Mostly, this post exists entirely to commit me to action so that I can’t back out and if I do people can call me out on it and say, “You said you were going to, then didn’t!”
Last year, I sat down on December first, thoroughly disappointed that I’d failed the NaNoWriMo, again, and thought to myself, “What I need is a smaller goal.” So I decided I was going to write a short story and post it on Christmas Eve. The story that I wrote, however, was very very depressing. Not that I had intended to write something light and happy, but my initial turn toward darkness wound up being a death spiral into oblivion. In the year since I didn’t post it I’ve only read the story twice and hated it both times because it was not only dark it was needlessly so. It wasn’t just dark, it was black. There was just nothing redeeming about it at all because it wasn’t even well written. Obviously, I didn’t post it.
So, another NaNoWriMo has gone by and I didn’t win, again, but I had the same thought as last year. That I just needed a smaller goal. I kicked around the idea that sparked last year’s short and decided that since I, personally, am not in such a dark place this year (last year in addition to failing the WriMo I was also unemployed and a number of other things) I would take another crack at it. I am very pleased with the results. I still need to make another pass or two at it for glaring errors and then give my editorial staff (wife) a shot at it, but I do think it will be ready before Christmas.
As such, I am stating here and now that I will be posting a short story on Christmas Eve. It is entitled “The Last Christmas” and I hope you return to read it and enjoy it.