A look ahead to 2026

Like I said in my last post, my playwriting career is on fire. Nine years after it was first published, The Enchanted Bookshop is still pulling in over 100 productions a year, while three of my last six full-length plays are also huge hits. And it look like my royalties for the 2025-2026 should be about 30% higher than the were the previous year.

So the key to 2026--and getting closer to my ultimate goal of matching my old engineering salary with my playwriting salary--is to keep doing what I've been doing. And that means write, write, and write.

Here are my specific goals for the New Year:

1) Finish five plays.

Last year, I wanted to finish six and only finished four. This year, I think I'll again finish four but I'll shoot for five. Manifestation and all that.

Of course, if I threw in a couple one-act plays, I'd easily reach that goals. A one-act only takes me a month or two to write compared to three to four months for a full-length. But my full-lengths are the ones putting up the big numbers so for now my plan is to focus on those.

Five full-lengths. It could happen.

2) Publish five plays.

Last year, I wanted to publish six and only published five. This year, I really do think I'll publish five.

I've already got one in the editing queue at Pioneer Drama Service (Mouse in the House). I'm waiting to hear back on my ten-minute comedy Fear of Clowns, which I submitted to Heuer Publishing in July. I'll submit Survival Island! to them as soon as they make a decision on Fear of Clowns. I'll be submitting my latest full-length comedy to Pioneer this month. And I'll be ready to submit my airport comedy Thirty Minutes Till Boarding to Pioneer shortly after it receives its world premiere in March.

So I could hit that goal just with what I've already got written (or nearly written).

Of course, if any of those get rejected, I'll be a setback. But I'll still have time to complete one play and get it through the submission and editing cycles before the end of this year.

Keep your fingers (and toes and eyelashes) crossed!

3) Brush up my Shakespeare.

I've got to be honest. I've never been a big fan of the bard. And it's not for lack of trying. I saw many, many Shakespeare productions over the twenty-some years I lived in Colorado Springs. TheatreWorks did a particularly good job with them through their end-of-summer Shakespeare in the Park program.

And I've always recognized old Will as a great writer. As a writer myself, I really need to know him better. It's just that I've always struggled with the language.

But this year I realized that if I really want to "get" Shakespeare, then I've got to put in the work. And I finally want to.

First up is Twelfth Night. I've got the PBS recording of last summer's production in New York's Central Park queued up on our DVR. I've got a copy of the original text. I've got a good modern language translation. Now all that's left is to go through them, side by side, until the story and the characters--most of all, the language--come alive for me as they have for so many others.

I can't wait to dive in.

4) Post more frequently.

I've tried multiple ways to market myself beyond what my publishers do for me. But almost none of them have been successful.

About the only one that has been is this blog. I frequently receive emails through the links I provide in my posts and on my contact page. I also see my comments about my plays quoted in newspaper articles and promotional materials put out by the theaters producing those plays.

Sure, I've kept this blog going for 15 years. And I've fulfilled my original vow of writing at least one post every month. The problem is that I tend to write them in clumps. I'll put off writing for weeks at a time, then dropping three or four posts at one time.

I believe this feast or famine mentality is making is tough for my readers to keep up. So I'm going to do better. I'm going to make time to post as soon as I have something to post about.

I hope this ups my readership. I know it'll up my readers' sanity.

5) Don't sweat the small stuff.

I always throw in one touchy-feely goal each year, and this time I want to focus on how I react to setbacks, both major and minor. Like a lot of people, I get stressed out when things don't go my way. I worry about what's going to happen. And I spend too much mental energy thinking up ways to counter them.

Of course, most of the time, things turn out fine anyway.

So I want to start shrugging off those setbacks as soon as they hit. I'm sure this'll help with my stress levels as well as my health. And those are two very good things.

A look back at 2025

In January, it'll be two years since I went full-time into writing. And it still feels too good to be true.

Not that it's all fun and games. Writing is hard. Really hard.

Sometimes, when I'm struggling to come up with a new idea for a play or to fill a gaping plot hole I've dug for myself or to breathe life into a dull, cliched character, I'm tempted to chuck it all and deliver pizzas for a living.

But then there are those times when the ideas flow, when all the pieces fall into place, when the characters take on a life of their own, and I'm reminded once again that I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing with my life.

So I've got to keep reminding myself that the goals I set at the start of the year don't really matter. Only the writing matters.

Which is especially important this year because I fell short on almost every goal.

Here are those goals:

1) Finish six plays.

Nope. I knew this was an aggressive goal when I made it on New Year's Day. The most plays I'd ever written in one year was five. But that had been the previous year, and I figured I could ride the momentum train and crank out one additional play this year.

As a matter of fact, I only finished four: Mall Madness, Thirty Minutes Till Boarding, A Fine-Feathered Murder, and Mouse in the House.

It wasn't due to a lack of trying. Except for holidays and the few vacation days I took, I wrote for four hours every weekday of the year. If I happened to miss the mark one day, I made up for it on the weekend. So I wrote a lot.

And I didn't waste a lot of time brainstorming. After finishing a play, I almost always locked in on another play within a week or so.

The fact is it's taking me longer to write plays. Thirty Minutes Till Boarding was a monster. With forty characters, a ninety-minute run time, and a ton of interactive vignettes to juggle, it took me almost four months to get the play just right.

My current play too is taking a while (and no, I'm going to tell you what it's about just yet). Although it's a comedy, it goes a little deeper than most of my plays, with complex relationships and an intricate plot that I'm sure audiences are really going to dig.

So yeah, I'm not quite as productive as I'd hoped. But I feel like my plays are richer and more mature than ever, and if failing to meet an arbitrary goal is the price I've got to pay, I'll do it. Gladly.

2) Publish six plays

Close but no cigar. I only published five, the same number as last year, which was a record-breaking year. Those plays were: Route 66, Too Many Ghosts, The Worst Fairy Tale Ever, Mall Madness, and A Fine-Feathered Murder.

If Pioneer had accepted Survival Island!, I would have made it. But that's okay. Five plays in one year is still pretty amazing--and enough to keep my career moving forward. I'll take the (almost) win.

3) Get a picture book accepted for publication

Swing and a miss. This goal is a perfect example of how much priorities can change in twelve months. 

When I started writing this post and looked back at the goals I'd set for myself, I was shocked that this one had even made the list.

I mean, it feels like it's been years since I've seriously pursued picture book writing. But looking back in my email folder, I see that I submitted Okie and Firecracker to my agent in September 2024. And since the book publishing industry is so slow (much slower than the play publishing market), I figured at that time that I still had several more months to wait.

Well, those months have come and gone and guess what the response has been. Crickets. Not only haven't I heard from the publishers that my manuscript was submitted to, I haven't heard from my agent.

I suppose I might submit another manuscript to him some time, but I've had exactly zero success with the three I've sent him so far. So getting a picture book published just isn't a priority for me anymore. Not when my playwriting career is on fire.

4) Foster gratefulness

Kinda sorta. This was my touchy-feel goal for the year. And of course that means it's impossible to quantify.

How do I feel I did? Okay, I suppose. When I got frustrated with major setbacks or the little annoyances that plague everyone in their day-to-day life, I did try to remind myself of all the blessings I enjoy: good health, a loving family, enough money to pay the bills (almost). But it wasn't always at the forefront of my mind.

I still think gratitude is immensely important. It's just not going to be a specific goal for me going forward. There are too many other areas in my life that need improvement (as my darling wife will be happy to tell you).

5) Spend more time with Honey

Success. If I had to choose only one goal to meet this year, this was the one. As I explained last year, Honey the Wondermutt is getting up there in years (she'll be twelve in January), and I want to make the most of the years we have left.

