So I did the ‘year in review’ and then forgot to come back and set out my goals. That doesn’t mean I forgot to set out my goals (I set up my progress thread on WriYe) but it’s helpful to record them here. I often add extra context (aka rambles) and that’s helpful when it comes to write the year in review – not that I want to think about the end of the year!! Honestly years disappear far faster than I am comfortable with already.

In my ‘year in review’ post I said I would come back to two topics:
– Readers
– A side project
I’m not going to address these directly but I haven’t forgotten and they will be included in this post.

So what do I want in 2025?

So this was a quick year, huh?

Seriously how it got to be end of December is mystifying. I feel like it was just last month it was January. Anyway, it is the end of the year which means it’s time for a retrospective, time for the usual introspection. I bring up in tabs the review I did last year, and then the goals post (which I actually made this year). I quote myself and go over how it went.

How did it go?

So this months WriYe blog topic is – What’s on your writing bucket list? Which one is the most achievable?

I think that’s an interesting question so first let’s define ‘bucket list’. A quick google kicks back:

“a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.”

Now I think there are two keywords there ‘have’ or ‘accomplish’ – this isn’t pie in the sky dreaming. It’s not thinking “man I would super love to write the screenplay for the movie and have it gross a billion dollars” (to be honest I don’t think I would actually like that, but it was the most over the top thing I could think of as an example). It’s still talking about ‘hope’ but it’s more of a realistic dream, akin to a ‘to do list’.

So what is my ‘realistic’ dream?

Well obviously making a viable career as a storyteller. I’m not taking big bucks, just enough to pay my bills. That’s all I really want. Is this achievable? – That’s the rub because there’s two conflicting parts to it. 1) I control because it’s about producing a product, 2) I don’t control because it’s whether anyone likes or buys it. I can do my best to produce a quality product, I can do everything within my power marketing-wise etc. and it could just not work out. There is no guaranteed ‘win’ button when it comes to a creative career.

How about achievable then?

Basically this is everything to do with hard work and personal persistence, and nothing to do with anything external. I never wrote a list but I am trying to imagine what writers might put on it, and things like “write a novel” or “write a million words” or “write a story that cracks triple digits” or “write a novel in a month” etc. those all seem like challenges or milestones – and I have already done them.

I think the big challenge I have left is basically “write a complete series”. I have a lot of first drafts littering the place. I have written various drafts of book two’s (I even wrote some of a book three once). I have a lot of plans and notes and outlines etc. but I have never written a complete series. This is definitely my big goal moving forward.

What else?

• I think I might have written a holiday fanfic story but I want to write an actual novella/novel. I have some notes on it but I’ve just never fleshed it out and written it.
• Last year I started writing a serial and I would like to finish and develop that further, right now it doesn’t feel like I can tick ‘serial’ off the list because there’s still a lot of work to be done.
• I kinda want to write an ‘archaeological adventure’ story because I absolutely love the genre (think Nathan Drake of Uncharted or National Treasure type thing) but I have to be honest the ‘research’ requirement terrifies me. I can just imagine me getting something wrong, or using a bit too much artistic licence and getting roasted. Still I do love the genre and it’s nothing like anything I have done before, so it deserves a spot on the list.

There’s probably a LOT more stuff. Honestly I don’t imagine I will ever stop writing so hopefully I’ll have years to write dozens of stories. Anyway I’m going to leave it there for now, before I get too carried away with imagining all those potential fictional universes (remember I need to finish my current series first).

October’s Blog topic for WriYe is – Your favorite writing playlist. Who’s on it?

Now I haven’t done the blog topic every month but I quite liked this one because I always have music playing. I have stopped playing music when playing video games, and instead just listening to the integrated sound track. Partly for immersion/appreciation and partly because I listened to one playlist (as it was the playlist of th moment) so much when I was doing dailies in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (Pandaria) that I can’t hear those songs now without instantly flashing back. Which brings me to my first point!

I don’t exactly have a writing playlist

For the most part when writing I listen to the music I’m in the mood for, aka the ‘music of the moment’. The albums, artists etc. that is my focus right then. Now there are limitations to this, for instance even when I was really into the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds musical soundtrack, I never wrote to it because that would have been weird – it already had a strong association. Also sometimes the vibes are wrong. I can love the music but it’s just not what I need for how the book is feeling. Sometimes the music has to match my mood – do I need something high energy, something easy on the ears, an old favourite etc. – or do I need it to match the mood of the characters/scene?

BUT I do have some “writing associated” music

There is a Shinedown song “How did you love” which I will forever associate with my big novel series that I’m currently writing. I think the line “cause castles crumble, kingdoms fall and turn into sand” hit first but honestly the vibes of the whole thing match really well.

Another song which had a line that made my head snap round is “Fly on the Wall” by Thousand Foot Krutch = “the other night / I had a dream / it was a world full of kings and queens / but it was cold / dark as the night / we were the fire on the moonlit skies / we were divided / we were the same / and we were free but we all wore chains”. In fact for a long time the first book was called ‘Divided’ and the series ‘Divided Destiny’. That’s not so now but it still again fits very well.

Finally there was an attempt at a ‘writing music’ playlist to try and condition my mind. If that music was playing = it was time to get to work. I picked Apocalpytica because instrumental is supposed to be better for that kind of thing. The result? Well I certainly associate it with the novel I was writing at the time (a crime/time travel thing) but otherwise that experiment didn’t last.

Anyway I love music. My headphones are among my most valued possessions (I’d never survive the grocery store without them). I definitely like to have it playing when writing but just not often anything in particular.