2026 Goals

I've been setting writing and publication goals for a few years but I've never made them public before. This year, I'm putting them out into the world...because I don't put enough pressure on myself, I guess :)

• Repackage three existing novellas (Weekend Getaway, In the Glastenbury Woods, Of Men and Monsters) with a new novella or novelette and release as a collection. I've taken the rights back on the three existing novellas and am about 11K words into the new one. Looking for a summer release.

• Publish Still Floating : 40 Years of Pennywise. This has a firm release date of September 15th to coincide with the publication of the original novel (September 15, 1986).

• Publish Eternal Darkness II: Bloodlines, along with the rerelease of the Eternal Darkness. I'm close with both of these, hoping for next month (February).

• Publish my second short story collection. I have enough stories for a couple new collections. I'll be putting one out this summer and one in 2027.

• Pitch my untitled German Shapeshifter novel (currently at just under 100K words) to agents.

• Publish my untitled "zombie virus" novel. This has been sitting at about 90% complete for a while. Looking for a late 2026 release.

• Finish the third installment of the Hopedale Mystery Series. This is sort of a stretch goal, it will be the end of 2026 if I can get it done.

• Publish six original short stories in anthologies/magazines.

• Complete my non-fiction "haunted roadtrip" book. This is a sort of travel log/memoir about all the spooky places Sheila and I have visited over the last several years.

• Word count goal: 200,000 words.

Last year I attended 20 conventions/writing events. I'm hoping to do even more this year.

In addition to writing, running has always been a passion of mine. I've completed nine marathons as well as numerous half-marathons, 10K races and 5K races. This year (this month, in fact) I'm trying my first ultra-marathon at the tender age of 62. It's the "shortest" of the ultra distances at 50K (~31 miles). What makes it more challenging is it's a trail run with an elevation gain of about 4900 feet. I did the half-marathon last year and it's a very tough course with steep inclines and a lot of soft sand. I'll be doing a lot of walking and it's going to take a long time. The only competition is myself. I just want to finish.

So, that's my year!