However, she's not a playing dog. She never really understood Fetch (when I'd throw something to her, she's usually try to bury it so that I couldn't take it away ago). And she really doesn't like toys.

But she loves her daily walks (we call them her daily sniffs, because she spends more time sniffing around bushes and trees than actually walking). And she really, really loves it when I give her belly rubs.

So that's what I did. Could I do more? Sure, and I will. But I'm happy with the times we shared this year, and I look forward to at least a few more years before she passes over that fabled rainbow bridge.

A look ahead to 2025

It's always the same thing. Every year about this time, the major media outlets collect a purportedly random sample of the general population and breathlessly ask them the same question:

What resolutions have you made for the New Year?

About half those people come up with some inspiring, aspirational goals that promise to get them back in shape, buy them some quality time with their family, and cure their bad breath.

The other half of the people take a more practical approach. They refuse to make any resolutions, explaining that they're all a waste anyway since everyone gives up two weeks in.

I'm somewhere in between.

I recognize how difficult it can be to stay true to such life-changing objectives. But I also recognize how important it is to try to improve ourselves, all through out lives.

That's why I don't call what I make "resolutions." I call them "goals." To me, at least, that makes them sound less threatening, less final. 

No, I don't always meet my goals by the time I say I will. But you know what? I've found that I often meet them years later.

In 2022, I set a goal of becoming an adjudicator for the ariZoni Theatre Awards. I didn't make it that year, but I did the following year. 

In 2019, I set the goal of leading a workshop at the Arizona Thespian Festival. I didn't get in that year, but I did in 2023.

And, in one my longest gestating goals, in 2016, I'd hoped to publish both Kill the Critic! That finally came to pass last year.

So I think it's important for you to set yearly goals for yourself. Even if you don't achieve them right away, just the act of putting them down in black and white makes them more likely to happen in the first place.

And so with that bit of unasked for advice, I give you my goals for 2025. 

1) Finish six plays.

Admittedly, this is an aggressive goal, one more than the number of plays I finished last year. But I can't let up. Now that I'm trying to make an actual living at writing, this level of productivity has to be the new normal.

2) Publish six plays

This I have less control over. I may write the greatest play ever written, but if it doesn't meet the needs of my publishers, they're not going to publish it. So it's vital for me as I'm writing to keep in mind what the market needs. And for the amateur market, that largely means plays that are easy to produce: few props, few or no lighting and sound effects, a single set. And always, always, some kind of hook that'll get eyeballs on the script and, eventually, butts in seats.

3) Get a picture book accepted for publication

I've been trying to break into the picture book market now for--whoa!--twenty-eight years. Some of those years I'd write three of four manuscripts that I submitted to publishers (and were promptly rejected). Other years I didn't write a thing.

But now that I'm writing full-time, I've decided to kick start my picture book writing again. In October, I submitted a humorous picture book titled Okie and Firecracker to my agent, Stephen Fraser at the Jennifer Di Chiara Agency. I haven't heard back from him yet (which reminds me, I really need to check in with him!), but I assume it's still making the rounds of the New York publishing houses.

In the meantime, I'm allowing the ideas for some new picture books to simmer in the back of my brain. The last picture book only took me a week to write so it fit in nicely between plays, when I'm often stuck for ideas and need to fertilize my gray matter by working (and playing) in a different genre for a while.

4) Foster gratefulness

Lately, I've tried to include a more touchy-feely goal in my yearly to-do lists. Last year I focused on mindfulness. This year, I'm going to focus on gratefulness.

As a perfectionist, I find it all too easy to obsess about things that are going wrong. But there's a lot more going right in my life right now and I want to boost that by reminding myself of those things. If anything can bring more good into my life, it's being thankful for the good I already have.

5) Spend more time with Honey

I haven't written much about Honey the Wondermutt on these pages, and I should. She's been a wonderful part of our lives for ten years now. And that passing of time has been weighing on me more heavily this last year.

Honey's a lab/beagle mix that our daughter Ashley got from a shelter in Tulsa when she lived there. We don't know much about her previous life. But we know she was abused. She has a scar on one of her back legs to prove it, probably from being tied up by a chain.

She was super scared at first. So scared of the world that she didn't want to go for walks. So scared of me that if I came into the room where she was, she would leave.

But eventually she came around. She learned to love walks. and when I started giving her pieces of my banana, she learned to love me as well.

A year later Ashley ended up in Tucson. A year after that we ended up in Phoenix. Ashley moved in with us after she lost her job in late 2018 and Honey quickly made herself at home in our home. She loved watching the neighbors go by from our courtyard. She loved running around our backyard (when she wasn't digging holes in it). She loved sniffing every single plant, it seemed, on our walks around the neighborhood. But most of all, she loved sunning herself on our back patio.

And that's why, when Ashley moved back to Tucson in 2023, she left Honey with us. It was the hardest decision she'd ever made in her life, and the most unselfish. But we all knew that between Ashley's job and her newfound passion for trail running, the alternative was to keep Honey cooped up alone in a tiny apartment for twelve hours a day, and she'd never be happy with that. Not after she'd experienced the doggy glory of rolling in fresh-mown grass or sticking her snoot in the perfumy richness of a lantana plant.

Honey turns eleven at the end of this month. She doesn't run like she used to. She's too stiff for that. But she still finds much to be happy about. And that's why this year I want to carve more time out of each day to just be with her, to savor the quiet moments as well as the playful moments, while she's still with us.

So, yes, it's important to me to learn to be grateful. But I expect the one who's going to teach me is Honey.

A look back at 2024

Wow, what a year. What a crazy, messed-up, wonderful year.

A scant 364 days ago, when I first laid out my goals for 2024, I thought I'd de spending my weekdays the usual way. Start the day by fighting the morning commute. Grind out 8 or 9 or 10 hours at my technically challenging but often boring day job. Fight the evening commute back home. Squeeze in a couple hours for dinner and TV with my wife. Then try to crank out a couple pages of writing before collapsing into bed, utterly exhausted.

It worked. I mean, I built my playwriting career that way. But it wasn't fun. It wasn't fulfilling.

Then January 17 happened and everything changed. For that was the day I got laid off from my day job. I looked for a new job for several months, but at the age of 60, I knew I wasn't exactly a hot commodity. So it didn't surprise me that no offers came.

And that's how I became a full-time writer. Not by making a bold decision to quit my job or by falling into a pile of money from a long lost uncle or winning the lottery. No, I was pretty much forced into it, with a pink slip in one hand and a cardboard box of desktop photos under my arm.

It's been nothing short of wonderful.

Why? Well, I can't explain it any better than Gloria Steinem did years ago: "Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else."

That's exactly how I've always felt. And now, I have much more time not to feel I should be doing something else.

That additional writing time has really paid off. Sure, I've been writing a lot more plays. But more importantly, I've been writing better plays.

Having a longer stretch of time to write each day has allowed me to dive even deeper into my stories, to really think about what motivates my characters, to make their actions more compelling, to make their endings more satisfying.

And guess what. It has also helped me achieve two of my goals for the year.

So with that painfully awkward segue, let's see how I did with those now seemingly ancient goals:

1) Finish three plays

Success. When I thought I'd only be writing part-time, this goal seemed quite aggressive. But writing full-time, it turned out to be a piece of cake. As it turned out, I finished five. And one of them, my backstage comedy Bringing Down the House, is already a big hit, booking 38 productions in its first five months of publication.

I'll take that any day.

2) Publish three plays

Success. Again I went well beyond my goal, publishing five new plays. That makes this my most productive year yet.

Those plays are:

George Washington Ate My Homework

Bringing Down the House

Freaky Tiki

The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct

Kill the Critic!

