Hello again!

What’s that old saying…

If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time?

That was me…heck, it’s been me for years.

I’d have a vague idea of what I wanted, and I’d even write it down, but the goal would be lost under a pile of half-baked thoughts and ideas, only to resurface when I did my periodic office purge (both physical and digital).

Sad, sad thing to see.

So, this year, as I was enjoying time with the family over the holidays, I discovered the bullet journal concept, and to say it’s changed my writing/business life would be an understatement.

Having one location for all of my miscellaneous information, such as fonts I use for my stories, the process I follow to research keywords, niche data, cover ideas, etc., will mean the difference between frustration and calm, next time I publish a story.

Side note: If amateur sleuth mysteries are your thing, check out my latest short story, Murder at Sunset Cove. You can find it at your favorite bookstore.

How I’m Staying Focused

My goals are written on a card tucked into a bullet journal that I use every day. This helps me by:

• constantly reminding me of my goals, which
• informs the specific tasks I add to my daily pages every day

Win!

Proposed Publishing Goals

I have to keep things simple; otherwise, I get frustrated and either quit or, more often, I push things off to another day, only that “other day” never comes.

I can’t be the only one here….?

So to keep things simple, here’s the plan I’ve established to help me meet my goal of “building my backlist” in 2026.

(Note: I purposely didn’t assign a specific number of stories to prevent overwhelm. I’m notorious for downplaying what I’ve done, so better to keep it vague.)

Short stories:

1. Release shorts regularly in the same world (a/k/a write in series)
2. Every 3 to 5 shorts create a bundled collection

Novels:

1. Write at least 2 in 2026 (I’m a newbie novel author, but feel this is doable for me)
2. Write at least 1 of the novels in the same world as my short story series (A Jazz & Slade Story)

I also have a simple 5-year plan, but that’s a topic for another newsletter. 😁

Building a Process

I’m also working on building a process that is simple, repeatable, and helps me spend less time fretting over cover design ideas, keyword phrases, BISAC codes, etc.

I’m using Notion to document what I’m doing as I do it, to hopefully streamline things so every book launch gets easier (and maybe faster) over time.

Why No Marketing?

You might be wondering why I didn’t opt to “market my books more” or “build my author email list” in 2026.

Fair questions.

You can blame long-time author Dean Wesley Smith’s concept of a “magic bakery”.

Bottom line, even if a reader enjoys one of my stories, if the inventory is bare, they’ll move on to another “bakery.” The more “baked goods” I have to sell, the more readers will find my stories.

Of course, the book’s topic is really about understanding copyright (which every author should understand), but to help explain it, he uses the concept of books/stories as pies/products that “magically” never disappear forever (unless you sell them, which you should never do).

Note: I recommend clicking that link in the paragraph above. Dean’s already put out a book titled The Magic Bakery, Copyright in the Modern World of Fiction Publishing, but his blog has his most up-to-date thoughts on the topic.

What This Means for This Newsletter

Not a lot will change, but you can expect more:

• writing process tips and strategies
• new release updates
• behind-the-scenes content
• inspiration and encouragement
• writing prompts
• original flash fiction
• publishing industry news
• book recommendations/what I’m reading

If you’ve read this far, thanks for sticking around, and please share in the comments below your thoughts on what you’d like to see.

Do you have any writing/publishing goals this year?