Wednesday, 10 January 2024

#53 That Didn't Go Well + Whats in a Writing Goal?

Happy Blog Day Everyone!

This weeks marks the first full year of the blog, so I decided to thrash the 4th wall for the Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz. I also discuss my writing goals for this year...Well I attempt to!

Let's get started shall we?

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz



Hope no one was expecting anything fancy for an anniversary issue from these two. I was too amused with the idea of a Ask Me Anything going horribly wrong. Didn't quite get the result I wanted but hopefully the thought of me getting bitten by Riz will make up for the lack of quality!

From this point though, onwards and upwards!

What's in a Writing Goal? ... Or What I'm Probably Not Going To Achieve!

So a year has come and gone, and I have to face towards another year of writing. What do I hope to achieve this year? What are my goals? These have been my thoughts the past week.

I could say a lot about what I hope to write this year, all the short stories and full blown novels. I would love to see then all published as well. However, there is a flip side to all this and that's the feeling of when I look back on December 31st and reflect on everything that I didn't accomplish. This is something I've done yearly. Every year I'm consumed by the guilt when I wind up achieving next to nothing. 2023 is no exception as I'd hoped to have had several books on shelves, most notably War of the Fae, carrying on the story from A Boy and A Rat.

That's not to say I'm unhappy with what I did achieve (Stories in all 3 Malarkey's Imaginomnibus collections, story in HDP 13, the 2nd collected volume of Brennan and Riz stories) but I know I could have done more if I pushed myself. Then again, that was part of the issue. Look at what happened a scant couple of months ago with Nanowrimo. Won't repeat myself here, but yeah...Could have gone a lot better.

To this end, I need to have a rethink on the goals I set myself. Yes, it's good to aim high, but if what I want is next to impossible to grasp, then all I'm doing is feeding my depression with more proof that I'm worthless. No, what I need to do is think realistically and not set any hard limits in place. 

For instance, one thing that I'd really like to get done this year is to finally finish the Brennan and Riz Redcar story (I've talked about it before, but long story short, I made a mess of the earlier drafts). Ive pondered about it enough, but I think I can sort out now.

Something else I can sort out? Avalon Tales. No, I've not given up on it yet. There is a story waiting to come out there and I'll tell it. It may mean abandoning the word limit I set myself, or even the Novella style, but I think I can set things straight with it.

Another thing I'd like to do? Write War of the Fae, regardless if it'll ever see print or not. I owe it to the few people who bothered to read A Boy and A Rat.

There's other things I'd like to write of course, more short stories here and there, and Daemon Soul of course. That's where this blog enters the picture as I hope to start producing original short stories for this blog again. Have an idea for some already.

Notice how I've not mentioned publishing in these goals? That's because I think that's where my downfall lies. I was set to self publish Daemon Soul till I started enquiring about costs, an editor alone would sadly bankrupt me. I could forge ahead without one but I reckon my chances of success that way are slim to none. My writing isn't the cleanest and needs checking over, thoroughly.

While those goals may look meager to some, I think, that for ms, they're appropriate. Will I achieve them though? Well, we'll just have to wait and see on that!

Till next time,

Keep on writing!

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Fade to Noir

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Hubble Bubble

Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 13

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