My Writing Year: A Look Back And A Look Forward

The year 2020 is gone, and I'm sure none of us are sad to see it go. Hopefully 2021 holds out more promise with vaccines and the chance to live our lives fully once again. Here in Madrid we had worse lockdowns than most, but that didn't affect my writing. In fact it helped, because I had fewer distractions. Nothing like writing to stave off boredom and cabin fever!

This was a good writing year for me. My ghostwriting career has taken off with a great new client, the return of an old one, and the regulars staying with me. Demand for ebooks has gone up massively this year and because of that I'm getting more work than ever before. The sales on my own books rose as well. It's never been a better time to be an indie writer.

While my income has risen, my word count is almost the same as 2019. I set myself an annual goal of a million words. I've never made that goal, but having a tough goal makes me work harder. I got 947,000 words written in 2020. Not bad but still well shy of the million mark. I'll make it some year!

I also reached the milestone of writing my 50th novel. I'm now hard at work on numbers 52 and 53. There's no secret to this. I just keep plugging away every day and the novels pile up. I know a lot of writers who have written far more than I have.

The increased demands of my ghostwriting career has meant that I haven't gotten as many of my own books out in 2020 as I would have liked. At least I added a fourth book to the Masked Man of Cairo series, The Case of the Karnak Killer. I also added a short story collection to the Toxic World series, Tales from the Toxic World.

Both series will see new novels in 2021. I'm also researching a new mystery series set in the Weimar era, and have various other projects in the works. You can check my progress in the right-hand column of this blog and stay in touch via my newsletter.

I hope you all are staying well through this pandemic. I've gotten off easy, not having lost any loved ones or my job. So many others have it worse. Stay safe and get vaccinated as soon as you can!

Thoughts on Writing 50 Novels

 Last week I hit a milestone in my writing career—I handed in my 50^th novel. Novel #51 is in edits.

 

While it’s only a number, it did feel like an achievement. I came to writing late, when I was 30, so I’ve only had two decades of writing so far in my career. While that makes me feel like I’m always playing catch-up, it makes me work pretty hard too. I started out in journalism and moved into nonfiction books and professional blogging back when that was a thing. I dabbled in fiction writing during that time but only seven years ago did I get serious about writing novels and it became my bread and butter.

 

The majority of my novels have been written as a ghostwriter for various publishers and individual clients. While I have more than a dozen novels out under my own name, they do not sell enough to be my sole income. Instead, they act as a CV for my ghostwriting work, which fills out my income nicely.

 

So how do I feel about having written so many novels? Satisfied, I suppose, but putting it in perspective it isn’t all that big of a deal. One of my good friends is a contract attorney. He’s worked on more than 50 cases. The research, writing of briefs, consultation with clients, and court time must surely equal the amount of work that goes into a novel.

 

I also have a friend who is a dedicated long-distance runner. He’s run more than 50 marathons. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather write the novels!

 

These two people have a work ethic. They work continuously at law or running and over the years their achievements pile up. Having come to writing late, I’ve always looked at it as a job, and put in proper work hours. After all this time, the words have added up, and I didn’t even have to ruin my knees or go to law school to do it.

 

Besides satisfaction, I also feel grateful to all of you for reading my stuff. Without readers, a writer isn’t going to have much of a career. So thanks. I really do appreciate it.

 

See you later. I’m busy writing novels #52 and 53!

My Writing Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

Well, it's that time of the year again when everyone starts making resolutions, so here goes.

First off, let's look at what happened with my writing in 2018. I came out with four books under my own name. Right at the beginning of the year, Kindle Press published the first in my Masked Man of Cairo mystery series, The Case of the Purloined Pyramid. This was the book that won the Kindle Scout contest in 2017. Thanks once again to all of you who supported my campaign. Amazon also bought the rights to put that book on Prime, which has really helped sales for that book and the second in the series, The Case of the Shifting Sarcophagus.

I also started a new mystery series, this one set in 1950s Morocco. The first book is called Tangier Bank Heist. I closed out the year with a nonfiction book called Writing Secrets of the World's Most Prolific Authors.

So four books under my own name in a year. Not bad, but I want to ramp it up in 2019. The problem is that I am a ghostwriter as well, working for a few different clients writing novels in several genres. It's fun, it keeps me eating and traveling, but of course it takes up time and energy.

So my main writing focus this year is to carve out more time for my own books. I decided to write 1,000 words a day of my own fiction this year. I quickly revised that resolution to 7,000 words a week. You see, life happens, and there will be days where I won't get to around to writing my own stuff because of illness, travel, family stuff, or looming deadlines for my clients. You can follow my progress on various projects on the right-hand column of this blog.

It also reflects how I write. Since being a ghostwriter means I'm working on two and sometimes even three novels at the same time, I tend to write in clumps. I'll do 3,000 words for Novel A, then set it aside for a couple of days while I work on Novel B and revise Novel C. This helps keep forward momentum. When I need to stop and think what to do next in one novel, I can work on another while my subconscious works it out.

My other resolution is to study more about marketing. This has always been my weak spot and I spent a fair amount of time studying marketing and putting techniques into practice in 2018. In 2019 I'll be doing that even more.

I'll also try to blog at least once a week here, and update my author's Facebook page three times a week. Facebook seems to be the way most readers prefer to contact me, so I'll keep you all entertained with updates on my work and travels, as well as interesting archaeology news. I'll also try to come out with six issues of my newsletter, a free publication that includes a travel piece, a short story, and a coupon for one of my books with every issue.

