Things to Accomplish in 2010

I'm going to keep this list pretty short, and limit it to writing projects.

1) I've been working on a long SF story I want to turn into an e-book for quite some time. For some reason, back in the summer, I ran out of gas on it. I think the problem actually is that I started taking Concerta around the same time, and the adjustment to that has not been so easy. In short, I am usually plenty alert in the evenings, and the cottony feeling in my head is almost entirely a thing of the past. But by evening it just makes me more alert while I fritter away time. Still, it was very close to being finished when I last worked on it, and I need to put it in the priority list and work on it when my focus is there. If I can't get anywhere on it in the next few months, before my next Alternate View is due, then I'm seriously going to have to consider going off Concerta, or giving up writing.

2) I started a sequel to Dykstra's War a few years ago, but I didn't follow up with it. I couldn't make up my mind if I should just work on it as a book, or try making the first chapter a stand alone short story/novelette. I also wondered if it would sell, but at least it is a book I want to write, rather than just a book to write because that is what writers do. I'm not into writing for gobs of money; I'm into it for fun. But it is different to write stories and have fans than it is to just put down your thoughts in a blog or in postings on Facebook. I'm sure somewhere or other I could publish it in e-form, but I'd really enjoy seeing it as a serial in Analog.

3) I want to sell a short story to Analog this year. It has been too long since I've done that, and I need to discipline myself to work in that form again. I was popular when I was selling short stories--my early work always scored high in the end of year "best of" voting. And frankly, I miss it. Analog has readers now who have never read one of my short stories, and I need to change that.

4) Some of my professional relationships need to be worked on. I can't let my differences of opinion with some of my Sigma colleagues, frankly, get me so ticked off. I might run into them at a con. There's an e-book editor I still very much want to work with, and I plan to send the story mentioned in point 1 to her first. I still think of her as a friend, but, well, I don't know what she thinks. I don't doubt her professionalism; I know my work would get a fair read from her. I guess I'll leave this one in the realm of "something to be sorted out next year," along with all the other unresolved things (not just writing) left over from 2009.