Samie Foster's Blog - Posts Tagged "2024"
Got a Lot of Writing Goals for 2024....And I’m Probably Not Gonna Hit Most of Them. But Darn It! I’m Gonna Try.
Hello all. Happy 2024! It’s a new year. Woohoo! And wow! And after getting so little done in 2023, that I am ready to make up for it in 2024! Or at least attempt to. Because let’s be honest. I am one very scattered brained person with only so much time and way too many goals. But darn it! I’m gonna try!
So what are the goals for the upcoming year? The main one is to get Rainy Day Hotel out. That is my number one priority. I really want to finish polishing the final draft and get it out on KDP for others to read. I also want to continue to clean up a couple of older books I self-published a few years ago. Then I plan to advertise my novellas and short stories more to make sales. (I made almost nothing last year.) I’m gonna try to promote through multiple social media sites, get involved in writing communities again, maybe try some new in person stuff and possibly experiment with making book trailers/possible audio drama with sketches and audio material, I have from my editing process. I sketch a lot, and I read everything out loud while polishing the final draft. I always record the narration just I in case it turns out well enough for such a project. But those are my standard goals, rolling over from last year. I also want to do so much more.
What about everything else? Well, I cleaned up my home office during the holiday break, and I currently have seven half written short stories, four episodic short story projects (one of which I started the other night) and one really big half written novel. Yes. I am that crazy person with physical notebooks of half written stories laying around everywhere, But I do intend to finish some of these. The rest might be abandoned. Who knows? We’ll see what happens. I also have a story of the episodic Alice project that needs to be reworked. (The Alice project is a short story series where each tale focuses on a different woman named Alice who navigates a dark Wonderland) It was reviewed okay a while ago, but was missing something according to most critics, and I think I know a way to expand it, and make the story stronger. Since this particular tale deals so much with mental health, revenge, and crawling out of a spiral of madness, it needs this other part to make it whole.
And that’s all the fun stuff I want to do Because I love writing. It is the best part. Even if most of it does not see the light of day, it’s just a joy to create these worlds. But sadly, for it to see the light of day, there is all that stuff that feels like work.
So what is the work plan after Rainy Day Hotel? All my short stories have been progressively getting longer. All the works that are on my computer currently are novella (or very close to novella) length, except for one and I think that one is gonna need some reworking. So they all are gonna require a lot work. So at the moment for what I’m gonna edit for publication next, I’m thinking of tackling a scifi story called Grey Matter or a one of my dark fantasy horrors The Curse of Kiera White or The Witches in the Castle. I’m sure it’s gonna be one of these three. Rainy Day Hotel is kinda of a tragic horror tale, and these are more fun. And I want to edit something more fun. Also, if I manage to get that Alice story expanded and reworked, I really will try to get that out there in self publication as well. But it all boils down to how much time I have.
So that is the absolute chaotic plan for 2024. It’s gonna be scattered brained craziness where I bounce around projects while marketing my stuff and trying to squeeze this all around my day job and life somehow. I guess that’s the joy of self publishing. Especially when you write a lot of different stuff. Sometimes I wish traditional publishing wasn’t a cocktail of the waiting game and rejection letters. But this is somehow better I think because I still tend to get stuff out there for people to read on Kindle faster than a collection would take to be considered, accepted, and released through the publication process. I just need to work harder at actually selling my stuff.
As the year goes on, I’ll continue to update you all about the journey. Will the next Alice story finally come out? What is Rainy Day Hotel’s release date? What projects will be abandoned? What do I finally choose to put through the editing process next? Will I find the courage to do some sort of in person marketing? These questions will be answered in the future.
With all that said, happy new year everyone! I hope your 2024 is off to a new start, and I hope that good things are coming your way.
P.S. I also apologize for the radio silence here. 2023 was a crazy year for me personally. I'm gonna get better at blogging throughout the new year, and improve my social media presence this year where I don't disappear for months at a time.
So what are the goals for the upcoming year? The main one is to get Rainy Day Hotel out. That is my number one priority. I really want to finish polishing the final draft and get it out on KDP for others to read. I also want to continue to clean up a couple of older books I self-published a few years ago. Then I plan to advertise my novellas and short stories more to make sales. (I made almost nothing last year.) I’m gonna try to promote through multiple social media sites, get involved in writing communities again, maybe try some new in person stuff and possibly experiment with making book trailers/possible audio drama with sketches and audio material, I have from my editing process. I sketch a lot, and I read everything out loud while polishing the final draft. I always record the narration just I in case it turns out well enough for such a project. But those are my standard goals, rolling over from last year. I also want to do so much more.
What about everything else? Well, I cleaned up my home office during the holiday break, and I currently have seven half written short stories, four episodic short story projects (one of which I started the other night) and one really big half written novel. Yes. I am that crazy person with physical notebooks of half written stories laying around everywhere, But I do intend to finish some of these. The rest might be abandoned. Who knows? We’ll see what happens. I also have a story of the episodic Alice project that needs to be reworked. (The Alice project is a short story series where each tale focuses on a different woman named Alice who navigates a dark Wonderland) It was reviewed okay a while ago, but was missing something according to most critics, and I think I know a way to expand it, and make the story stronger. Since this particular tale deals so much with mental health, revenge, and crawling out of a spiral of madness, it needs this other part to make it whole.
And that’s all the fun stuff I want to do Because I love writing. It is the best part. Even if most of it does not see the light of day, it’s just a joy to create these worlds. But sadly, for it to see the light of day, there is all that stuff that feels like work.
So what is the work plan after Rainy Day Hotel? All my short stories have been progressively getting longer. All the works that are on my computer currently are novella (or very close to novella) length, except for one and I think that one is gonna need some reworking. So they all are gonna require a lot work. So at the moment for what I’m gonna edit for publication next, I’m thinking of tackling a scifi story called Grey Matter or a one of my dark fantasy horrors The Curse of Kiera White or The Witches in the Castle. I’m sure it’s gonna be one of these three. Rainy Day Hotel is kinda of a tragic horror tale, and these are more fun. And I want to edit something more fun. Also, if I manage to get that Alice story expanded and reworked, I really will try to get that out there in self publication as well. But it all boils down to how much time I have.
So that is the absolute chaotic plan for 2024. It’s gonna be scattered brained craziness where I bounce around projects while marketing my stuff and trying to squeeze this all around my day job and life somehow. I guess that’s the joy of self publishing. Especially when you write a lot of different stuff. Sometimes I wish traditional publishing wasn’t a cocktail of the waiting game and rejection letters. But this is somehow better I think because I still tend to get stuff out there for people to read on Kindle faster than a collection would take to be considered, accepted, and released through the publication process. I just need to work harder at actually selling my stuff.
As the year goes on, I’ll continue to update you all about the journey. Will the next Alice story finally come out? What is Rainy Day Hotel’s release date? What projects will be abandoned? What do I finally choose to put through the editing process next? Will I find the courage to do some sort of in person marketing? These questions will be answered in the future.
With all that said, happy new year everyone! I hope your 2024 is off to a new start, and I hope that good things are coming your way.
P.S. I also apologize for the radio silence here. 2023 was a crazy year for me personally. I'm gonna get better at blogging throughout the new year, and improve my social media presence this year where I don't disappear for months at a time.