It's going to be a busy year and that's the way I like it!

Update on my Books

Things are pretty busy here at the fiction factory. First off, the print edition of The Case of the Purloined Pyramid is finally out. Also, the Kindle edition is only $1.99 all this month in the Amazon US store.

I should have had the print edition out a while ago but I've been buried in ghostwriting assignments. I just finished one for a client that turns out to be my 52nd book-length project, 40 of which are novels. I finished it on Sunday and took Monday off. I needed a break!

Next up is another ghostwriting project, plus a mystery under my own name set in Tangier during the International Zone era just after World War Two. Yes, I'm going back to Tangier for ten days to write it next month. Should be fun!

Then summer will be right around the corner, time to finish up the next Toxic World book plus a nonfiction book I'm writing on the writing habits prolific authors. No, I'm not one of those yet. To be covered in my book, and author has to have written at least 300 books. I may never reach that level!

My Writing in 2017 and Looking Forward to 2018

Happy New Year! Well, at least if you use the Gregorian calendar like I do. It's been a busy year and I'm looking forward to an even busier one in 2018.
At the beginning of the year I set myself the challenge of writing a million words a year. I counted words the same way I did in 2016: fiction, nonfiction, and blogging all count. I also included editing at a ratio of 10:1, so editing 10,000 words counts as writing 1,000. I rounded down to the nearest 250 words.
So how did I do? I got to 927,000 words, up from 900,750 in 2016. So I missed my goal, but still had my best writing year to date. I'll be trying for the million mark again this year. We'll see how that goes.
Despite it being my best year, I was not entirely happy with my output. Much of it was ghostwriting, and while that certainly helped my bank account, it meant that no new titles came out under my name in 2017, a first in more than a decade. I also ended up in a higher income bracket and the taxman really nailed me.
I did have some successes. My neo-pulp mystery novel, The Case of the Purloined Pyramid, won the Kindle Scout program and got a contract with Kindle Press. The ebook edition comes out January 9 and the print edition later this month. I also got more than a third of the way through the next in the series, The Case of the Shifting Sarcophagus.
This year I'm making a concerted effort to work on more of my fiction. This will mean saying no to some ghostwriting offers, but I think it's best for my long-term career. Sales of my own books fell off sharply in 2017 because I wasn't bringing out more stuff, and that needs to change. In this new publishing world, visibility is the key. So, besides a million words for this year, here are some more resolutions I'll try to stick to:
Writing 1,000 words a day of my own fiction.
Writing a short story every month (more on that later).
Pitching a nonfiction article every month.
Getting more of my back list out in print, and sprucing up things like metatags and blurbs.
It's going to be a busy year!
If you're a writer, artist, or other creative type, how did your past year go? What are you plans for this one? Tell us in the comments section!

My Writing Year: A Look Back and a Look Forward

So here we are at the start of another year. Time to look back at what we've accomplished in the past 365 days and what's coming up.

All through 2016, I've been keeping a running tally of my word count, including fiction, nonfiction, and blogging. I also include editing, at a ratio of 10:1, so editing 10,000 words counts as writing 1,000. While this is the first year I've kept track of my word count, I'm sure this is my most prolific year so far. I ended up with 900,750 words, an average of 17,322 words a week. While this sounds impressive, writing is my day job. There are plenty of professional writers who blow my word count out of the water. James Reasoner has written a million words a year for the past 12 years. No wonder he has 344 novels under his belt. I'm downright lazy by comparison!

The first of my novels to come out this year is the one I'm most proud of. The Last Hotel Room was picked up by Kindle Press. It's about the Syrian refugee crisis, and as I promised during my Kindle Scout campaign I donated $500 to Doctors Without Borders for their excellent work on the ground in Syrian refugee camps. Thanks for your support! I'll be donating a portion of my royalties too once I pay though my advance.

That same month I also released Warpath into Sonora, a Western from the Apache point of view. It's my first Western unless you count my Missouri Civil War novels.

On a related note, Osprey Publishing also came out with my Apache Warrior vs US Cavalryman, part of their Combat series that takes a grunt's-eye view of conflict from both sides. This is the seventh book I've written for them. You can see all my Osprey titles here.

The bulk of my work has been ghostwriting. I've ghostwritten five novels and a short story this year, plus the bulk of a sixth novel. You can read more about this aspect of my career in a post I did for Black Gate.

So what's in store for 2017? I want to hit a million words this year! I already have two ghostwriting contracts lined up, plus a bunch of my own books. You can keep track of my progress with the word count bars on the right side of this blog.

If you're a writer, artist, or other creative type, how did your past year go? What are you plans for this one? Tell us in the comments section!

Happy 2017!

Coming Up For Air

I've been a bit slack on the blogging for the past six weeks. That's because I've had a lot going on, including releasing my Tangier novel, a Western, and doing a lot of ghostwriting assignments.

I just handed in my latest novel for a ghostwriting client and now things are calming down a bit. My next two deadlines aren't so close, so I can ease up and get back to writing Emergency Transmission, the fourth in my Toxic World series. I haven't worked on the thing for almost two months and so I'm going to be looking at the first half with a fresh set of eyes, cycling through it before adding more to the text. I'll also be blogging more. It's good to be back!

If you want to learn more about ghostwriting, I recently blogged over at Black Gate about my ghostwriting career.


Photo courtesy United States Marine Corps. It shows Staff Sgt. Bo Miller during Marine Corps Water Survival Training. Bo has a harder work day than I do so I really should stop whining.