On the other hand, two of the plays were held over from 2023, when they'd first gotten accepted for publication. On the other hand, I'll be heading into 2025 with three new plays in the editing queue at Pioneer so my backlog is growing, as they say in the biz.

Those plays are:

Too Many Ghosts

The Worst Fairy Tale Ever

Route 66

3) Travel to Hawaii

Failure, and for the second year in a row. But this year it wasn't my fault. I got laid off, remember? And while that allowed me to live the professional lifestyle I've always wanted, it did mean Tammy and I had to cut back on expenses.

The first to go was restaurants. We used to love dining out, trying an exciting new place or revisiting an old favorite every weekend. Giving that up hurt. But pricey trips to places like Palm Springs or San Diego, had to go as well. That hurt only a little but less.

That doesn't mean we're cooped up in the house every day. We do go to local festivals, especially if they involve the blues, Greek food, or wine. As an adjudicator for the ariZoni Theatre Awards, I'm able to see eight or nine plays a year for free. And Tammy and I support our daughter Ashley by cheering her on at the three or four ultramarathons she runs each year. These usually take place in gorgeous locations throughout Arizona and the Southwest and we share the costs with Ashley, making this an economical way to explore a part of the country we love.

Maybe we'll be able to travel again in a couple years, after I've built up my play portfolio a little more. In the meantime, I'm happy to travel vicariously by practicing my Italian every day and watching the occasional Rick Steves rerun.

4) Be more present

Okay, this is a tricky one. When I made this goal, I noted that there was no way I could possibly measure it. The only way I'd know whether I'd met it or not was to be honest with myself and judge whether I'd really gotten out of my head enough. And looking back over the last twelve months, I though I could honestly say: Sort Of.

I mean, I'm getting better. I'm taking more time to enjoy meals, to really think about what I'm eating and savoring every bite. And when Tammy and I walk our dog, the illustrious supermutt Honey, I've been focusing on the beautiful views around me rather than all the things I have to do when the walk is over.

But then I looked back at my goals over the last several years and realized I wrote almost the exact same thing in 2022, even down to the details about meals and walking Honey.

So maybe I didn't make any progress this year. Either way, I've got a long way to go. And that's why I'll keep working at it in the new year, even if I don't make it an official goal. After all, mindfulness--along with finding your purpose and fostering meaningful relationships--is one of the keys to living the Good Life. And I've already got the other two.

A look ahead to 2024

I've got to tell you, it's getting tougher and tougher to pick my goals for the new year. The problem (and I know it sounds like a first world one) is that I'm actually pretty happy with my life right now.

I eat healthy (not as much fish as I'd like--my wife hates the stuff and so refuses to make it--but I squeeze it in when I can). I meditate regularly, which has greatly reduced my stress levels. I'm getting my writing in every day. And, miracle of miracles, even my doctor is satisfied how much exercise I do.

But a big reason I got to this point is because I set goals for myself in the past. And so, if I want to continue to improve my career, my health, my quality of life, I've got to continue to challenge myself in all of those ways. So here we go:

1) Finish three plays

Of course, I've got to start with a writing goal. And this one is the most important one to keep my career on track (and my royalties growing!).

I'm almost my done with my latest play, a time travel comedy, which I'll tell you more about soon (don't touch that bat dial!). That gives me almost twelve months to finish two more plays.

Normally, it takes me about four months to write a play. Once I get going, that is. But I often struggle with the concept, beat myself up for a month or two while I try to make it work, then abandon it in a fit of boredom before moving on to another play. And that can waste a month or two in itself.

So I think finishing three plays is doable. I leave the next one for my stretch goal.

2) Publish three plays

Of course, the next step after writing a play is getting it published. And as I mentioned yesterday, I've got a head start on this goal because my climate change allegory The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct should be coming out any day now.

There's also Bringing Down the House, my commissioned play which I finished in October. I can't submit it to my publisher yet, but I will after I see the premiere in March and give it one final polish.

And then there's that time travel comedy, which I'll submit for publication as soon as I finish it. If these last two get accepted for publication, then I'll reach the goal even without counting the new plays I'll be writing. I could be aggressive and set the goal at four, but nah. I'll be very, very happy if these three (or any three) get published.

After all, it'll represent a 300% increase from last year.

3) Travel to Hawaii

I know, I know. I made this a goal last year and failed. But it's going to happen this year, ho'ohiki wau.

We've set the dates. We've lined up a sitter for Honey the Wonder Dog (our ever helpful daughter Brooke). And we'll be booking the hotel soon. All we have to do is a little more noi'i.

Of course, we do have other travel plans for the year. Tammy and I will be traveling with our daughter Ashley to support her at her ultra-marathons in Flagstaff and some rodent-inspired town in southern Utah. And we always try to visit SoCal at least once a year, either San Diego or Palm Springs,

But of course, Hawaii is the one we're most excited for (I'm even starting to learn Hawaiian, can you tell?). We can't let this trip slip away again.

4) Be more present

This is a big one. My mind is usually buzzing with so many things that I often fail to focus on what's right in front of me, whether that's a conversation with my family, a movie, or a particularly tasty dinner.

But if there's one thing I've learned from my meditation app over the last few years, it's this: The present moment is precious. More than that, it's sacred. And really, it's the only thing any of us really have. So I really need to work on this.

There's just one problem. When December 31 rolls around, how will I know if I've met this goal? There's no app to count how many minutes I've spent being present. No bathroom scale to measure my focus.

So all I can do, when I come to my year-end wrap-up, is be honest myself whether I truly made an effort to be present and whether I saw any improvements in my life as a result.

And now that I look back, I see that I'd made this a goal for myself just two years ago. I guess I would have remembered that if only I had, you know, focused.

A look back at 2023

 

Stop the world, I want to get off!

Or maybe just slow the spinning a little bit. I mean, seriously. I've made it through sixty of these solar revolutions now, and I swear this was the shortest one yet.

Still, I have nothing to complain about. Theater is back and bigger than ever, and my playwriting career is thriving.

But how did I do with my goals for the year, which I proudly posted on this page exactly 364 days ago and have long since forgotten? Let's take a look...

 1) Publish four new plays

No. I ended up only publishing one, How to Enchant a Bookshop. And the only other play I finished writing this year (Bringing Down the House) was written on commission so I can't submit it to my publisher until after it premieres in March.

It's not that I haven't been writing. I have. In fact, I'm pretty sure I met my goal of writing 90 minutes every day. If there was a day when I knew I wouldn't be able to write (vacations, Christmas), I worked ahead to make sure I averaged 90 minutes per day.

And yes, sometimes that means writing in the back seat of the car while we're driving to our daughter's place in Tucson or a week at the beach in San Diego.

I just think I'm taking more time to write a play. I'm putting extra effort to develop my characters, and polish the dialogue, and make sure that everything flows in a natural way. I guess I like it that way.

In any case, I'm very close to finishing my latest play, a time travel comedy, so I'll soon have two plays in the publishing queue.

And then there's The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct. I finished that two years ago but it only got accepted for publication this year and won't actually be published until early 2024.

So I'm really excited for the new year. I may have fallen short in the number of new releases this year, but I've got a great head start on 2024.

2) Hit 10K Steps Every Day

Almost. I missed only 25 days over the year and 7 of those came in January when my smartwatch was new and I was still getting used to tracking my steps. By the time December rolled around, I managed to have a perfect month, hitting 10,000 steps every day. And I ended up with an average of 11,405 steps per day for the entire year. Not bad.

