January 1, 2006
I honestly don't know what this blog will hold for 2006, or if it will continue or not. I'm puzzling over that.

One of the first things I did upon getting online after checking e-mail was to visit a few of my regular blogs and I note Lee Goldberg has a reference to James Reasoner's blog, Rough Edges. Reasoner wrote and published something like 14 novels this year alone. He's written and published something like 185 novels under about 6 different names, and in today's blog he writes that he also read about 156 books this year.

I consider myself pretty ambitious and productive, but I'm a mere piker compared to Reasoner.

And it makes me wonder where I'll be by the end of this year and for that matter, where, exactly, I am now. At the moment I'm making a living as a freelance writer, editor and novelist. The majority of my income comes from writing magazine and trade journal articles. Maybe 8 or 10% comes from fiction, although to be fair, I probably spend much of that on promotion. I have at least one regular editing client that accounts for approximately 10% of my year income and we have about 2 more years on my contract. I've got a novel coming out in October.

I may be working on a nonfiction book proposal collaboration this year. Maybe. We'll see.

I'm working on a novel under a pen name and I have high hopes for it, but at the same time, there's a part of me that has been increasingly loudly saying, "If you use this time on your business, you'll make more money, have more free time, be able to travel a bit..." and an equally loud voice that says, "Concentrate on the Derek Stillwater novels and stop writing novels on spec."

I'm wondering if there will be a shift this year so I can say, I'm a novelist, editor and freelance writer, suggesting that the source of my income has shifted in proportion.

I'm wondering if my agent will be able to sell Bad Intentions this year, the follow-up to Dirty Deeds.

I'm battling--and maybe it's obvious--myself today and the last couple days. Me and my moods and my confidence are both my greatest asset and my worst enemy and I'm wondering why I've been down this week.

So I guess that's where I am. Where are you?

Best,
Mark Terry