will be more focused on production instead of sheer words. My official goal on Forward Motion is 18 new titles indie published, though I hope to do closer to 25. If I stick to my Dare to be Bad challenge, I should be able to hit my goal. No sweat 🙂
I plan to release more Spare Parts titles (short stories, collections, and hopefully at least one novel), as well as TftS titles (including the backlog on that series). I’ve considered lately revisiting my Vicki Meyers character (maybe call that series Backwards Psychic, or some such). I have short stories on the way for the Endless Gateways project. And of course, there shall be flash fiction.
I also plan on revisiting my erotica stories… I have a few of those that need endings, some are ready to go, a few are a little more than character/scene sketches. All of that will appear under a separate pen name, if I publish them at all.
I will start up my own small press business in the new year. A number of reasons for this — namely taxes, accounting, and to increase my odds of selling print books in small independent bookstores. This is a long term project and likely won’t look like much in the first few years (at least to the casual observer). More news on this will come out as I finalize stuff.
I’ve also started up my LiveJournal again. I’ll be reviewing books I read — what I liked, what annoyed me, what works for me as a reader. Won’t likely review every book I read, but at least one essay a week or so. Having a lot of fun with this so far.
2014 will be a blast!
Got a lot of new work ahead of me and I can’t wait to start a fresh slate. The last few months of this year was a lot of ups and downs for me as a writer, but I pulled through and accomplished a number of little victories. So here’s the next year.
Happy new year’s, folks. 🙂
David Anthony Brown 
Happy 2014! And hey, any new titles out ain’t nothin’ to sniff at! I applaud you on that. I see the Challenge Stories on the sidebar, but wonder if there’s a way for you to link to the downloady bits? It never hurts to make it easier to get to (I say mostly because I’m an extremely link-happy person).
It sounds like you have some great goals for 2014, and I wish you all the best!
Happy to 2014 to you too! I’ve thought about how to add links to sidebar pics, I agree it would make it easier… just haven’t figured it out yet. And the lazies got in the way, but that’s a different story.
Best to you and thanks for stopping by 🙂