My informal goal of hitting 250 steps per hour (out of 10 hours per day) has been a lot harder to achieve. I only had four perfect weeks during the year, but I quickly discovered that this goal is wildly unrealistic and can actually put a damper on your personal relationship (nothing like getting up from a restaurant meal with your wife to squeeze in those extra 100 steps you need before the hour runs out).

 So while it's important to keep walking throughout the day, and has really helped me feel better and have more energy, I don't want to be obsessive about it either.

3) Work with an Online Italian Tutor

Not even close. I just got too busy. It was impossible to a weekly session with a tutor.

Or at least that's what I tell myself. The real reason is I chickened out. I know in my heart that the only way to become truly fluent in a foreign language is to speak it a lot, especially with someone who's native to the language. I just can't get myself over the hump of actually committing to a particular tutor and meeting time.

But I did continue to develop my reading and listening skills by following a boatload of Italian Instagram accounts.

4) Travel to Hawaii

Nope. It was a simple matter of money. I didn't have any.

But my plays are doing really well this year, and it looks like the royalty check I'll be getting in May will cover not only the usual debts I accrue over the previous twelve months and some desperately needed home improvements, but a week-long trip to the islands. (Thank you, Pioneer!)

We're now planning a trip to Oahu in September, when the weather is perfect and the tourists are largely gone. It's going to be kupanaha.

Wrapping up

So I went 0 for 4--not a great year for goal reaching. But it's not all bad. That's because I managed to achieve two goals that I'd failed to achieve in 2022 and which I'd left off my list for this year.

The first was leading a workshop at the Arizona Thespian Festival. I don't know what changed, but after submitting my Hero's Journey workshop for several years and not getting any response, they finally gave me a big thumbs this year. I've reported on my experience elsewhere, but let me just state for the record that it was well worth the wait.

The second was to see more plays. Similar to my experience with the Thespian Festival, I'd applied to be an adjudicator with the ariZoni Theater Awards last year with no response. Well, for whatever reason, I got accepted this yea. So far I've seen five productions, and while I'm not allowed to express my opinions on them here (the ariZonis are much stricter than Colorado's Henry Awards ever were), I can say that the experience has been a blast.

I finally feel like I'm getting plugged in to the local theater scene. And that's what makes this year feel like a huge success instead of a letdown.

Maybe I'm just bad at picking goals?

A look ahead to 2023

It's been tough coming up with goals this year. I guess it's because I'm pretty happy with my life. Or maybe it's because the parts I'm not happy with I don't really see a way out of.😄

Of course, I want to focus on my writing. But after two years of being stuck in the house, I'm ready to stretch my wings and fly. Or something. So I'm limiting myself to just one writing-related goal this year and trying to think outside the box to come up with things that will expand my figurative (and hopefully literal) horizons.

1) Publish four new plays

I can't count on beating or even matching my record of five new plays published last year. And besides, I'd be really happy with four. So that will be my first goal.

I'd like to become a better writer as well. Over the last few years, I've moved away from the smart alecky, zinger-type humor of Million Dollar Meatballs toward the more heartwarming, character-based humor of Whole Latte Love and It Happened on Route 66. And I'd like to continue down that path. But it's hard to quantify. So let me jus keep that as an informal goal.

2) Hit 10K Steps Every Day

As I've previously mentioned, I started working out on an elliptical half an hour a day at the start of COVID. What else was I going to do with the extra time not needing to commute to work?

Well, now that I'm back at the office, I'm glad to say I still manage to carve out time every day to run or ellip or whatever you call what you do on an elliptical (besides sweat).

Now it's time to step it up. And no, I'm not getting a stair climber (pun very much intended). Instead, I'm going to walk more. And the Google Watch my wife got me for Christmas is going to help me keep track.

Already, that 250 step per hour goal that came as a default with the watch has worked wonders to get rid of the leg stiffness that's the bane of my very sedentary day job (my sedentary night job too). But it's impossible to hit that goal every day, what with hour-long meetings and movies and church. So I'll aim for something I believe I can hit: that magical 10,000 steps per day.

3) Work with an Online Italian Tutor

The other daily practice I picked up during COVID was studying Italian. I started with Duolingo, which I've found to be much more useful than a lot of critics have claimed (for one, choose typing over those all-too-easy word tiles).

But it helps to have other sources of learning. For me, that has been Coffee Break Italian, a podcast in which the ever entertaining Mark and Francesca explain all those grammar rules that the green owl leaves out out and which allows me to hear la bella lingua spoken by a native rather than a creepy assortment of computerized voices.

What I haven't done is converse with a real live person. But I've discovered that Instagram is teeming with Italian teachers charging reasonable fees for personalized courses, most of which include the opportunity to chat in a friendly, non-judgy environment. All I need is il coraggio to sign up and--gulp!-- really talk. This is the year to go for it.

4) Travel to Hawaii

One of the biggest regrets in my life has been the lack of traveling I've done. I took a couple of work trips to Singapore earlier in my career and I've traveled fairly extensive around the United States. But I've never been to Mexico or Europe or Africa or any of a hundred other places you could name. There just never seemed to be enough time or money.

But COVID wakened something inside me. A wanderlust perhaps. Or maybe just the desire to get out of the house. Like way far out of the house.

My wife's and my first pick? Hawaii. We've never been there either, but my daughter has. Just last year, in fact. And she loved it (even if she did skip the must-see Pearl Harbor Memorial).

Palm trees. Beaches. Volcanoes. What's not to love?

Italy next year. But this year, it's got to be the Aloha State.

Can anyone recommend a good resort?

A look back at 2022

Another year come and gone. Normally, about here, I would start to wax poetic, but this year I don't have time. I'm too busy writing.

Really. This was the year I decided to refocus my writing efforts on plays after a two-year hiatus during which I was lured away by the siren song of Hollywood and New York, writing screenplays and novels that got me both a manager an agent but zero traction in either of these fabled cities.

But those two years weren't a total bust. I learned that I love writing plays. And I love everything that goes along with that. The production photos. The newspaper reviews. The emails from directors asking for advice. And, last but far from least, the generous royalty checks.

And so I spent the entire year writing plays, plays, and only plays. Was it a success? Well, let's take a look at the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.

1) Complete three new full-length plays

Success. I completed exactly new full-length plays:

• My coffee shop/magic potion comedy, Whole Latte Love.
• My roadside diner romantic comedy, It Happened on Route 66.
• My Enchanted Bookshop prequel, How the Enchanted Bookshop Began. 

In between these plays, I wasted maybe a total of three months on plays that never went anywhere. But that's par for the course.

Actually, "waste" may be strong a word. No time writing is ever truly wasted. If nothing else, it's good practice. And besides, I may come back to these plays later and figure how to make them work. It took me years to get Million Dollar Meatballs and Trouble in Paradise Junction right.

2) Publish four full-length plays

Success. At the time I set this goal, it was very ambitious. The most plays I'd ever published in one year was three, which I achieved in both 2015 and 2017. So I wasn't quite sure I could get there.

But I did, publishing not just four but five new plays. Of course, it helped that one of the plays--The Last Radio Show--had been accepted by Heuer Publishing over a year ago and was way overdue. It also helped that my regular publisher, Pioneer Drama Service, proposed that I make a smaller cast adaptation of my play It's a Madhouse! shortly after it was published, allowing me to crank another whole play in just a few weeks that was guaranteed publication.

That one was called--wait for it--Madhouse!, a shorter, punchier title that matches the shorter, punchier feel of the play.

The other two plays? That would include the aforementioned Whole Lotta Love and It Happened on Route 66.

The best part is that all three plays are off to a super strong start, and I expect them to maintain a Million Dollar Meatballs level of success over the next few years.

