Every year Steve and I check the progress we made on the goals of the current year. This year there are a whole lot of “Goal Cancelled Due to Plague” as I’m sure is the case for others who made goals on January 1 only to see them burned up in 2020’s inferno of challenges. But for all that, the year remained a good one for productivity.

We received the exciting news that two of our gaming articles will be part of an upcoming Kickstarter. I’ll let folks know when they post the Kickstarter in January. Our gaming supplement that represented a good chunk of our time in 2020 should be coming out mid-2021. Steve has a new book coming out in 2021. The Micronomicon with our micro-setting is getting very close to complete. John David Payne sent out a Holiday Sample on Christmas and I can tell you that the page layout is gorgeous. The book includes fun micro-fiction in addition to the RPG rules. It’s a quality product all the way through. I can’t wait to hold it in my hands.

Lightning Scarred and Other Stories, my first book, should be out in the early part of January, 2021. (Yes, I am slow-walking this one for reasons known only to my perfectionistic critical voice.) In addition, one of my short stories that was accepted this year will be published in the Spring of 2021. Next year will explode with publications from us, but all of the work for these was done this year and last year.

I expect to finish the first draft of the novel I’m working on by January 15. After that I will make revisions and start on the next one. I’d hoped to finish it by December 23, but found that challenging and had to go back and figure out the structure of the second half of the book.

The biggest accomplishment of 2020 was finishing the 52 Stories in 52 Weeks challenge. I’m proud that I did this and take inspiration from it when I am down.

The highlight of the year was attending Superstars Writing Seminars. The quality of the programming and the quality of the people are incomparable. The February 2021 conference is cancelled due to Covid, but I am looking forward to 2022. Meanwhile I hope to be a better person and writer by the time I get there again.

I am debating what I will do for a challenge in the upcoming year. It’s going to be a tough year. First because of Covid, which we do not expect to be fully eradicated in 2021. Second we have a lot to get done in a variety of channels in our lives. If all goes well, we will have set ourselves up for success in 2022-2025. But 2021 bridges that with a lot of everyday things that won’t come together until later. We will be doing a great deal of fixing, learning, and making the raw ingredients of our future life. So the theme for 2021 is our Bridge Year.

Those are the most important things we can do in 2021. Within those constraints, I hope to continue submitting short stories (one a month, at least). Finish two novels that I feel comfortable showing people. And write a story a month for an anthology to help me learn to deal with the fear of doing that.

I hope that you are relaxing as the we torch 2020. Join me at the bonfire and tell me your exciting plans for 2021.

Be well, friends!