Reflections on my Writing Progress this Year

As 2023 draws to a close, I’m looking back on the year. I attended a writer’s conference and several sci fi/fantasy cons this year, where I networked and sought out new ideas and thoughts on how to be a better author. At that writer’s conference, one night we told true ghost stories in the lobby, best selling horror author Jonathan Mayberry’s was not only well told, but very funny. But the funniest—or perhaps most ironic thing about the round of story telling in the 150 year-old hotel’s lobby was apparently how one of the ghosts in the hotel took it… I learned the next morning that the hotel staff were shocked to find every bottle in the bar taken off the locked shelves and set in a row on the floor. The best part was hearing they’d watched the security video of the bar and watched the bottles floating off the shelves… No, I’m not making this up. Apparently at least one of the hotel’s ghosts wanted to add their true ghost story to the mix.

Through that conference I answered two calls for submissions for short stories and came up with some great stories, one of which, The Christmas Dilemma, now appears in Particular Passages - Closed for the Season. Oh, and I’ve found a home for one of those other stories—which will be a stretch goal award for my forthcoming Kickstarter. It’s about a ghostly familiar, who has an agenda… Can’t imagine what inspired me. The other was an alternate history featuring a young Robin Hood, which I’m so interested in, it may develop into something much longer..

I’ve worked on three novels this past year: Knight’s Blood (publication forthcoming), Bigfoot versus the Four Horsemen, and Children of a Lesser Dragon, the sequel to my YA paranormal superhero novel, Lessers Not Losers. The latter are about seventy-five percent written and will take at least six months before they go through additional drafts and proofing before they’re ready for publication.

I’ve also be approved for my first Kickstarter to launch Knight’s Blood, Book Three of my Knights Tower Series. The promotional announcement page can be found here. Watch for it in February or March.

So, interested in free stories? Dragon’s Curse, and my Apocalypse Knot novella trilogy (basically a complete novel), Apocalypse Knot, Little Apocalype, and Apocalypse Night are featured in Sci Fi & Fantasy Free in December. And, for the next two weeks you should check out the Smashword’s End of Year sale. There are lots of free and discounted books (including a few of mine).

Dare to Believe!

D.H.