3) Lead a workshop at the Arizona Thespian Conference

Failure. Sadly, this didn't happen and I don't know why. I applied to be a workshop presenter through the official website and I heard nothing back. Not a word. No a squeak. Not a peep.

I'd still love to present my popular workshop on the three-act structure in Star Wars and Legally Blonde, which was a big hit at the Colorado Thespian Festival, but at this point I'm at a loss as to how to proceed.

4) See more plays

Failure. Can you believe this didn't happen either? I never heard back from the ariZoni Awards committee, with whom I'd applied to be a judge with. I'm starting to think the Arizona theater scene it very cliquey and closed to newcomers, which is crazy considering that the vast majority of people here came from out of state.

But I'm not going to cry into my pillow--or anyone else's. Not going to plays has left me more time to keep up with the vast amount of new stuff getting pumped out by the streamers every month. And I watched some great ones. Life and Beth. The Crown. Dead to Me (my favorite of the bunch--wasn't that finale amazing?). And yes, despite an initial resistance, I too have fallen completely under the sway of The White Lotus (how can you go wrong with a bunch of Richie Riches on vacation in beautiful Italy, especially when there are dead bodies involved?).

Anyway, I've found that watching these shows has inspired my writing even more than plays used to. I only have one problem.

What am I going to watch now?

5) Be more present

Half success. This hasn't been an easy one, but I can honestly say I've made significant strides in this area. I take the time to enjoy my meals rather than rushing through them. When I walk the dogs with Tammy, I make the effort to look around and really appreciate the sights and sounds of our suburban neighborhood.

My stress level at work and home has improved as well. When I feel those old familiar feelings of tension well up inside me, I pause, take a deep breath (or ten), and remind myself that this too shall pass.

I give the credit to my daily meditation practice through Insight Timer. And that was just with meditating five minutes a day.

I've since bumped up my average to ten minutes a day and have started focusing more on sound baths rather than guided breathing exercises for that extra boost of calmness and stability.

Even if this next year isn't the most productive in terms of writing or publishing plays, it's guaranteed to be my calmest.

And that's a very good thing.

A look ahead to 2022

I can't lie. I'm excited for the New Year. Despite the various crises threatening to destroy our way of life, and there are a lot of them--climate change, increasing political extremism, and the neverending pandemic--there are a lot of good things too.

I truly believe most people are good at heart. Technological advancements are allowing us to make progress on many of the health and environmental problems we face. And then there's puppies. You've got to love puppies.

On a more personal front, 2022 offers a fresh opportunity for me to pursue my newly rekindled passion for playwriting. For this reason, I've focused almost entirely on playwriting goals this year--with one personal goal thrown in for good measure.

New directions

1) Complete three new full-length plays

My last two full-length plays took me three months each to write. And I've got a good start on my next play. If I can maintain this level of productivity--and there's no guarantee that I can--I should be able to finish four plays in 2022. But I'll keep my goal to a more manageable three.

2) Publish four full-length plays

This would represent a new record for me. My previous record was publishing three plays in one year, which I achieved in both 2015 and 2017.

But I've got a head start here too, since Heuer Publishing has already accepted The Last Radio Show of publication. And I've got two more plays completed: The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct, which I submitted to Pioneer Drama Service in December, and It's a Madhouse!, my commissioned play which I plan to submit to Pioneer after it premieres at Belmont Day School in March. There's no guarantee that those will get published, but if they do, I would only have to publish one play that I have yet to complete.

3) Lead a workshop at the Arizona Thespian Conference

I loved teaching at the Colorado Thespian Conference when I lived in that state. The interaction with students was so much fun and their enthusiasm for all things theatrical was infectious. I've been aware that AZ has its own version of the conference, but I only recently learned how to apply to be a workshop presenter. You can bet I'll be submitting my application in time for this year's conference in November.

4) See more plays

This shouldn't be hard to achieve. I haven't seen any plays since the beginning of the pandemic. But things are starting to open up again (or they were before omicron reared its ugly, spike-covered head, and I figure it's time to start venturing forth. Toward this end, I recently volunteered to be a judge for the ariZoni Awards, the AZ version of the Henry Awards which I judged for when I lived in Colorado. I haven't gotten my assignments yet--that won't happen until the new season is planned out in June--but I look forward to returning to the theater this fall. 

5) Be more present

I'm actually pretty happy with my personal life these days. My health is excellent. I work out on an elliptical for a half hour every day, which has enabled me to shed 25 pounds from my peak weight. And my daily meditation practice, which I started in October 2020, has really helped me deal with the stress of my day job.

Sidebar: Need a good meditation app? I really like Insight Timer. It features a ton of internationally recognized meditation experts, its massive database of meditations is highly searchable, and it costs nothing to join.

But I need to start applying some of the lessons I've learned from meditating to the times when I'm not meditating. And the most important of these is being present. Whether it's eating, going for walks, or talking on the phone, I tend to rush through things, focusing on getting to the next item on my to-do list rather than on the here and now.

This goal differs from my goals in the past because it's not measurable. There's no target value--no Being Present Factor--that'll allow me to determine whether I achieved this goal or not. But that doesn't mean it's not important. In fact, for this very reason it may be more important, even critical to my mental health and my enjoyment of life.

Therefore, I'm going to make focusing on the present my personal goal for the year. And next New Year's Eve, when I look back to see how well I met my goals for the year, I'll have to keep this one subjective.

Or am I focusing too much on the future again? 😉

A look back at 2021

Well, it was another crazy year. And not just because of COVID, although that didn't help.

Fortunately, my family managed to stay healthy. We got our shots and our boosters as soon as we could. I was also able to work from home for my day job all year, allowing me to spend what would have been my commute time for more productive projects--namely, working out and learning Italian. And that time working out (I use a elliptical) allowed me to see LOTS of movies and TV shows. Like many people, I fell in love with The Crown, The Queen's Gambit and Derry Girls.

But I fell short in one big area. My playwriting.

Literary dreams

This was the first year since I was first published in 2011 that I didn't have a new play released. And that's because for the first half of the year, I was focused on launching my (still non-existent) literary career.

As I've mentioned before, I managed to snag my first literary agent in March 2020, and for 15 months after that, I focused on writing novels.

My thought process was this. Sure, my plays were making money. But I'm a long ways from being able to support myself solely through playwriting--especially with the pandemic crippling public performances for a second year. If I wanted to become a full-time writer, I would have to find success in another field. And the most likely field, it seemed to me, was writing children's novels.

Most of my plays are written for young people to perform. And several of them lent themselves to being adapted to novels. So I found a literary agent with several big books under his belt and cranked out three novels (well, more like two and a half) in a little over a year.

The first novel was an adaptation of my play The Enchanted Bookshop. The second was an adaptation of my play Wicked Is As Wicked Does. And that half of one was an update to a middle-grade novel I'd first written over 20 years ago and which had won me a local writing award: Edison Young and the Ravenous Robosaur.

But a funny thing happened on the way to my literary success. It didn't happen. Not because my agent wasn't any good. He worked hard peddling my manuscripts to all the major publishers. It's just that none of them were interested in it.

Then an even funnier thing happened. I learned I hate writing novels. To be honest, they're a lot of work. They require a lot more words. And I get bored out of my skull writing descriptions. Give me dialogue (and a few choice stage directions) and day.

So I was torn. Do I pursue something that I love that may never support me? Or do I stick with something I don't love but has a greater chance of making me money?

It was about this time that I got word that my long-simmering play The Last Radio Show (first performed in 2016) got accepted for publication. And then Belmont Day School in Belmont, MA commissioned me to write a play.

The universe was sending me a sign.

So I decided to devote myself to playwriting. And I decided that, even if I would never get rich from it, if I can crank out a fair number of plays over the next few years, I might be able to make it full-time.

