Hi all,

I think it’s been quite a while since I blogged, which is strange considering I used to blog here three times a week (at least). If you cast your minds way back to April, I started and failed a weekly outline of my routine. Really, I just got bored of it. I felt uncomfortable talking about myself and my routine, which may come as a surprise to some. I’m actually quite a private person, and I like to keep things that way.

Anyway, I wanted to hit a reset button. Inspired by one of my personal writing idols, Dean Wesley Smith, I figured it’s time to hit the reset button. Truth be told, I’ve just been dwindling along with the writing these last few weeks. Sure, I’ve been writing, but it’s been pretty low daily amounts. And I find myself just getting bored too easily.

Time for some new challenges.

I sat down after today’s writing session and figured out what I could do, both with my fiction and with my blog. Because I’ve had a very successful year with both. In fiction, I’ve released two seasons of Dead Days, as well as four novels. I’ve got two novels launching in October (more on that in a minute), and a few others in the pipeline. So yes, a very prolific year.

And the blog does well too. I get a lot of hits, a lot of people click out of it and go on to read my stuff. So thanks for that.

But I still think I can do even better with both. So here’s how it’s going to go.

1.) I will publish twelve books in the next year.

Yes, you read that right.

Truth is, I write a lot. I do it 9 til 5, every day. When I’m not writing, I’m rewriting, editing, revising, polishing. So I’ve no excuses not to be putting out work on a regular basis.

So starting 1st October, I want to publish a novel every single month.

Full disclosure: I’m cheating a little bit here. I already have three novels ready written over the last year to publish in October and November. And I’ve got a few other books planned out, mapped out and ready to write–even partly drafted in some cases–so that takes the total to about seven. Still a hefty challenge, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Two of those books ready and professionally edited to launch next month are the very first books in the new Blake Dent series. Yes — the first two books, called Bubblegum Smoothie and Cucumber Coolie, will both be launching early October.

On the same day.

Don’t say I never treat you.

Here’s the amazing covers, designed by Cormar Covers, who also did the McDone books, The Hunger and Sinkers.

Amazing, right?

Seriously, these are two of the best covers of all my works. And I have some damn good covers, so that’s saying something.

I’ll talk more soon about Bubblegum Smoothie and Cucumber Coolie, the first two books in the satirical mystery/thriller Blake Dent series. So dark, so entertaining.

Anyway, back on to the point — I want to publish twelve novels in a year. That sounds loads. And it is. But if I break that down into smaller goals, it becomes much more manageable. Helps that I already have three written, too. Of course, I’ll have to allow time for rewrites, editing, things like that. But I’ll work it out. It’s part of the challenge. Part of the enjoyment.

Hope you’ll join me for the journey!

2.) I will write a blog post every day for a year on the topics of writing and publishing.

I get a lot of emails asking for my regular publishing blogs back. I kind of went on hiatus from that back in January or something, but I always said never say never about returning.

Well, it looks like now’s the time.

To challenge myself to stay motivated and talk about the things I’m passionate about, I will publish a daily blog post on the topics of writing and publishing. This could be anything from my views on a TV show I’m watching, commentary on big publishing events, writing craft advice. Or even just repostings of blogs I find very helpful, if I’m feeling lazy one day.

I want to bring some structure back to this blog. For me, it’s something I’ve failed on this last year. But I don’t get down about failure. I use it to inspire new goals.

So a daily blog for the next year. How’s that sound?

What if I fail?

The chances of failure are highly likely.

Twelve books in a year is a lot. And it’s not accounting for illnesses or holidays, anything like that. There’s a chance I’ll encounter editorial delays, or need to do more work on some books than others.

As for the blog, no doubt some days I’ll just be too tired. Have nothing to say.

But still, by setting a high bar, there will be no shame in failure.

Say I do miss a few months. Let’s say I miss a quarter of the year of releases for some reason or another. That’s still nine books over a twelve month period.

And then I’ll challenge myself to do ten the following year.

As for the blog–sure, maybe I’ll miss a day here and there. But I’ll feel guilty about it, and I’ll come back on here for that reason to post simply because I don’t want to let myself–or others–down.

So there’s my two goals. They start now, and they end on September 26th 2015.

Twelve books.

A blog post a day.

The ultimate goals: to double my readership and become a respected writing guru in the community.

Those are the big goals. To get there, I need to achieve the little goals.

Better get to work.