The start of a new year is a good opportunity to reflect on the past and look ahead to the future.

I am content with my writing in 2024 although, as ever, I wish I could dedicate more time to it. I wrote 70,000 words over the course of the year, although half of that total came in November and December. I have had three stories published and some more accepted for future anthologies, while I also feel I have grown as a writer. I am hoping to continue in this vein in 2025.

My main target for 2025 is to write my first novel or novella. I have spent the last two years focusing on anthologies, partly because writing short stories fits better with my other commitments and partly because it is a way of building up my profile. I have also used short-form fiction as a way of honing my writing skills.

While I am still going to keep an eye on anthologies, there seems to be considerably fewer of them these days. I have written stories for most of the ones that interest me in the furry fandom, so now is the time to try and write something longer. I do have a few ideas that I am hoping to flesh out, so we’ll see how it goes. I know it will be quite an undertaking and I may not succeed, but it’s certainly worth a try.

My other target for 2025 is to try and write more stories for podcasts, particularly The Voice of Dog and Dinner at Yiffany’s. My only two appearances on the former was with ‘The Year of the Dragon’, an old story that proved to be very popular, and ‘1725’ as part of a Holiday-themed collection. I need to focus on these outlets more.

Related to this, I am also hoping to publish more on SoFurry. I was delighted with the success of ‘Bingoing Mad’ over the New Year period and I have a few similar ideas for short stories. I fear I spend too long editing and not enough time writing, so I am going to use SoFurry to publish stories that require fewer edits.

I have learned so much from the beta readers who have generously reviewed my work over the last year. I am hoping to become part of a writing group in 2025 as I feel this will help me develop more as a writer. I would also like to beta read more myself too.

I launched this website in early 2024 as a response to the transience of social media and will work with a friend to spruce it up in the next few weeks. I am aware it’s far too basic and looks like it belongs in 2003, so he’s going to help me improve the design and general user experience.

Finally, I aim to review more literature on the likes of Goodreads, as well as run more writing panels at the furry conventions I attend. Writing is still an under-appreciated art form in the furry fandom and it would be great if we can increase its prominence. These things are simple things I can do to help, starting with ConFuzzled in May where the writing tracks we ran last year will return.