2021

Most of my time over the past couple of years has been spent in fictional worlds, which might sound peculiar but has for me, been a blessing. As an author I’ve found it easier than many people to accept national and international travel restrictions. Late in the year I fitted in trips up to Scotland and across to Amsterdam. In both cases I witnessed a different real world from before Covid 19.

I started my writing year as usual, with targets. Four new titles was always going to be ambitious, but without ambition, there’s little point in setting goals. Next Steps: and other stories, Sylvia: Beyond the Apocalypse, Codename: Foxglove, and Crusader were all in the line-up. Of those, only Crusader remains a Work in Progress.

What else filled my time?

A challenge I’d set myself was to produce my mainstream titles in paperback, which created a lot of work. The task was accomplished. A secondary job was to publish my short stories in paperback but not include tales from my anthologies which had been submitted by guest authors.

To cut a long story short, if you’ll pardon the pun, I had eighty tales which I mixed to produce four volumes of twenty short stories. My aim here was multi-faceted:

– produce books which were value for money for readers.

– an approximately equal word count.

– a mix of genre but without erotica.

– all my own work.

Did I maintain any other author interests?

As always, I filled in many hours reading, reviewing, beta-reading for fellow members of the IASD, and mentoring a couple of aspiring authors.

Apart from those things, I offered my services to my pseudonym. For her part, she produced five new titles. Her books are slightly shorter than mine but have plenty of action, albeit for a different taste. Five may sound like a lot, but they are written over a longer time period because most are based on notes and short story ideas from over the years.

Do I believe I’ve had a productive writing year?

Yes, I do, and as we all look forward to 2022, I’m content with the titles I have planned. One of next year’s stories is Selena: Sea Nymph, my first attempt at sci-fi paranormal fantasy. The first five chapters are available for reading and comments in my Work in Progress menu.

I already know how most of my author’s year will be spent in 2022, and 2023, so I’ll drop a hint with my New Writing Year blog in January 2022.

Comments and suggestions are welcome as always, and thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

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What could be better than a new year and a new start?

I’m aiming for four new starts and they are on an equal footing as I get underway. Let’s see what the line-up offers. The first is a collection of short stories, for which I have writing prompts as my inspiration. The second is a vigilante who is the new face of summary justice in a world that my readers know well. The third is a spinoff to tell an unusual single character’s story. The fourth may not have any background material, but he’s as real to me as the next person who walks down the street.

Next Steps is an invitation anthology of short stories. For this collection, I requested any authors in the Indie Author Support and Discussion group (IASD) to supply me with a writing prompt. The prompt was to be a dialogue between no more than two characters and to be no more than thirty words. I will write six short stories (attributing the prompts appropriately). The authors themselves will submit one or more short stories, and their website links for inclusion in the anthology.

Codename: Foxglove is a crime thriller sequel to Codename: Nightshade. It means, of course, that Rachel Donoghue will be back on the scene. This story will see the development of Dominique McEwan (Foxglove) who was introduced in Nightshade’s story. Members of the original Beyond The Law team will make appearances, and so too will secondary characters from the Nightshade tale.

Sylvia: Beyond the Apocalypse is a spinoff from Light at The End, my popular, zombie-free, post-apocalypse trilogy. When my foray into a refreshed world captured the imagination of readers and produced good reviews, I knew I’d have to tell this character’s story.

Crusader is a crime thriller. The inspiration for the main character and the story came from one of the tales in my latest anthology, Shadow: and other stories. I like Jason already and I have written the first chapter. The lead character will no doubt have a few ideas too.

Is there anything else on the cards?

I’ll be reading regularly, just as all authors should, and I’ll be reviewing. I expect to be beta reading for members of the IASD.

Does my pseudonym have any new titles being uncovered in 2021?

Yes, a story was started early last year but due to being written piece-meal in the background, it became unwieldy. When the final draft is completed it will be broken at a logical point and published as a two-part tale.

If you’d like to see how my three new novels are shaping up, the first chapter is available for each on the WIP menu.

And now, without further ado, let’s get this literary year underway.

Tom