So 2013 is dead and buried, here’s three cheers for 2014!

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I do tend to stop and think around this time of year. It’s not really the calendar that’s controlling this, but rather the fact that this period often means I have some time off, or at least things are less hectic, since most people are off work. This time around I’ve actually managed to stay clear from work altogether, wrapping up the fourth edition of Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog just before the holidays.

I’ve got some goals for 2014 and although these are pretty specific to me, I’m sure some of you like to keep tally on all my possible failures. You know I’ll do anything to ease and grease the abuse from my fans of followers, so here goes.

• Q1 of 2014 will see one, perhaps two, short stories published by yours truly. These are meant to be singles and I’ll self-publish because that’s all fun and games.
• I’ve got a handful short stories that I’m considering bundling and publishing. Or maybe I’ll just offer them for free here. Possibly both.
• I aim to have a near finished novel manuscript when I leave the city for my summer home. It might be the one I’m working on already, or it might be another one, that really doesn’t matter. But hey, I’m ramping up my writing, can’t you tell?
• Speaking of which, I’ll get back to more regular updates here. The revamped, now black, top header is such a sign of things to come, I bet you just can’t wait to see what’s in store! Well neither can I, so, yeah…
• I still want to do a newsletter. Silly stuff, I know, but I love me some newsletters.
• There’ll be a second edition of The Writer’s iPad, free for current owners, and possibly a site to go with it. In fact, I’m pretty sure wripad.com is something I want to do…
• I’ll continue to do the Swedish app newsletter Appmagasinet, but I’ll also do something appy in English. Not sure when this’ll happen, but I’ve got a lot of thoughts and ideas written down. Might talk to investors here, too. To be fair, this is probably in the later half of the year, but we’ll see.
• Shrtnws, while fun, might not have a life in 2014. The experiment’s been interesting, but I need to either step it up a notch, or call it quits and write down what I’ve learned, quite possibly for the benefit, nay existence, of future generations. Or just to die in my Dropbox drive, who knows?
• I’ll keep writing #TDH2DO updates though. There’s not only more where the handful of posts thus far came from, but behind the whole project.
• I haven’t written flash fiction in months. This year I intend to get back to that, because it’s fun. I might even participate in Chuck Wendig’s flash fiction challenges.
• Ah fuck, how about I publish a role-playing game in 2014, just for kicks?
• Finally, I’ll kick ass at Odd Alice, which’ll get a proper English site. In fact, I’ll kick so much ass I’ll be able to tone down my own time at the web agency during the second half of the year, so that I can focus on my writing. Because, you know, I’m a writer first and foremost.

2013 was rough and I’d be a moron if I didn’t expect the same treatment from 2014. That said, I’m actually looking forward to keep doing what I’m doing, slowly edging towards what I should be doing.