The Writings on the Wall #39
And a happy new year to you!
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I mentioned last month how I was trying to write and release a novel before the end of the year. I first attempted a murder mystery, which I put aside when I realized how much time it would take me to flesh out the characters. I then switched to an epic fantasy project, a genre I’m more familiar with. I thought it’d be easier. But I got stuck on the outline. It’s often the part that takes me the longest; in this case, not only was it going at a crawl, I hated what I’d come up with. So, once again, I had to set it aside, as fixing it would take too long.
That’s when I realized I had a simple solution. I could put out a collection of short stories. I have plenty of those on my Substack (over 50 at this stage) that are already written and edited. I selected 15 Sci-Fi pieces and decided to add two new ones, which would be quicker to write than a whole novel. The ideas came quickly, which helped, and I wrote both stories in four days. On the fifth day, I did the editing and the book layout. On the sixth, I did the cover and hit the ‘submit’ button on Amazon.
That was on December 18.
It’s not a novel, but it’s still fiction, and that was the goal.
On a side note, I did also complete a novel, but I can’t release that one just yet, as it’s Book 3 in the Through the Stars, Darkly series, which I am serializing on here and on Royal Road.
Since it’s January 1st, I haven’t had time yet to look back at 2024 and review my numbers (you can expect that next month), but I already know it won’t be great. My resolution for this year is to do (much) better—which shouldn’t be too hard, especially now that I’ve got my writing habit back.
One last thing. Since December was so busy and I didn’t have time to put out a new story, I am planning to post TWO this month… Whoah! It’s been quite a while since I haven’t posted more than one, right? Hopefully that’ll change this year. This month, in any case. The first is already written and only needs editing, the second though I have yet to write. Will likely do that next week.
That’s all for now.
Happy New Year, to you and all of your loved ones!
Recently published stories
Here’s a list of the stories I published in 2024 outside of Substack:
“The Waystation” in Tome of Terrors (horror anthology)
“The Battle of Braxia” in Laser Cannons & First Contact (space opera anthology)
“Strength of the Gwich’in,” “The Scales of Death,” and “Under Siege” (as Steffen Larken) in Time of the Champions (epic fantasy anthology in the “Dragon Dice” game setting)
If you like my writing, please consider buying a copy of my novel, upgrading to a paid subscription, or making a Paypal or Ko-fi donation. As an independent author, any of these would help a lot!
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Copyright (c) 2025 by Alex S. Garcia.