One habit I’ve gotten into over the past few years is to keep a daily journal for work. This is composed of an Obsidian vault with a few plugins (Daily Notes + Templates) enabled so that I can quickly create an entry and track my work for the day.

I’m a bit late in announcing this, but I’m delighted to report that I sold a new story last year, to the anthology Home for the Howlidays.

For most of us, 2016 has been a dumpster fire of epic proportion. For me, it began with the death of David Bowie, days after my father’s 69th birthday; a poignant reminder that our idols are also mortal.

As writers, we fill our toolbox with things that help us in our craft. I’ve been experimenting with a few new things of late, trying to boost my productivity. Two of them in particular are making a difference.

Part of my new and improved resolve to Finish Things is accountability, and to that end I’ve created a master spreadsheet for the year where I’m tracking my daily writing, good things that happen (h/t Christie Yant), projects I want to work on, and deadlines I’m working towards. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.