{"id":1446,"date":"2025-01-01T11:11:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T10:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/?p=1446"},"modified":"2025-01-01T11:22:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T10:22:17","slug":"goodbye-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/01\/goodbye-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"GOODBYE 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As we near the year end, we traditionally start by looking back on this year – and specifically, what I said this time last year, looking forward. You could call it \u201caccountability.\u201d I just call it \u201cmildly interesting.\u201d Take a look for yourself here: https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/01\/looking-forward-to-2024\/<\/a> and here\u2019s what I said 12 months ago, and my comments on that. And the fact that, one day into the New Year, I\u2019m already behind on my schedule tells you something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOOKS \u2013 FICTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JAN 2024: This is the year the Witford Market Mysteries gets released! Oh yes! Book One is in first edit, Book Two (part-written for NaNoWriMo last year) is about quarter written, Book Three is planned, and Book Four might be the Christmas episode I\u2019ve written and abandoned several times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GH Dec 2024:<\/em><\/strong> Ya. This time last year, I was looking forward to publishing the beginning of the Witford Market Mysteries. Well, that happened! The first book in the series was published (to Amazon, of course), in July 2024. The others? Not so much. The second book is about 2\/3 drafted.<\/em>
Also also… sales of fiction novels have been a little disappointing this year. I\u2019m going to use our \u2018shutdown\u2019 in February to work out what I want to do with long form fiction, going forward.<\/em>\ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BOOKS \u2013 NON-FICTION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JAN 2024: At the time of writing, I don\u2019t have any plans to write any more non-fiction books. I should do, because they always sell well, but there\u2019s nothing I\u2019m currently working on which would look good in a published book form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GH Dec 2024:<\/em><\/strong> Ha ha! A plan to do nothing, and you know what? I was 100% successful! I need a prompt, or a cue, in order to write non-fiction. It needs to be something useful to other writers. THINKING CAPS ON!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUSINESSES \/ TUTORING \/ PROJECTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GH Dec 2024:<\/em><\/strong> My \u2018Author Services\u2019 offer keeps ticking over, mainly with requests from friends and colleagues. I made little or no effort to promote myself in 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VLOGS \/ VODCASTS \/ PODCASTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JAN 2024: I do want to do more with video next year. I don\u2019t know what that will be. A writing vlog isn\u2019t that interesting to people. I know that. But at the moment, I don\u2019t know what would attract a larger audience, which remains writing and creativity related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GH Dec 2024:<\/em><\/strong> Yes. Well. No insight came my way, except I keep coming across people doing what I\u2019ve thought of doing. My Lone Star Reviews wold be something of interest, I\u2019m sure, but is it worth the time and effort of researching and recording videos? I still don\u2019t know. Chalk another one down for the February shutdown.<\/em>
And, sadly, we\u2019ve decided to call time on the Literary Roadhouse podcast, after around 270 episodes. One of my co-hosts now has a very important job, which takes her away from home a lot, so co-ordinating a recording slot has become more difficult. Also, we had an issue from an author who took exception to something we said on one podcast, which made things difficult for us. Also also, it\u2019s been many, many months since we were able to put out an audio podcast. It\u2019s a huge amount of time to produce a quality audio podcast recording from our individual audio tracks.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ONLINE COURSES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From JAN 2024: I\u2019m interested in creating courses. It\u2019s a lot of work, and although I created the Efficient Novelist Programme https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/efficient-novelist-programme\/ there wasn\u2019t a lot of take-up from my initial marketing. To me, it seems a brilliant idea, a way to create novels more efficiently, with benefits to readership and royalty income, but many writers don\u2019t like this idea \u2013 the ethos of being an author means that output needs to be crafted and honed over many, many months \u2013 otherwise, it\u2019s no good. I don\u2019t agree with that, obviously, but it\u2019s a hard sell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GH Dec 2024:<\/em><\/strong> You ain\u2019t kidding. Eventually, I pulled the plug on the paid subscription to Teachable, because it was costing us more than we were getting paid.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PERSONAL \/ NON-WRITING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GH Dec 2024: Swanwick<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One highlight of each year is the annual Swanwick Writers\u2019 Summer School. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This year, 2024, was my 2nd, and last, year as Chair of the committee. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read my thoughts about the school here:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Swanwick Writers’ Summer School – 2024<\/a><\/blockquote>