Looking Ahead...

Been reading this over and over before posting because it's looking more and more like one of those "this is what I'd like to happen in 2014" style posts, which it's most definitely not (last time I did one of those, I spectacularly failed to achieve anything on that list). I guess this is more of a list of stuff I'm going to do (or try to), and also something I can look back on and hold myself accountable if I slip off the path during the year.

So...

Don't Fall Down The Endless Well Of Creative Jealousy

This is easier said than done, to be honest. I took some time away from Twitter after Christmas and it did me the world of good to just...be away from the endless rat race of self-promotion and anger, but I ended up having to jump back in earlier this week to a chorus of endless self-promotion, anger and late-to-the-party end of year lists that are virtually identical (really, wouldn't it be easier to just copy and paste one list across all the blogs on the internet?). I'm trying not to slip back down that well, because it's just a waste of energy that I could be putting to better use elsewhere. I know my options on this whole writing malarky are limited (finances and ever rising costs of...everything make it ridiculously difficult to get to cons and network), so I have to use what resources I do have in a much smarter way, and that means using social media effectively and not falling into piques of creative jealousy because someone got a good review or is sending vague tweets about projects that may or may not come together. Which leads me into this...

Be Honest With Myself

During the promotional trail for Babble, I often found myself wondering if I was being too honest in interviews, but the more I look back at that, the more I realise that it was probably a good thing. For me, anyway. Your mileage may vary, and all that. Being brutally honest about things is something I could've done with a long time ago, but never really had the balls to do it (hey, I'm human! I prefer the nice lie to the truth). But, it also means accepting simple facts, like maybe there is no massive conspiracy to keep my writing under wraps and away from the public, but rather that piece I had rejected just, y'know, wasn't all that good or maybe it genuinely wasn't what they were looking for. Even though that kind of honesty is pretty difficult to swallow, it can become incredibly liberating, if you're prepared to let it. So, fuck yeah, honesty.

Write Moar!

In 2013, I did, roughly, 150 pages of comic script, which isn't actually a lot (I'm not including the prose and copy I wrote last year, though). Barring a miracle, at least two of those things probably won't see the light of day now, while one has had to be shelved for the time being and three are in limbo until I hear back on queries I put out last year. And, as for the stuff I had published in 2013... Pretty much all of it was written in  2011/2012. Which is a long winded way of saying I'm going to try and write more than 150 pages this year. And a lot more prose... I've already got one short story waiting to be proofread/edited (if I can find someone willing to do it) and an idea for a novella... Well, OK, I say idea, but in reality, it's an outline and a first chapter that's waiting to be joined by the rest of its compadres.

And I'm going to enjoy it. I know there's the whole myth around writers being tortured souls who have to extract every word with great effort through a whiskey fueled haze and hate every minute of it, but that is, frankly, bullshit. It can be a pain in the arse, without doubt, but more often than not - for me - it's a whole heap of fun. I've seen it said - by someone on the internets - that if you like writing, you aren't a real writer, which means I ain't one, I guess.

Ah, well.

Blog Moar!

I neglected the blog for a good chunk of last year, and it's something I'm going to rectify this year (I mean, I'm paying for the domain name, so I might as well put the blog it's attached to to some use). I'm finding it a great way to work things out (and, as I said at the top of this post hold myself accountable when I don't do things), which kind of makes me glad it's got so few readers...

Make Me Some Money

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!

Maybe in 2015. If I'm lucky.

Try And Get Some Of My Existing Work In Front Of Editors

Easier said than done, this one... But, I do actually have a pretty extensive back catalogue of short comic stories under my belt. I guess it's all about choosing the best ones and then trying to find an editor or three who'd be interested in reading them.

And, I guess that's enough for now. I mean, they're vaguely achievable goals, right? Or, at the very least, they're things I can actually get done.

I hope...