Well, guess what? Writing is actually fun again. And after just six months, I've already got a nice pipeline going. The Last Radio Show is in editing at Heuer Publishing and should come out in early 2022. My commissioned play--It's a Madhouse!--is in rehearsal. I just submitted my bext play--a large-cast comedy about dinosaurs--to Pioneer. And I'm well on my way on my next play.

So I no more novel writing goals for me next year. I'm going to focus on playwriting, with a goal of completing--and publishing--three.

Last year's goals

1) Sell a middle-grade novel series

None of the three series my agent pitched got sold. Call this one a big fat Fail.

2) Write the first book in a third middle-grade novel series

Success. This was my adaptation of Wicked Is As Wicked Does. This got the most positive feedback of any of my submission (one publisher called it "a really funny, irreverent story"). But sadly, no one bit.

3) Write another school play

Another success. I wrote not one but two: It's a Madhouse! and The Real Reason Dinosaurs Went Extinct.

4) Buy all my books from independent bookstores

With regards to this goal, I was a very good boy, buying all of my new books from my local indie bookshop, Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, or my favorite online bookseller, Alibris, which is essentially a conglomeration of hundreds of independent brick-and-mortar booksellers.

That is, until Christmas rolled around, and I needed a book--fast!--as a stocking stuffer for my wife. That's when I caved on my principles and coughed up $11.44 to purchase Mindy Kaling's Why Not Me? from Mr. Bezos. Maybe it'll help pay for a screw on his next space rocket.

Summing up

So my success rate was pretty good, almost 75% if you give me partial credit on that last goal. But I didn't achieve my main goal, which was to sell a book series.

At this point, I don't think that'll ever happen. And I'm okay with that.

After all, I've got a new play to finish.

A look ahead to 2021

As a writer, I always find it hard to set concrete goals for the year. A story idea that excites me now may not excite me three months from now, when I finally have time to work on it. 

And then there are the vagaries of the publishing world. So much of what we decide to write depends on what we've been able to sell. 

So I'm a little torn about this coming year. I have some ideas what I want to accomplish, but I have no doubt most of those goals will change before the year is half over.

But having some goals are better than having no goals. So consider these a snapshot of where I am today--and nothing more.

My new year's goals

1) Sell a middle-grade novel series

My agent is pitching two of mine right now: The Enchanted Bookshop and Edison Young. 

If I sell either one, then I'm going to be VERY busy. Publishers want to have the next few books in the pipeline before they launch the series in case the first one's a hit. And although I've mapped out where I want those series to go, I've only just begun the next book in each series.

2) Write the first book in a third middle-grade novel series

If I don't sell either series, then I'm going to need something else for my agent to pitch. That's why I'm currently adapting another play of mine as a novel (actually more like a chapter book).

Which one? None other than Wicked Is As Wicked Does. Although it hasn't been as successful as I'd hoped, I love the characters, and the story hints at a whole post-fairy tale world that would naturally lend itself to a series.

That title, though, is a little long. So I'm just going to name the series The Wickeds, and give a more detailed title to each book.

3) Write another school play

Plays are what launched my publishing career, and some of them are doing very well so I'd like to keep that going.

But which play? Well, I've got an idea I've playing around with for a few years, and it may finally be time to put it to paper. I don't want to give any details yet (nothing sabotages your excitement for a new work like talking about it), but I hope to share some once I get the first draft written.

4) Buy all my books from independent bookstores

This goal has nothing to do with my writing career. But it does have something to do with the community I want to be a part of.

Book publishers have actually done pretty well during the pandemic. But bookstores have not--independent bookstores even less. People stuck at home have found it all too easy to buy their books from Amazon and have them show up at their doorsteps a day or two later.

But that's not the way to promote a vibrant literary community.

The east valley of Phoenix, where I live, has a wonderful independent bookstore in Tempe, called Changing Hands Bookstore. They promote local authors, hold writing classes, sponsor book clubs--all the things needed to keep a literary community alive. They've also adapted to the pandemic pretty well, shifting over to contactless curbside service for those not ready to venture into the store itself. 

Now I love Amazon as much as the next guy. And I have to admit I bought way too many books from them last year.

But no longer. This year I'm going to buy 100% of my books from Changing Hands or, if I decide to go used, from one of the many independent bookstores on Alibris (they need love too!).

Summing up

I think that's enough goals for this year. Like I said, I'm sure they'll change as the year progresses. But at least I have a plan for now. Something to shoot for. Something to keep me going when the going gets tough.

After all, you don't have to reach your goals to be successful. You just have to keep reaching.

A look back at 2020

Longtime readers of this blog know I don't do resolutions. I do goals. They're more practical. More useful. More motivating.

For the purposes of this blog, my goals are mostly writing-related, but sometimes I throw in a health-related one as well. Because, after all, you can't be at the top of your writing game if you're not feeling and living your best.

Well, last year, I tried something different. Instead of broad, all-encompassing goals that were largely out of my control (get an agent!), I set more specific goals that were entirely within my control (submit queries to 100 agents).

I shouldn't have bothered. Why? Because I ended up reaching my real goal for the year, and did it well before meeting the arbitrary but exceedingly ambitious submissions goals.

1) Complete my first chapter book

Success. I finished the first in my (projected) book series based on my play The Enchanted Bookshop. This one had the three main Lits--Dorothy Gale, Tom Sawyer and Pollyanna--splorging into the novel Treasure Island in order to get gold that will help Miss Margie pay her rent.

2) Complete a second entry in the chapter book series

Failure. This didn't happen. I started a second book, this one based on Around the World in Eighty Days. I thought I had a concept, but I quickly ran into some hurdles I couldn't jump over and decided to come back to the story a later time, when I felt more inspired--or at least more jumpy.

And no, that time hasn't come yet.

3) Submit the first chapter book and series concept to 20 publishers

Failure. Middle-grade novel series are the domain of large publishers and most of those won't even glance at your manuscript if it's not represented. So I decided to hunt for an agent first.

4) Submit the chapter book to 100 literary agents

Success--sort of. I didn't make it to the full hundred. In fact, I only made it 37 before I reached my real goal for the year: landing an agent. As described elsewhere, the most excellent Stephen Fraser of the Jennifer DeChiara Agency offered to represent me in March and he acted quickly in submitting The Enchanted Bookshop to several large publishers, followed a few months later by his submission of my Edison Young series to many of the same publishers.

Turns out that even if I hadn't received an offer, it was unlikely I would have hit that magic number because I was limiting my search to agents that focus on children's literature and there's barely a hundred of those in the whole biz.

5) Submit the TV series to 100 managers

Failure. I didn't even send one. But that's okay because Stephen's agency has a staffer who specializes in selling their properties to Hollywood. The books series comes first, of course. But it's good to know that if it's a success, there's a pathway to bigger things.

6) Submit the TV series to 100 agents

Failure. See 5) above.

7) Write one more TV series episode

Success. I completed the origin story for the Lits in an episode featuring the indomitable Don Quixote. But until the books series finds a home, this script has nowhere to go.

8) Walk half an hour a day

Success--and then some. What with my day job and my writing time and my family time, it was nearly impossible to squeeze in some exercise time.

Then the pandemic hit, and I was forced (encouraged? allowed?) to work from home. That saved me a whole hour of commuting time every day, and I used half of that time to start working out on our elliptical a rather pricey purchase that had mostly sat unused for the year since we'd bought it. (The other half hour a day? I'm learning Italian through Duolingo.)

And, man, did it help! It got my blood pumping, shaved twenty pounds off my weight and even dropped my blood pressure by a few points (not as much as I would have liked, but still).

