Writing in 2024

Results, Goals, and Plans for the future

Harlan Ellison, prolific short story writer and fantasist

Results from the Sprint Challenge:

The Sprint to 2024 Challenge helped me learn a ton about my work habits and showed me what I could accomplish despite adversity. Regardless of power outages, heavy rain, daycare closures, two jobs, sleepless nights with a toddler, holidays, and family obligations, I pushed through and kept coming back to my writing. Though I wish I churned out more work, I’m glad I did this sprint.

With that said, I have one short story, Hot Blooded, ready to go. It will be published in Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry (P3) Magazine this Friday, January 5th. You can subscribe below to receive the story in your inbox upon release:

Writing Goals for 2024:

The theme of this year is to stretch my current abilities as a storyteller. 2023 was all about practice. 2024 is about publishing. Having learned the publishing process from writing, cover design, formating, and uploading to D2D and KDP, I’ve learned a way to streamline the process and have plans to publish more books this year. I want to challenge myself by publishing as many works of fiction as I can. While short fiction is my chosen medium, I want to challenge myself with long-form work as well by writing novellas and novels this year.

To accomplish this, I’ve set the following criteria for myself:

• Write at least 2,500 words a day

• Write and publish 150 short stories in 2024

I have enjoyed reporting how many words I produced to readers of this newsletter. Having a regular place to report on my progress was key to my growth and helped me identify some areas for improvement. I want to keep this going into 2024.Every Friday, I’ll send out a short report on my word count. One the same day, I will publish at least one story in the P3 magazine. My reading/ study will continue and I may include those in my weekly recaps.

Ultimately, the theme of this year is to push myself both in skill and production to see what I can handle. There will be setbacks, of course. Things can get messy and life always has a way to throw in a few surprises. Regardless, my stretch goals have been set and I’m ready to get started.

My passion for storytelling, short fiction, pulp writers, pulp history, and this newsletter come from a place of love and desire to create since I was a little kid. I feel confident I’m on the right path and hope you’ll join me on this journey of becoming a pulp writer.

‘Till next time.

“His need for hunger and love satisfied, man then seeks to create, being fashioned in the image of God; and if he can make his creative work supply his needs, if he can make his imagination pay his bills, he is in the seventh heaven.”

H. Bedford-Jones