January 4, 2015
hughjodonnell
Writing
Goals, podcasting, Publishing, The Page of Awesome, Writing
It’s finally 2015! The ball has dropped, the champagne has been drunk, the s’mores have been eaten. But however you celebrate the new year, the festivities have ended, hangovers have been nursed, and it’s time to get down to the business of the new year. As such, I’m resetting the Page of Awesome and setting new creativity goals for myself in 2015.
400 Blog Posts:
This year I will be continuing to blog my serial Drabble story “The City: A Story in 140 Characters.” When that finishes, I’d like to begin a new story with a similar premise. In addition, I’ll be continuing to post “Hugh Likes…” entries throughout the year, updating my status with appearances, announcements, reflections on writing, and more! I’ll also be unveiling a brand new article series in the near future!
50 Podcast Episodes:
I haven’t always been the most regular when it comes to updating The Way of the Buffalo, but with a new year and a new season launching this month, I am back on the bandwagon. The podcast’s new schedule will look something like this:
One audio fiction episode, one interview episode, and one special episode, which could be anything. These will be panel discussions, audio from conventions, bits of my own writing, and more! We’ll also be presenting one episode The Dark Wife in the feed per month until it’s finished. There are a few more things on the horizon, but it’s a bit too early to unveil them yet.
5 Self-Published eBook Launches:
My primary goal for this year is to increase my editing. I have plenty of novellas and longer-form projects that just need a few coats of polish and cover art. At the very least, I’d like to get these into your digital hands this year:
The Freelance Hunters: The Shadow Over Ironwood
The Freelance Hunters: Bingo’s Charm and other Tales
The City: A Story in 140 Characters ebook edition
Fabulous Powers Vol. 1: Where There’s Smoke…
Scum and Villainy (Working Title)
Most of this content is working its way through the editing process. There will be more details as they get finished up.
50 Traditional Short Fiction Submissions
While I will be working on a lot of self-published work this year, I still want to keep submitting to magazines and anthologies. While I’m not singularly focused on earning my SFWA qualifications this year, completing short stories and sending them out is good practice for a variety of writer’s skills, the most important of which are meeting deadlines and dealing with rejection.
So that’s what I’ll be working on this year. What are your plans and goals for 2015. Leave a comment below, or say hello on Twitter and Facebook!
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January 2, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, Dawn, Drabble, Kaboom, Midas Corp, Mildred, The City, The Daytrippers, Zidane
Summoned by the CEO, Zidane muscled his way into the office. His own physical size was impressive. He found that he intimidated even here in The City, where such things were of no consequence. There was no inherent value in his strength in the digital environment, it was merely an accurate representation of his stature. But it made people nervous, and it made them forget how smart he actually was. The interviewer girl looked suitably impressed, certainly.
“Ma’am?”
“Ms. Evans was just leaving.” Dawn began to protest, but stopped. Together they watched the top of Midas tower erupt in flames.
January 1, 2015
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, Dawn, Drabble, Mildred, The City, The Daytrippers
The investigation was not going well. Posing as a magazine interviewer, Dawn had talked her way into the office of the matronly CEO of Nexus Software Solutions, a data management company that was both a contractor and a competitor of Midas. From this nearly as loft perch, there was quite a good view of Midas tower.
“You seem awfully young to be a journalist,” Mildred O’Dell said. Dawn squirmed in the simulated leather chair.
“It’s the newest thing in avatars,” she said. It was not a particularly good lie.
“Is it?” Mildred said, and pushed a button on her desk.
December 31, 2014
hughjodonnell
Uncategorized
Earlier this year, I made a pledge to increase my productivity this year, and set some pretty lofty goals. I called this project ‘The Page of Awesome’ and kept track of it in my primary notebook. You can find the original post HERE. I also kept sporadic track of my progress in a little box on the sidebar of this site.
So now that it’s December 31st, it’s time to look over my goals and see how I measured up.
Writing Submissions:
This year I wanted to increase my number of story submissions. I made a goal of one hundred submissions for the year, but end up with only fifty. Of these submissions, I had two published short stories released. “The Montressor Method” to Over My Dead Body Online Magazine, and “The Duke’s Fountain,” to Wicked Words Quarterly. Additionally, I have a third forthcoming sale which I hope to share with you in 2015. While I didn’t meet my goal for this year, I still feel alright with this one. My failure to reach the goal had more to do with a reluctance to perform necessary butt-in-chair editing rather than cold feet at the submission stage, so that is where I need to improve to increase this stat in 2015.
Podcasts:
In 2014, I made a goal to podcast more frequently and more consistently. I made a goal of 50 podcasts, and released 35. So again, this was short of my goal, but I am mostly satisfied with the podcasting work I did this year. I still have a lot of work to do for 2015, including some promised voice work for friends and the completion of “The Dark Wife.” I hope to have a few more surprises as well.
