What? 2019 already? Yep, I’m planning ahead.

So, here’s the state of play. I’ve written four unpublished books (two have been submitted to agents). I’ve also done three short stories (two of which have been published). This has happened over more years than I’m really comfortable with.

That’s why a post I recently read by J.D. Moyer gave me pause. During 2016 he went all in, producing a short story nearly every month and aiming to keep them all out for submission.

I want to do that in 2019. The last couple of years have been about writing and editing entire books. Months of work going into one or two projects. Producing something in a month (or less) feels pretty refreshing. Short stories are tricky because many publishers don’t like you submitting to multiple places at once. But having a handful to submit all year round negates that. And I really want to up the number of submissions I do.

With all this in mind, my goal is to do twelve short stories next year. No genre will be out of bounds. If I have an idea, and I can make it work, I’ll do it. And as for submissions, between those twelve stories and my latest book, I think a rough target of 100 submissions is doable.