As I look out my office window, the skies over Phoenix are clearer than they have been for a majority of the month. Winter in Phoenix is ending. Winter? Yes, our idea of Winter in Phoenix is overcast days filled with wind gusts and, sometimes, rain. Rain has been abundant this month, what with the total rainfall of the month being half of what we usually receive in an entire year! It's not quite over. The local meteorologists predict that it will rain Sunday and Monday (yes, that would be Superbowl Sunday hosted here in the Valley of the Sun). Other than that, the stormy weather has almost passed. The remainder of our storms will begin in the first part of July, with the arrival of the freakish weather from the annual monsoon.
Comparable to this past month's weather, my January writing goals have created a similar type of unexpected turns. I'm not sure why it is, but I tend to change gears with certain goals throughout the month. It's not that I'm accomplishing nothing whatsoever. Rather, other ideas seem to branch from the goals at hand and I take off with them! As a writer, it would be stupid not to run with an idea for a new story if the inspiration is there.
Although, I did get a quite a few things accomplished.
I revamped my official website. I changed the look completely and made it more user friendly. It makes it easier for me to update on a regular basis! On the Contests/Promotions web page, I began a promotion for readers to win a hardcover, autographed copy of my upcoming novel, Nightfall. It's kind of cool if you're into the MySpace crowd and want to learn more about the main character of the novel (Stefan Powell).
Writing wise, my short story I'll Be Home For Christmas ranked thirteen out of seventy-three stories (for category Short Story Horror) in the 2007 P&E Reader's Poll. I finalized a short story, entitled Jailed, and submitted it to Apex Digest for publishing consideration. I wrote and finalized a new short story, Puppeteer, and will be submitting it to a magazine this week (I'm not sure which one quite yet). And, I'm almost done with the final edits of my story A Cub's Tail. As for my stories Dead Asphalt and Being Human, I was informed by Amazon Shorts (to which I was going to submit both) that they were currently not accepting submissions. I may keep these two for the short story collection I am currently working on.
As always, for more specific information on the status of any of my writing goals, you can read previous posts from that month.
January was definitely a creative month for me in the short story department!
For February, I'll be focusing on a lot of promotion and marketing. My writing goals for February are as follows:
1) Final edit of A Cub's Tail (short story) and submission to Velvet Mafia
2) Submission of Puppeteer (short story) to a yet-to-be-determined publication
3) Promotion and buzz for Nightfall (novel), including release announcement
4) Organizing Much of Madness, More of Sin (short story collection) for submission
As always, check back to my LiveJournal or MySpace blog entries for announcements and how I am progressing.
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andrew_wolter- Andrew Wolter
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