Blog Posts:
I also wanted to release more blog posts. I made a goal of one-hundred posts, and published about 130, including this one. My math might be a bit off. I think the primary reason I was able to meet this goal is the steady release of “The City: A story in 140 Characters,” which began at the end of September and is ongoing.
2014 has been a year of ups and downs, great triumphs and deep tragedies. I’m ending the year with a deep sense of personal gratitude to those who have believed in me and encouraged me throughout the year. I’d particularly like to thank my husband Jeremy for his constant support, and the occasional prod when I needed it. I want to thank everyone in Smoky Writers for welcoming me into the group, and encouraging my twisted sense of humor. I’d like to say thank you to Skinner Co and everybody in The Mob for all of their support and friendship, too. I am, and ever shall be, your bro. And thanks to you for reading.
Tomorrow is the first day of 2015. It’s almost time to make a whole new set of goals. But for now, the snow is white and fresh (where it’s falling) and the sun is setting on 2014. Tonight, pour a drink, think of the good that came out of this year, and toast auld lang sine.
December 31, 2014
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, CPD, Drabble, Roger, The City, Thom
The bomb ticked quietly and inevitably down to zero. The cops stood around, debating what to do, while their ‘demolitions expert,’ dithered in front of the device, like an unprepared child called to the front of the class. But the device, like life, was unlikely to grant an extension. Roger hadn’t been on the force very long. He joined the CPD after quitting conventional police work. He had been unwilling to adjust his ‘attitude problem.’ All that hippie bullshit. At thirty seconds, he made his move. He shoved Thom out of the way and grabbed the cutters. Blue, he decided.
December 30, 2014
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, CPD, Drabble, Govad, Kimiko, Midas Corp, The City
In the labyrinthine bowels of Midas Corp. Tower, Kimiko met the glares of a chorus of office drones, and concentrated on staying polite.
“As I said, there is a threat in the building, and we must ask for you to evacuate the premises in an orderly fashion.”
“What kind of threat,” Govad, that floor’s ranking manager demanded. “You’re the ones assaulting the building!” He thrust a finger in her face like a scolding parent. “If you’d done your jobs in the first place, the trains wouldn’t have been shut down, either!” She took a deep breath. Then she stunned him.
December 29, 2014
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, CPD, Drabble, Midas Corp, The City, Thom
Thom stared down at the desk in consternation. He was the chief bomb disposal technician for the CPD. Up until now, the job description had been a joke. Explosives, along with most other kinds of weapons, not only didn’t exist in The City, but supposedly couldn’t. But he was an expert in the code used to build and break down buildings in The City, so he was what they had.. He examined the clock face, the coils of multicolored wire, and the cartoonish red dynamite sticks they were attached to, and was sure that this was a different beast entirely.
December 26, 2014
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, Deborah, Drabble, Lucinda, Midas Corp, The City
Debbie followed Lucinda’s call into the CEO’s office and stopped dead when she saw the impossible object counting serenely down on the holographic glass.
“Luce, tell me that isn’t what I think it is.” The other woman shrugged.
“I didn’t want to touch it, but the bastard left a note.” Lucinda handed it to her superior.
“Good luck?” She read. “For fuck’s sake. I’d better radio it in. Best case scenario, maybe we’ll just make fools of ourselves.” She opened her comm channel.
“I’m going to need an immediate evac of the building. There’s a bomb sitting on Sizemore’s desk.”
December 25, 2014
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, Bob, CPD, Drabble, Kumar, Midas Corp, The City
On The City’s streets, The Midas Corp. Limousine led a dozen patrol cars on a merry chase. No matter how they diverted traffic, finally easing after a morning of unprecedented congestion, the luxury car was one step ahead.
“Who the hell is driving that thing?” Patrolman Kumar cursed.
“I heard that Bob Tolstoy was Sizemore’s driver. Might be him.” His partner said.
“The king of the racing underground? When’d he turn Citizen?”
“A few years back. Everybody’s got to eat.” The limo made a sudden u-turn, slipping through a gap in three lanes of traffic and disappearing towards the bay.
December 24, 2014
hughjodonnell
Free Fiction, The City
140 Characters, Deborah, Drabble, Midas Corp, The City
Deborah’s team was the one that got the short straw: The CEO’s top-floor office. She took point, her stunner and boot gun out. The palatial offices of Midas management were deserted. All they found were empty rooms. The digital marble echoed with her simulated footfalls. She shivered, forgetting she was in an Arizona office park.
She went to a filing cabinet and opened it. It was entirely empty. So was the next one. Every bit of information in the office was gone. It wasn’t possible. “Deb, you’ll want to take a look at this,” someone called from the inner office.
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