Four successes out of eight goals? Not too bad, I guess. More importantly, I'm excited for the new year. Due to the pandemic, publishers are slow in their responses and even slower in laying out cash for a new series. But now that a vaccine had been released, the end of that very long tunnel is in sight.

May all of us get there. Together.

A look ahead to 2020

As I said in yesterday's post, I'm feeling pretty good about the new year. I've got the material. What I don't have are the connections. So that's what I'm going to focus on this year.

Oh, I'll keep writing every day, of course. And I'm excited to start a new project after I finish the one I'm currently working on.

But I also need to make time to submit my stuff to the folks who can get it out there. And there are a lot of them, as you can tell by my list below.

And yeah, it's a longer list than last year. I may or may not sell the TV series this year, but at least I'll give myself some interim goals so that I can measure progress toward that goal. And this year, I'm stating those goals in terms I can control (submitting to a certain number of publishers) rather than something I can't (getting published).

1) Complete my first chapter book

The new project I referred to in my last post is a chapter book series based on The Enchanted Bookshop. My idea is for the TV series is to have each episode focus on one classic novel, with the main team of Lits (reduced to a more manageable three: Dorothy, Pollyanna and Tom Sawyer) "splorging" into the novel in order to help Miss Margie save her shop.

Well, the chapter books will mirror the series. Each episode will have an easy-to-read companion book with the same plot and characters. If I can't sell the TV series, then I'll try to sell the book series--and launch the TV series from that.

I started the first chapter book--an adaptation of the Treasure Island-based pilot--in November, and should have it all polished and ready to send out by the end of January.

2) Complete a second entry in the chapter book series

Middle-grade novels generally stand alone, but early-level chapter books are almost always sold as series, so if I do sell it to a publisher, I'll need to have additional entries ready to go.

I've already written the second episode of The Enchanted Bookshop TV series, and I expect it'll take me a couple months to adapt that one into a chapter book. I won't submit it separately. I'll just have it ready to go in case I sell the concept to a publisher.

3) Submit the first chapter book and series concept to 20 publishers

Like animation companies, some publishing houses accept direct submissions and I'll submit to all of them I can find. I don't think there are many.

4) Submit the chapter book to 100 literary agents

For those publishers that don't accept unsolicited material, I'm going to need to get an agent. I hear it can be as hard to get an agent as a publisher, but there's a 100% chance I won't get one if I don't submit to them at all.

That 100 number is arbitrary, of course, but is large enough to make it a serious effort. Once I get a rhythm going, I may end up submitting to a whole lot more. It all depends on how many agents are looking for fantasy-related chapter books.

5) Submit the TV series to 100 managers

As I said yesterday, I lost my Beverly Hills-based manager in November. And while I've gotten some interest from the animation houses I've approached, I've found that most of the big animation houses won't even look at your stuff without a manager or agent to act as gatekeeper. So I'll start looking for a new one next week.

6) Submit the TV series to 100 agents

Managers are easier to get than agents, but managers generally focus on developing their writers' careers. Agents are the ones who find and negotiate individual deals. It's even better to have both, though it can get expensive as both reps take a 10% cut.

I've never tried to get an agent in Hollywood, but this could be a great time to look for one. In April, the Writers Guild of America instructed its 20,000 members to fire their agents in protest of their predatory practices, and those agencies could now be looking for non-WGA members to fill out their slates.

Or it could be a horrible time, as the agencies may have written off writers altogether. Either way, I don't have to worry about being a scab as most animated series aren't even covered by the WGA but by IATSE instead.

7) Write one more TV series episode

I've got tons of ideas. And I'll need another script pretty quick if I'm invited to pitch my concept in person to a production company or network. Better to get it done now, before it's needed. And, if I feel especially ambitious, I may even get a third book adaptation completed from that.

8) Walk half an hour a day

With all these career-driven goals, it's important to step back and refocus on those things that are really important, like my health. Unfortunately, both my weight and blood pressure have inched up over the last year, largely because I haven't found time to exercise.

Well, that's got to change. Somehow, I've got to find the time to take care of myself. And if I do that, the other things will follow.

Final comments

Yep, it's going to be an insanely busy year. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

I may never succeed in selling The Enchanted Bookshop as a TV series. If I was a more practical person, I might give up entirely.

But every TV series is a longshot. And if this one is ever going to get made, now is the time. Netflix and Disney and the other streamers are buying stuff like crazy.

And let's face it, there's a lot of dreck out there for kids. Is there a place for something a little more thoughtful, a little more educational, a little more literary?

I guess I'll find out.

A look back at 2019

I don't know about you, but we're staying home tonight.

It's not that we don't ever go out on New Year's Eve. Once every three or four years, we head out to a nice seafood restaurant for lobster or scallops. But we usually end up regretting it. The restaurants are packed, the servers are rushed, and the bill, when you finally do get it, is usually stratospheric.

So we're going to stay home and cook lobsters on the grill. And eat snacks. And drink Prosecco. And play lots and lots of games. Our favorites? Apples to Apples, Cranium Whoonu and Logo Party (my wife and daughter always cream me in that last one).

That's one nice thing about having an adult daughter live with you. You always have a third player for those fast-moving three-player games.

But before we get into that, there's one little piece of business I need to take care of. Reviewing my goals for this year.

Or should I say goal? Avid followers of this blog know that last New Year's Day, I flushed my usual practice of making a list of five or six or seven writing-related items. Instead I set for myself one overriding goal:

1) Sell The Enchanted Bookshop as a TV series

Well, it didn't happen. But it wasn't for lack of trying.

As described here previously, I acquired a Hollywood manager back in May 2018. I worked with him closely for the first couple months of 2019, polishing the pilot script and getting it ready for pitching. I even put together a pitch bible giving the background of each of the characters and offering short synopses of eight additional episodes.

The script went out in February. My manager had some impressive contacts (he said), including development executives at a couple of the big streamers (you can probably guess the name of one of them).

Every couple weeks I'd call my manager for an update. And every couple of weeks he'd give me the same answer. No word yet.

After a while, he stopped picking up the phone when I called, but at least he'd return it a day or two later. And then he stopped returning my calls altogether. And responding to my emails.

I sent him the script for another episode, which tells the origin story of the Lits and features a special appearance by Don Quixote himself. He never responded.

I don't know what happened. But I'm guessing that he heard enough no's that he decided I wasn't worth his time anymore.

Which is fine. A lot of screenwriters go through several managers before they find one who works (oops, I meant "that works").

Anyway, I kept busy writing all through the spring and summer. I started--and abandoned--a feature script version of The Enchanted Bookshop. I started--and abandoned--a Christmas play set in The Enchanted Bookshop universe (yeah, you heard right, universe). I started--and abandoned--a children's TV series based on another one of my plays, Wicked Is As Wicked Does.

And I did one other thing. I started pitching to animation studios. As it turns out, you don't actually need a manager to approach a lot of the animation houses. I ended up emailing 97 of them. Seven requested the script. Four of them rejected it.

So things are looking up. My 18-month contract with my manager ended in November. That frees me up to approach new managers. Seven minus four means three animation houses are still considering my pilot. And I'm almost done with a new project I started late last year, one which may provide an alternate path to getting a TV series.

I may not have achieved the one goal I set for myself this year. But the dream isn't dead either. I've got a new plan, a new energy, and a new year in which to get there.

But more on that next year...

A look ahead to 2019

We're having an incredibly cold winter here in Arizona. For the first time since I moved here two years ago, we have snow.

Okay, the snow is 30 miles east and about 4000 feet up in the Superstition Mountains, but I can see it.

And that's as close as I want to get to it.

