A Blog About 2025 Writing Goals and Schedule

So I was asked what my plans were over the next year or so.  Now normally such a question would get a series of smart ass responses and never would get an answer of any substance cause I’m a clown like that, but in this case it got me thinking,”what am I doing over the next year or so?”  Well after getting over the existential nightmare of the question I quickly opened up my writing desktop on my computer and looked at the literal hundreds of ideas I have on it and decided that “well shit, lets figure this out.”  So I’m using my weekly blog post to let you guys know what to expect from me over the next fifteen to eighteen months.

First I have a few recurring commitments that I will continue to do.  You will be able to find my weekly blog post here, same web channel, same web time every week (ok so the upload time will vary that was to get the Batman line in not a guarantee  or anything).  I will also have an occasional blog appear on our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/OutsiderPublishingCompany). Outsider Publishing Co. will be publishing a series of anthologies over the next year, I intend on contributing to each, assuming my stories are decent enough to make the cut.  Im currently working on the story for our next one after the upcoming Christmas Chaos (http://outsiderpublishingcompany.com/anthologies), this one Im not going to give the theme away but It’s not not Camelot related.  My story is a “new” take on the character of Dagonet- Arthur’s court jester.  As for why I “” new, well you will just need to read it to find out huh?

Ok those are my commitments but what else is in the pipeline?  Well I have a short horror collection that is currently going to be about two hundred and fifty pages or so.  A collection including haunted house stories, a couple serial killer tales, a medical horror, and a whole bunch of political charged horror stories that will be drenched in my typical pop culture influenced style.  Been working on one called “The Hollowed” the last few days.  It starts as a goofy sci-fi horror but ends up with commentary on politics and human nature, all while killing off some of the most recognizable names in pop culture. Outside of that the story I’m most looking forward to getting in reader’s grubby little paws is “Three Sisters Fight A Ghost”, it is a very personal story that has been a chore to write because of how much the material impacts me.  But other than these two I have currently another dozen or so stories planned for it, depending on how long each ends up it might get trimmed or might get a few more added, with first draft planned done by Halloween.  I look forward to discussing more of the details of it with you over the next few months.

            I also started a novel.  I had always resisted doing so because, well that’s what most writers do and I have always gone against the grain basically to go against the grain.  But as I’ve aged and my story telling tastes have changed Ive decided that I need to go ahead and give it a shot.  I do not want to be stuck with short story writer label forever so I give this a try. So Im technically announcing publicly  here right now my first novel, “Vinegar Valentines”.  It is a romance drama featuring a thirty something guy coming to terms with both the mistakes and choices hes made over the years, learning that he wasn’t as good a guy as he hoped, but nor was he as big a douchebag as he had feared.  I will straight out admit it, its a modernized  take on High Fidelity through the lense of my sensibilities.  It is a much different story with incredibly different characters but much of the same ground is treaded just in a different way.  Also lets be frank, Nick Hornsby is a writer way more gifted than I and Im in no way shape or form trying to say my work will be in that league or could stand with that story as equal, just trying to let you understand the style it will be.  Its still in the roughing stages, the actual writing out of it will begin after Thanksgiving with a draft hoped for by Valentine’s Day, with a late summer/early fall release being the earliest but likely if it is that late in the year when it is ready I might sit on it for a release closer to Christmas or even Valentine’s day itself.

I have one other fiction book currently being worked on.  I say book and not novel because I would say it is more of an art project than a traditional novel. Currently called “The Elergy of Rory Duke”, it is a multi-generational story told completely through news reports, political ads, press releases and social media posts.  There is no central character or interactions directly between the characters.  The only dialogue in the book will be quotes in the stories.  I’m not going to discuss what the overall theme or narrative is as once I do half of you will instantly be turned off and walk away.  It is one of those things Ill leave others to decide what it means and to discuss it amongst yourselves.  I do not have a time table for this one as it is being worked on in between other things and I do not expect it to release in 2025, but hoping by 2026 the climate is right and the story is done so it can sneak its way out the door.

I currently have two different nonfiction books I am trying to get together.  The first is tied to my youtube series, “The Media That Made Me” or “TMTMM”, and is a full color coffee table book with high quality pics of the NES games that helped me become who I am as a creator.  Each game featured would include key information as well as my telling why it was significant to me and how it helped me become who I am today, both as a creator and in some cases a person.  This is a more long term goal, as the cost to print such a book would be restrictive and the cost per book would make it hard to move enough copies to be worth it.  While I deeply want to get this book out, and it is almost fully complete but the economics of publishing is real.  I am hoping that after the youtube series finally launches that I will eventually get enough people wanting to see the book that I can back it through kickstarter, but we are a ways from having enough of a following for that. My other nonfiction book in the works is “917 Comics to Read Before You Exit the Mortal Coil”.  It is a case of exactly what it says on the tin.  A list of what I think are the 917 comic stories that are essential reading if you are a fan of the genre.  I say a list, while that is true it is so much more than that, its a love letter to the creators and characters, the stories that came together with amazing art to inspire generations of fans and the ones that impacted me in particular.  If I have my way and can work hard enough I would love to aim for release next year with this one.

I have two screenplays that Im working on, one is called “The Butterball Incident” and is a Thanksgiving themed slasher flick.  I have been writing it for roughly a year now and am only now getting close to a finished first draft.  Now Id love to say that we are announcing our first film but that isnt the case, we are a ways away from that kind of thing.  Im writing this to shop around and hopefully get made by someone.  A funny smart late 80s inspired slasher with fun kills and some heavy subtext beneath the holiday veneer. My other script is a two technically four person end of the world drama simply called “The End of the World and All That Entails” which only has two characters on camera the entire time and two other speaking roles that are voice over only.  Its an interesting script but still needs a ton of work to get to a point Im comfortable with calling it done.

            So this is what Ill be working on in the next year.  I have this stuff plus the marketing and promo work that comes with being involved on the publishing end.  I have the typical reading and research that comes with writing. I have the Youtube video series I have mentioned repeatedly throughout this blog to get finished and uploaded.  And I have a wife and daughter to spend my “off time” with.  I am going to stay busy, but that makes me happy which makes me productive.  I want to thank you all for giving me this, this shot at being happy, this time you gave me to read this, just thank you.

We are the Rebels of the Written Word