Counting Stories

    In talking with a friend, I decided to do a quick count on what I've sold in the past 2 years. There's a definite progression which I chalk up to not working and having people push me to do stuff.

    The last half of 2012 saw 2 short story sales ["Madame" & "Perfection"]. Both stories features Henri and his axe, Madame. I've got another story written, but it didn't fit the current assassins call, so it's just waiting for a chance. This year [2014] saw some world building around Henri as I tried to envision his world. Nothing too crazy or serious yet, but I've got a good grip on his setting and that opens up even more stories.

    2013 showed a spike with 6 sales ["Broken Horn", "GRONK!", "The Flowering Princess of Dreams", "The Tamer of Beasts", "The Dank", and "Knife's Edge"] and the birth of my urban fantasy world. Five of the six stories can be tied to this theme. I have many plans for this, some of which have come to fruition in 2014. I'm not racking in the $$'s, but my name's out there and showing a small amount of dividends.

    2014 exploded with 8 confirmed sales. There's a couple of sequels [Attack of the GRONKlings!, Bride of GRONK!, MegaGRONK!], some urban fantasy [The Crew, A Measure of Air, The Handmaiden's Touch], and a few new ones [The Last Hero, Granny's Hood]. I'm really happy about how this year is progressing and I've got six out for calls and three more short stories in process. No rest for the wicked.

    I've been setting goals for myself each month and working to hit them. Last month was to write 500 words a day, every day. That didn't happen, as I failed to write anything on 13 of those days, though my average ended up at 623 words/day. Not terrible, but not every day. That's the key, write every day. This month is down four days due to a pinched nerve in my foot and moving, but the average is up. It's getting that habit down. Every single day. Write.

September, Do you remember?

    A song by Earth, Wind, & Fire from the 70's. It shows up on my Pandora feed from time to time and makes me pause to enjoy the music for a moment. That's my old man moment for the month. This is going to be a short post as I've got things brewing that I can't announce quite yet, but hopefully in the next week or two.

    Last month was a busy one and I came out okay but not fantastic. The last week of the month involved an inflamed tendon that messed with my getting around and made it hard to write. Ended with just over 19k words over 11 stories, about half being started projects that didn't get finished up until September.

    This month saw me finish up "The Handmaiden's Touch", "Oakai", and "Frozen in Stone" for calls leaving two short stories in process. "Broodlings" & a yet unnamed one about Scarecrows. The later is stalled out as I'm not 100% sure where to go with it. Still got six weeks to finish it up, so there's time left.

    I've managed ~14,200 words and I suspect that will swell to close to 30k by the end of the month.