Still Here, But With A Few New Years Resolutions

Been a while since I blogged, hasn't it?

A lot has been happening in real life. Had to deal with a cough that wouldn't go away. Had family visiting for Thanksgiving. Had projects to finish at work, then my work schedule picked up a bit. I had plans to settle down and work on some writing this past week, but a friend of mine I met online passed away (and he was only 33 years old) and it was tough for met to focus on some of the writing projects I wanted to do. And this week, I'm preparing to go home for Christmas.

The good news is that I got a lot of feedback from several people on my novel draft, some of it regarding the whole draft and some regarding a few chapters, and now I'm at the point where I believe the time has come to do that final polish (although I plan to get a little more feedback from somebody on a couple more chapters) and start thinking about the next step: Preparing query letters and pitches and finding an agent.

I have other things planned for the coming year, which you might say are my New Year's resolutions. I want to become a paid member of the Kansas Writer's Association and I need to think about getting my own website going. But another resolution I want to make is that I want to get this blog updated more often.

My plan is to do updates every Sunday morning, starting with the new year. That's a time I'm usually doing laundry and should be able to sit down and write something. And while I've tried to keep this focused on writing topics, I've realized that sometimes you aren't going to have something on your mind about that. Sometimes you just need to blog about whatever happens to cross your mind at that point. (The exception: NFL football, which I write about for Thin Air).

So that's what I'm planning on doing once the new year begins. In the meantime, I hope to get myself focused again on the other writing projects I do (you can learn about that, and the website Thin Air, right here) and get some of the chapters of my planned novel polished. I started on that first draft back in April 2015, so January will mark 10 months from the point I started this process of writing, revising, researching and reaching out to more people.

With any luck, I'll have something more to share with you on this blog on a weekly basis. And for those who have followed me on Twitter, I hope to pop on a little more often than I have been (I have two accounts, but the other one I use focuses more on my work and sports-related thoughts).

Also, I asked for an Amazon Fire tablet for Christmas, so maybe I'll even get a chance to check out more writings from independent authors. I know a lot of them have followed me on Twitter and I do want to learn more about what they are up to.

As for my own novel, with any luck, it might get to the point where I'm not just talking about my draft any more.

All the best to everyone this holiday season, whatever it is you celebrate, and be safe.