This week, I spent my free time playing “Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2,” but when I am not doing that, I am making progress on my writing goals.

1. Rewrite a novel by the end of 1st Quarter
2. Complete the draft of a new novel or novella by the end of the year
3. Publish a new short story series

It has felt like a slow start to the year for my writing. January seemed a month and a half long, and I think I caught a wave of those winter blues. California’s consistent sunny weather is incredible, but I swear I feel the occassional stretches of gloomy days even more. That and state testing at school.

However, I have actually made more progress than I thought I had before writing this post, so I am encouraged to see that.

First, I am on page 52 of 116 in my edit “Of Teeth and Dreams.” I love the story more and more, but I got stuck. The current mark just so happens to be where I got stuck during my original draft and skipped ahead, planning to eventually come back and fill it in. So here I am, and it is not filling itself in. Therefore, I am putting it off by starting new projects, weaving chainmail, and playing videogames.

Second, the new project I started is a novella inspired by the Noir genre that I raved about a few weeks ago, but with a sci-fi twist. The protagonist works as a PI involved in increasingly stranger cases with supernatural entities, such as gorgons and angels. It will end with him adventuring into outer space to become one of the space operas he grew up loving.

Currently titled “Salt Like Diamonds,” it is planned as the first in a series of shorter novels. I have only made it 2 chapters (5000 words) into the story because I keep going back and rewriting them. But progress is progress.

Third, I am working on my next short story collection. Currently intended as a sequel volume to “When Hope Burned White,” I have 6 rough drafts at this time. I plan to finish 6 more and then choose my top 10 to rewrite and publish here. If I can manage it, they will be finished around the time my baby arrives at the end of May. That way I have something ready to post for the first 10 weeks of his life, during which time I expect to be the most tired I have ever been in my life.

What WIPs are you making slow but steady progress on?