Here are some random, end-of-the-year ramblings for a busy and blurry 2018.

I have the resolutions and goals I always make around this time. They’re important because I keep them front and center throughout the year, even when I know they’re merely wishful thinking. I have a lot of fiction on my 2019 list of goals.

I’m excited for the release of American Omens. It’s the first work of fiction I’ve had published in a few years. My expectations are modest simply because I know the market and I understand how difficult it is for books to sell. I’m proud of this story, and believe it’s both strong enough to stand on its own as well as to be the starting point of a 12-book series.

Goals? Completely rewriting Persona, a book I spent a lot of 2009 working on. Writing a second book in the American Omens series. And writing Bloodline, the next book in the Solitary Tales.

Excited to see the collaborations I’ve worked on released, whether I’m listed as a cowriter or ghostwriter. To me they feel like the same thing. Right now I have four different books scheduled to be published. Each one has been a lot of work but has a beautiful story attached to it.
I can’t wait to finalize certain projects that have fallen outside of my normal, traditional writing jobs. The ones that carry too much ambiguity, too many loose ends that never get cut off.

Every book project, major or minor, is an opportunity to learn. The process of working with someone on a memoir involves many things. It’s not simply a matter of helping with the writing itself. It truly is about coming alongside someone and helping them find the core story of their life. Each person is different, and everybody works in different ways, so as a writer, you have to be flexible and you have to be able to adjust accordingly.

I have the same goal I’ve had for several years: update my website and get better at marketing. When you’re buried with writing projects, updating a website or working on marketing aren’t big priorities. I enter 2019 once again striving to get with the program when it comes to marketing and PR stuff.

The idea for doing a Patreon is circling around my head. I might try this in a way to better stay connected to my loyal and diehard fans. It might be fun to create a community like this, one that’s a little more intimate than open-aired posts online like blogs and social media.

Hoping to get out more to do some booksignings and speaking events. I always enjoy those. Again, I don’t get to do those as much when I’m crazy with deadlines.

There are two works of fiction that I have finished that need editing. Perhaps one or both might see the light of day in 2019. I’d publish these myself. One is Midnight, my 120,000-word poetic ghost story that I love. And that maybe 12 others might love, too. The other is a collection of short stories and novellas that are all unreleased that I’d like to put together in a collection fittingly enough called B-Sides. Again, we’ll see on that. I have about ten pieces for this so far.

I enter the new year with very little in my tank, but with a heart full of hope and gratitude for this writing world I’m in. Hoping for God to continue to open doors and give me words to glorify Him in a variety of ways!

Happy New Year!