Anyway, it's New Year's Day. I've already taken stock of my goals from last year, so now it's time to lay out some goals for the bright, shiny new year ahead of us.

I'm going to go out on a limb this time. Most years, I post a list of five to eight goals, but this year I'm keeping it simple. I'm only going to set one goal.

It's such a longshot that I've got to focus all of my energies on making it happen to give it a chance of happening at all.

If it does happens, it changes everything. If it doesn't--well, the rest will take care of itself. Pioneer is bringing out the musical version of The Enchanted Bookshop later this year. I'm waiting to hear their decision on my pirate play. I've got a couple of plays with other publishers. And the original version if The Enchanted Bookshop continues to do well, booking about four productions a week.

What is that goal? Just this:

1) Sell The Enchanted Bookshop as a TV series

As I mentioned in my 2018 wrap-up, I wrote a pilot for a TV version of The Enchanted Bookshop. My manager really likes it, and after a couple more polish drafts, he's going to take it out on the town.

While the US film market is mostly closed to spec scripts right now, the TV market is wide open. This is mostly due to Netflix, which is flush with cash and snapping up everything--and everyone-- they can find. But other networks and streaming services are looking too.

If the pilot does get any interest, they're going to want to see a detailed pitch. So that's what I'm working on now. It includes a description of the characters, a detailed synopsis of the pilot, a brief synopsis of the first six to eight episodes and, most importantly, my vision for the show.

At that point, the decision will be made whether to greenlight the show or not.

So I'm excited. Whether the show happens or not, it's going to be an adventure.

A look back at 2018

It's New Year's Eve, time again to review my goals for the year and see how well I did.

Overall, the year was a mixed bag. I hit one goal and missed the rest, but the one I hit was a biggie so I'm feeling pretty good.

Here are the goals I posted on New Year's Day:

1) Get some traction on my Enchanted Bookshop screenplay

A year ago, I had left this goal pretty vague, refusing to define exactly what "traction" meant. I was thinking that a contest win or a request to read the script from a producer would count. But if you'd pinned me down, I would have said that my real goal was to get representation.

Well, that's exactly what happened. In May, I signed with Gravity Squared Entertainment in Beverly Hills, the management company that represents Homer Hickam, author of Rocket Boys (which became one of my favorite movies, October Sky).

Over the course of the year, I worked with them on a couple of screenplays, a movie version of The Enchanted Bookshop and a coming-of-age comedy about kids who sneak into an after-hours amusement park called Wonderland.

My manager sent out both scripts to a handful of places but didn't get any interest.  It seems spec scripts are a hard sell right now (when are they not?).

But last month, I finished a TV pilot for The Enchanted Bookshop, and he fell in love with it. We're now putting the final polish on it so it'll be ready to go out after the first of the year.

It's still a longshot, but I'm a lot further along than I was a year ago. Let's call this one a Success.

2) Complete two plays

For a long time, I'd wanted to write a pirate play but I couldn't figure out how to make it work. The problem is that historically, pirates tended to be male, while high school and middle school plays need most of the parts to be female.

That insanely prolific playwright Craig Sodaro came up with one successful approach. But I didn't want to copy him. I had to find a new way to do it.

Well, this year, I finally figured it out. The play would be about five pampered princesses who are forced to pose as pirates--and, in so doing, find the inner strength that didn't know they had.

The title? Real Pirates Don't Wear Tiaras.

I'm really happy with how the play turned out. But it was the only play I wrote this year.

Give me Half Credit for this one.

3) Publish three new plays

In August, Pioneer published my thirteenth play with them, a political satire titled Babka Without Borders. They did a fantastic job with the editing and artwork. But that was the only play I got published this year.

I didn't submit the pirate play until October so I'm still waiting to hear back from that one. And a couple plays that I submitted to other publishers got rejected.

Chalk this one up as a Fail.

4) Lead a workshop at the Arizona Thespian Festival

This year, I made a new push to get into this Phoenix-based conference, contacting all three of the organizers who were listed on their website. But I didn't get even so much as a no from them.

I don't know why it's so hard to break into this conference--the Colorado one was a piece of cake--but I'm guessing I need a personal recommendation form someone already involved with it.

If an opportunity opens up in the future, I'll jump at it. In the meantime, I'm going to move on from this one.

Another big fat Fail.

5) Develop one new play with a school or theatre group

At the end of 2017, a local teacher who had previously produced How I Met Your Mummy expressed an interest in working with me on a play. She wanted something that could be presented as a dinner theatre, and I came up with a play that pretended to be an awards dinner but would turn into a farce when a giant lobster escaped from the kitchen and attacked the wait staff.

While she loved the idea, in the end, we decided to go our separate ways. It would just take too much work for both of us, but we agreed to pursue something in the future. And I'm still looking for other schools to work with.

But in the meantime, we have to call this one a Fail.

Summary

One and a half hit out of five? Not a great percentage, if you want to look at it this way. But the one hit I got was a game changer, and I can't wait to see what the New Year brings.

A look ahead to 2018

I love New Year's Day. The year is so fresh, so new, so full of hope. Everything seems possible. All that's needed to make it possible is some sensible goalmaking and a lot of hard work.

The hard work is yet to come. But here are my goals for this year, whether sensible or not.

1) Get some traction on my Enchanted Bookshop screenplay

I'd always promised myself that if one of my plays became a hit, I would try to develop it into a film. Well, that finally happened last year. The Enchanted Bookshop burst out of the gate as soon it was released in August and it's been going gangbusters ever since.

It currently has 79 productions either already performed or scheduled, and if these numbers continue, it'll become one of the most produced plays in the country.

I wrote a handful of screenplays around a decade ago, but I never did anything with them. Oh, I paid for professional feedback, but that feedback was never positive enough to give me confidence that they could get produced. So the screenplays just sat on my hard drive--unsubmitted, unread, unproduced.

Well, not any more. This play has already proven itself on the stage and I feel it could be just as successful on the big screen (or more likely, the small screen). All I need to do is finish it, which should take another couple of weeks, and then I'll start submitting it like crazy.

I know it's still a million to one shot, but at this point I'll take anything to show I'm on the right track. A contest win, a request to read the script from a real-live producer. It's all good.

2) Complete two plays

This shouldn't be too hard, but it does require focus. It takes me about six months of writing 1.5 hours per day to finish a full-length play. So if I concentrate solely on writing new plays and don't get sidetracked by other projects (screenplays, revisions of older plays, changing plays midstream, etc.), I should be able to achieve this goal.

3) Publish three new plays

I'm already a third of the way toward this goal. My play The Purrfect Crime will be released by Pioneer Drama Service any day now.

That means I only have to get two more plays accepted for publication. I currently have one play in review at Pioneer, three plays at other publishers and the two new ones I hope to write. So as long as my hit rate stays above 33%, I should be able to reach this goal too.

4) Lead a workshop at the Arizona Thespian Conference

When I was still living in Colorado, I led workshops four years in a row at the very large and very successful Colorado Thespian Conference (including a hugely popular one on the Hero's Journey in Star Wars).

I was hoping to teach a similar class in my new home, but so far I haven't gotten any response from the organizers. In the new year, I'll redouble my efforts to put my name into consideration.

5) Develop one new play with a school or theatre group

Most of my plays are unproduced before they get published. But every year or so, I like to work with a school to develop and premiere one of my scripts. The director and students bring fresh ideas to the material, and the audience response gives me important feedback.

I have already been throwing around ideas with a local middle school that produced one of my plays in 2016. If we can agree on a premise and a date, it should be a go.

But I'm always open to working with other groups. If you're involved with a Phoenix-area school or theatre company and would like to participate in such a project, please email me by clicking here.