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Happy New Year!

So, 2018 already huh? Time for some resolutions!

Write a short story every fortnight
Lol. I don't even know if this is possible, because my usual resolution every year is to write a short story every month and I've failed every year I've attempted it. Writing a short story every fortnight means writing two short stories a month. How is that even possible? Well, I have a plan mapped out, aaaaaand if I stick to it, it should work out. Maybe. Anyway the goal here is to keep writing, and from there, to keep submitting, which I was lax on in 2017.

Focus on writing English short stories
I spent a lot of time in 2015, 2016, and 2017 reading and writing in Malay. My goal back then was to get good at writing in my native language, and have it be up to my standards writing in English. I think I have succeeded in that aim. After all, I did get published in Dewan Sastera, Tunas Cipta, and even had two Malay novels published (after winning a novel-writing competition no less) so I will, for now, call it a day in writing in Malay and will now pivot back to focusing on writing in English once again, which is my first love anyway. Writing in Malay was fun and I will be back... maybe in a few years.

Get published in a SFWA qualifying market
Not really a resolution, but more a goal I want to strive towards to in 2018. I've always wanted to break into this market. Have been meaning to since I started writing seriously, but I've never really been serious in how I've been going about it, possibly because I didn't have the confidence. Didn't know if anyone would really want publish my writing. Now that I have been published, in Malaysia, and elsewhere, I finally have that confidence to push for SFWA markets. So this year, I want to be more serious about it, which is where my previous two resolutions come in. Focus on writing quality stories that are good enough for SFWA qualified markets. I might not be able to make it in this year, but it's a good year as any to start working towards achieving that goal.

This is probably the first year in a very long while that I don't resolve to write (and finish) a novel. Hah, I've done that, several times over now. Though I haven't gotten round to rewriting my English novel manuscript yet but I'm sure its time will come in future years. For now it's short fiction, and most importantly, it's short science fiction.
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Comments

  1. John Ling21/1/18 6:11 pm

    I have a feeling that this year is going to be your year, Ted. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ted Mahsun22/1/18 11:05 am

      Haha thanks for the vote of confidence, John! No idea how this will turn out.

      Delete

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