Today I thought we’d take a look back at 2022 to see what all we accomplished. 😊
I didn’t write a goal post last year, so we’ll just do an overview instead of looking at what we had planned.
Looking back, I’m realizing that it was largely a year of setup/prep work and behind the scenes work: getting things organized that I can largely “set and forget” and preparing for larger projects.
We still did see a few tangible things: the release of Initiated to newletter subscribers, Changeling in paperback, and “Red Light, Green Light” published in the Writers of Warrensburg’s Hawthorn Creek anthology.
Here’s to hoping that pays off in 2023 with more releases. 🙂
Last year I planned on trying a calendar with deadlines for when I’d like to have things done/monthly goals, and an idea of getting 50k words written or edited each month.
That… didn’t keep me on track with my goals the way I had hoped.
This year, I’m trying something a bit older… in high school, I had a paper planner that worked really well. This upcoming year I’m trying a print planner with a baseline set of goals (word count and time spent on Daz) – and anytime I successfully complete the baseline goals, I can add a sticker to that day! Silly, I know, but if it works, I’m totally doing this. (I ordered horse-themed stickers! 🐎)
🌿 Distant Horizon Universe 🌊
- I had hoped to have the Starless Night paperback complete, but I’m still working on formatting it. (Finished a second proofreading, ebook ready to be reuploaded).
- Created a new automated onboarding sequence for the Distant Horizon Universe newsletter. Added in a themed image component.
- Wrote rough draft of Changing Tides and started revisions.
- Wrote Initiated (Deceived prequel) and released exclusively to newsletter.
- Placed Multiverse Chronicles into Scrivener
2023’s Goals:
- Finish revising Changing Tides. Polish and publish (Midyear?)
- Serialize Deceived (completed) via Wattpad and newsletter. (First quarter)
- Serialize Deceived #2 (near-final) via Wattpad and newsletter. (Second quarter)
- Polish Deceived #2
- Revise and polish Deceived #3 (needs further revisions).
- Evaluate how serialization is going after Deceived #2
- Publish Starless Night paperback (Midyear?)
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🗡️ Wishing Blade Universe 🔮
- Started rough draft of Magic’s Stealing prequel.
- Created base for Litkanston map
- Wishing Blade Universe onboarding sequence complete.
- Still working on Legends of Cirena #9
- Started making notes for Legends of Cirena epic story and inputting them into Scrivener
- Joran Short Story – Revised current draft
2023’s Goals:
- Finish drafting Legends of Cirena #9, polish, publish. (Second or third quarter?)
- Finish drafting Joran’s spin-off short story. Polish. Release to newsletter. (Midyear?)
- Finish outlining The Wishing Blade #4. Write rough draft. (Fourth quarter?)
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👁️ Huntress Universe 🍎
- Wrote partial draft of a Huntress prequel.
- Released Changeling in paperback.
- Tried to revise Huntress 3… didn’t get very far. Thinking I might scrap this draft entirely, reread first two books, and start a new draft fresh.
2023’s Goals:
- New outline for Huntress 3. Write rough draft. (Third quarter?)
- Continue rough draft for Huntress prequel
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🌇 Comics 🦴
- I wrote “If I Had Asked” and submitted it to anthology. Didn’t get in, but was a good experience.
- Rendered a few more panels of Villain Problems.
- Other comic projects on hold
2023’s Goals:
- Nothing currently planned
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📚 Unplanned Additions 📚
- RedBubble – We’ve been wanting to offer merch and have a way to sell our art prints online, but hadn’t really had a feasible option. We finally settled on RedBubble as a print-on-demand store, and have started uploading our work there a little at a time, with the hope to eventually build it into a larger portfolio.
- Hawthorn Creek Anthology (Writers of Warrensburg) – I published “Red Light, Green Light,” a queer sci-fi short story, in the Hawthorn Creek Anthology. This took more time than I was expecting to write and edit, but it was fun seeing how the entire anthology threaded together with each story supporting each other in small ways despite the variety of genres at play.
- Geek UP and Poor Artists Sale – Both of these in-person events went really well for us, and in both cases we tried to improve our interactions. For Geek UP, we added an interactive play element to the booth (the “power scanner”) which helped start conversations and gave us a natural segque into talking about our books. For the Poor Artists Sale we focused more on themed decoration for our table and approaching passersby with open-ended questions (“What do you like to read?/What genre do you enjoy reading?” or “Who are you looking to buy something(gifts) for?”) In both cases, we were able to have a lot more person-to-person interaction that was quite enjoyable and, in some cases, led to more sales (both at the convention and at the local bookstore).
- Untitled Fantasy Story – Isaac and I outlined two novels in an epic fantasy series (the outlines are 14,000 words for the first book, and 12,000 words for the second book) that we’d eventually like to write.
- Isaac wrote a couple of short stories, now ready for editing.
- Short story: “Of Garlic and Glitter Bombs”
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🎨 SBibb’s Photographic Illustration 🎨
- Finished the formatting and cover design for Ghoul Duty by Richard F. McGonegal
- Started work on a new book for an indie press: cover proof made, print formatting started, and ebook formatting complete
- Updated the banner for the Infinitas Publishing website
2023 Goal’s
- Finish the formatting and cover design for the book I’m currently working on
- Update design of Stephanie Flint Books blog
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🎲 Game Design 🎲
- Updates to Legends of Cirena role-play guide, (still very much in testing and a backburner project)
- Elemental Card Game – Small Tweaks made
2023 Goals
- Nothing specific planned at this point
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✨ Daz PA ✨
I had hoped to have one project out each month, but had some learning-curve slowdowns earlier in the year. The back catalogue performed really well in the later half of the year, though, so I was happy with how that turned out.
May – SBibb Magic at Their Fingertips Props and Poses for Genesis 8 and 8.1
July – SBibb Surprise and Fear Poses and Expressions for Genesis 8 and 8.1, and SBibb Bullish Behavior for Classical Minotaur for Genesis 8 and 8.1 Male
August – SBibb Tender Affection Poses and Expressions for Genesis 8 and 8.1
September – SBibb Loyal Companion Poses for Daz Dog 8 and Genesis 8 and 8.1
October – SBibb Skyward Gaze Poses for Genesis 8 and 8.1
2023’s Goals:
- Release equivalent of two products per month
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Happy writing and reading (Or 3D rendering if you’re into Daz)! 🙂
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 