Busy week wrapping up projects and attending the small and medium publishers fair here in Rome also to figure out if I can get ISBNs without being officially a publisher. I may need a few for future projects and I may end up buying them in bulk abroad if the Italian ISBN agency gets on my nerves once again. Sigh.

November wordcount ended up 28000words. Not much, so I’m assuming I won’t hit that 500K goal this year either, but well… my writing process has changed through the years and I’m experimenting more. I’m suddenly more dynamic than ever, LOL!

As promised, here’s the first box set – the complete Chronicles of the Varian Empire. Another is on the way, so if you haven’t tried Silvery Earth yet, you might want to taste it with these very cheap box sets. All will be at 4.99$.

If you prefer multi-author bundles to single author box sets, there’s still this long list… and yes, the First Glimpse bundle is still out there, but it will be gone by the end of the month, so grab it now! 😉

Now, in case you missed it and want to try it, the challenge is on for the third time – either write 30 stories in 60 days or three novels in three months. As you know, I did the first novel challenge and I was considering doing the third short story challenge, but I’m taking Techie Bro and Dear Nephew to London for the latter’s birthday, so I will simply “just do it on your own and play along, test to see if you can do it without me reading your stories.”

Unless someone wants to do the challenge with me, I’ll simply report here every week if I have written a story or not. So starting January 1st, 30 stories in 60 days. Possibly shorts so I can send them off. I have already a short list of stories to write that got postponed, so January is as good as any to write them all down and then go back to longer works! 🙂

This is also to avoid burnout. If you read Kris Rusch’s post on burnout and the Indie Writer, you’ll see what I mean. Since I never was one of those great sellers, I’m still here, still writing and not obsessing with marketing.

The key really isn’t avoiding burnout. The key to surviving as a writer is learning how to sustain a career.

And that’s true not just for indie writers, but traditionally published writers as well. Some of the demands traditional publishers put on their bestselling writers make the actual writing impossible.

Writers in traditional settings have to learn how to say no.

Writers in an indie setting have to figure out their priorities.

And that’s what I want, a career. So next year I’ll be writing more than this year (hopefully), hit that 500K goal (hopefully) and publish whatever I finish without bothering with regular deadlines. Of course the 4th vampires through the centuries novel will come out Nov.2 and the novella May 2, but besides that, it’s all open and I have a lot of exciting projects in mind (like… Post-Apocalypse Chronicles sequels…)! 😉

Writerly link: mobile vs.desktop: target the right device for readers in your genre. I’m mostly in the desktop category, apparently… If I decide to do a BookBub in the future, I’ll try to keep this in mind! Don’t you like all those reports, like Author Earnings (which I decided to fill again this year. Just head to the Surveys page)? 😉

Last bit of news: Axelle, Wanderer is discounted on Kobo only! I sumbitted another title, so stay tuned.  Or go to the publisher’s page! 😉 Have a great week! 🙂