January was a busy month in my writing career. I made a resolution to write something fresh each day (this has been a problem because I am finding that I am somewhat of a procrastinator) and to read each day (not a problem because my nose is always in a book or magazine or comic). So, herewith is my monthly log of what I accomplished (or didn’t accomplish) towards my goals:
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What I wrote:

• worked on plotting my mystery/thriller novel
• started new short story (2,000 words)

What I read:

• 45 scripts in Nashville Film Festival screenwriting competition
• started reading The O’Brien Brothers by William A. Johnstone
• finished reading “A Careful Man Dies” by Ray Bradbury; “The Tooth” by Shirley Jackson; “Smoke Ghost” by Fritz Leiber; “Hell” by Richard Christian Matheson; “The Shaggy House” by Joe R. Lansdale; “The Book of Webster’s” by J.N. Williamson, all part of the Urban Horrors anthology edited by William F. Nolan and Martin H. Greenberg [Daw, April 1993].
• “Jack Be Nimble” by David Edgerley Gates; “King Cade” by Joan Druett (both in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, March 2014)
• “Living Rooms” by Laurie Tom (L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Vol. XXVI)
• “James Penney’s New Identity” by Lee Child; “Operation Northwoods” by James Grippando; “Epitaph” by J.A. Konrath (all in Thriller, edited by James Patterson)
• “Detour” by Nina Fortmeyer; “The Unanswered Call” by Nikki Nelson-Hicks; “Street Wine” by Susan Burdorf; “Phantom of the Opry: A Country Western Noir” by A. Jay Lee (all in Nashville Noir: Paranormal Mysteries in the Music City)

What I did:

• attended Nashville Writers Meetup Chat
• attended Nashville SciFi/Fantasy Writers Group (with guest author Christie Golden of Star Trek and Star Wars fame)
• attended MTSU Writers Loft Workshop
• visited Frist Center for the Arts to view Norman Rockwell exhibit (not a writing event, but cool nonetheless).