So today is Dec 22, 2017.

Useful as a tracking mechanism because I have a target word count each year I try to hit. That’s what gets my lazy ass up at 4AM every weekday, so I can be in the kitchen at the office at 515AM, eat my breakfast, suck down some coffee, read my comics, pay my bills, and then write for 90-120 minutes without anyone around.

The last couple of years, my targets have been modest, compared to some of the lunatics I know that turn out over a million words. 400,000 and 409,000. This year, the goal was 420,000. Blew through that in early December and kept going. (I like modest, beatable goals.)

Just now, I finished what is probably the last story I will write this year. Lovely little story set in a dark, cyberpunk future as part of a project next fall. Added the final count to my spreadsheet and realized I had hit my secondary target: 450,166 for 2017.

Yay!!!

I have a lot of editing to do at this point, so I’ll pick up odd words here and there. Every month I stop whatever major project I’m doing and write something “short.” Sometimes, that’s actually a short story. Occasionally, it goes a wee bit longer and turns into a novella. Got several of them to fix.

My goal is to publish at least one new something on the tenth of every month. My eventual goal, sixty years from now, is to die with three years worth of material queued up in the hopper for one of my great-great-grandkids to oversee publishing. Remember, my IP will continue to generate revenue for seventy years (as of today) after I die, so either the heirs can keep collecting it, or they can sell it off to a small publishing house to handle.

Don’t care. They will have gotten taken care of financially. Hopefully well enough to fund their kids and grandkids to to grand and stupid things.

So, 2017 in sort of review of what I wrote each month:

• Jan – The Pleasure Dome – Javier 4
• Feb – Shorts
  • – Daoma Dan/Jocelyn – Stand Up (Origin/Issue 1)
  • – ANPS-1: The Last Ranger
  • – ANPS-2: The Maiden
  • – ANPS-3: Forty-Niner
  • – ANPS-4: Posse
  • – ANPS-5: Refuge
• Mar – The Doomsday Vault – Javier 5
  • – The Bryce Connection – Javier 9a
• Apr – The Last Flagship – Javier 6
  • – Rocketman – Eva 3
• May – Rocketman – Eva 3
  • – The Hammerfield Gambit – Javier 7
• Jun – The Hammerfield Gambit – Javier 7
  • – Expectations (Thorgerd)
  • – Labyrinth – Dan & Stewey 1
  • – The Hammerfield Payoff – Javier 8
• Jul – The Hammerfield Payoff – Javier 8
  • – Labyrinth – Dan and Stewey 1
  • – The Red Admiral – Jessica 6
• Aug – The Red Admiral – Jessica 6
  • – Backwards on the Way – Akahana 2
• Sep – The Red Admiral – Jessica 6
  • – Last Leaf Falling – Lansdowne 1
• Oct – The Red Admiral – Jessica 6
  • – Gray Hack – Carl & Deke
• Nov – The Red Admiral – Jessica 6
  • – Can’t Shoot Straight Gang – Handsome Rob 1
• Dec – B4B: Three Act Dramatic Structure
  • – Dancer – Kumiko 1

As you can see, lots of stuff I haven’t talked about yet. Most of it will have come out by this time next year. The Red Admiral (Jessica 6) went out to first readers Monday this week. Should got to Canadian Copy-editor Babe(tm) early next year. Target delivery date May 10, 2018. All the Javier is now out, except I have started working on #9, which will actually be a small collection of short stories that sets up Season Two. My goal is to knock those bit out as my monthly projects early in 2018, so I can put out another Science Officer book late in the year.

Planning to start on the next Jessica soonish. Lord of Winter. Book #7 of 9. Tentative target date of December 2018, but don’t know yet. The Red Admiral took longer than I expected to finish, but it’s also 135,000 words right now, and I’ll probably top 140k when the edits come in.

Another Business For Breakfast book at some point. And lots of short stories for various projects and to expand things. Two of them above are new storylines in the Alexandria Station Universe, as I get a chance to start filling in the holes in my monstrous timeline spreadsheet. (Jessica Keller will be born in 13,405 CE, to give you some approximation. Javier Aritza will be born in 7510 CE.)

The year has been good. Sales have picked up some, so I’m on track, but they still aren’t sufficient for me to just walk entirely away from having a day-job. (Tell more of your friends about me, okay?)

Health is good. Fabulous Publisher Babe(tm) has completely altered her diet over the year and suddenly doesn’t have migraines all the time. The farm is in good shape, as we complete what she calls “The Cottage” in my front yard. (She will never live with me, but she will spend more time around me if there is a place handy where I’m not breathing her air.)

Reviews/Reponses from readers has been interesting. I’m always saddened when people bitch that $2.99 is too much for a Science Officer book, but probably have no problem dropping $5 on a Starbucks. I need to make a living here. Can’t do it giving everything away. And when you walk into the bookstore, how much does the new thriller cost you? Hopefully $5.99 for a novel is within their expectations, as I plan on dropping two Jessicas next year, plus whatever else I can get done.

Support from other quarters has been good. I love getting emails and notes from fan telling me how much their appreciate my writing and my characters. I love storytelling, so people who like my tales keep me warm. Might have picked up a new fan-turned-first-reader who is really good at picking up things the others (including me) miss.

Past that, I have a good life. Hopefully, you have found the bright things that put a smile on your face, as well.

My your holidays be festive and filled with joy.

shade and sweet water,

bd

West of the Mountains, WA