I’m on a mission. It’s the same mission every writer is on, always, for pretty much their entire lives, but this year’s potential feels different and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s that I’m getting older, and while barring any shenanigans I should still have several solid decades ahead of me, I am more than 1/3 of the way through my life even employing the most optimistic math. Maybe it’s that I had some small success in 2023 that made me really want to build on the momentum. Maybe I’m just tired of waiting for the “perfect time” to buckle down and focus on my writing. I have two young kids, a busy career, and zero free time. Perfection simply isn’t happening.

So, this year I intend to make as many mistakes as I can. I’m going to submit to a couple different writing competitions in the next few months. I’m busy finalizing my children’s book manuscript, which I then intend to shop out to several agents I have researched in the hopes that traditional publishing might be for me. I’ve already decided that if traditional (or hybrid) children’s book publishing doesn’t seem to be in the cards, I’ll start looking into hiring an independent illustrator and figuring out how to navigate the self-publishing world. I also plan to continue working on my horror short-story-hopefully-turned-novel, aiming to have a manuscript by the end of this year that I can work on getting out into the world in 2025.

I’m going to get rejected a million different ways this year, and that’s perfectly fine, because as Neil Gaiman said…it means I’m doing something.

All the same, wish me luck!