Hello!

I was going to share how I’m doing on my writing goals for this year, but apparently, I never wrote my 2025 recap and 2026 goal post. In my defense, I have a very legit (but secret) reason for why. So, without further adieu, let’s check in on last year, this year, and where I am now!

2025 Recap

In 2025, my goals were:

• Complete 460 short story submissions and write 24 short stories (roughly 2 a month)
• Query mermaid book 10 times
• Edit superhero book and send to beta readers
• Edit tree book and send to beta readers
• And… if I have time… edit superhero book again and start querying

And here’s how it went:

460 Submissions: I did 378 short story submissions (82 short of my goal). But, I did reach my 50th acceptance so now I can say that I’ve published over 50 short stories which is awesome!

2 Stories a Month: I managed an average of around 1.75 stories a month until December when, for secret reasons, I couldn’t write. Therefore, I ended up with 20 short stories total for the year (4 short of my goal).

Novels: I did 3 queries of my mermaid book (7 short of my goal), but did not touch the other two novels (tree or superhero novel).

I believe, in addition to secret thing that took up a lot of my time and energy, I also had a hard time motivating myself in the same way after going to WorldCon in Seattle. There I met Tia Tashiro, who has become my author crush. She’s been published in many of the places I’ve been dreaming of and was an overall great person to talk to. She told me that when she was first starting out, she would send stories to the pro-paying markets and if the story didn’t land there, she’d let it go and start working on another story to send there next time. It took her ten years to be published, but once she figured it out, she started getting stories in pro-paying markets at least twice a year.

As someone who has been using the firehose method, this concept honestly broke my brain. It made me re-evaluate my methods. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think submitting a lot is a great way to learn about the markets and figure out your voice; however, now that I have a good idea of where I stand and what places would be interested in a story of mine, I think it’s time to take a step back and focus on quality instead of quantity.

That being said…

2026 Goals

• Get my superhero novel up to query level and start querying it
• Get my tree novel on its next (and final pre-edits) draft
• Submit short stories 200 times
• Write 18 new short stories
• Edit 18 new short stories

I decided to pull back on short stories this year to focus on my novels, as my novels ended up taking the backburner last year. I also decided that by pulling back on the sheer number of short stories I’m writing and editing, I can focus more on quality and find a happy medium between my method and Tia Tashiro’s method.

So Where Am I Now?

Well, I have successfully focused on novels. My tree novel draft is done. It is ready for beta readers or a fine-tooth comb of edits. I just finished editing my superhero novel a few days ago and am preparing my query package now.

As for short stories… I’m at 90 submissions (goal at this point of year would be 100). I’ve written 2 short stories and edited 2 short stories, 1 of which has already been accepted! Seems like this quality thing might be working, even if it means more time per story.

(The “Who Will Win?” graph shows where I am and where I should be overall. It’s a new thing I’m trying to motivate myself.)

Until next time, thank you for checking out my corner of the world!

– Camden