A Brief Rundown Of My 2021

I wrote about 115,000 words in 2021, around a third of my goal. I finished six stories and made thirty-six submissions. I sold two stories and a reprint, and had three stories published.
Of those 115,000 words, approximately 89,000 were for my Patreon patrons, whether it was for the forty-eight Mango episodes I wrote, the twenty-four flash fiction pieces, or the fifty or so Sunday Updates. My Patreon words added up to the equivalent of a shortish novel.

I’m very happy that my kids and I remained Covid-free in 2021. Precaution and luck. I accumulated nine more college credits. I got a little promotion at the library and was able to quit my part-time job in October, which brought to an end a misery-filled 33-year retail career. That was the best thing I did in 2021.

I’m disappointed overall. I always fall short of my big plans. Falling short doesn’t happen in a year, it happens moment to moment with every decision, and readers of my Sunday Updates can see my spotty productivity over the weeks. But the things I did do were all positive and I continued to move forward. Tomorrow, I’ll post my brief but unreasonable goals for 2022.

I hope we all have a great 2022. Onward and upward.

From Nowhere, A Cultural Connection

I just heard "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys for the first time in decades, and I thought, Holy shit! This is what Flight of the Conchords grabbed from to make "Inner City Pressure!" Now, I know you don't give two fucks either way, but pretend you're trapped in a basement with nothing but a television that's playing these two videos. I'm right, aren't I?

 

An Extremely Rare Shot Of Matt In A Hat

183

Story 183 is out to seek its fortune. It's called "Clayground." It's a humorous (I hope) flash piece about a city that tries to save money by building a playground out of clay.

182

I finished story 182, "That Feeling You're Feeling," and sent it out. It's about a guy who captures snapshots of people's emotions when they're absolutely miserable, then posts them for his subscribers. His life is about to shift around him. I'm pretty happy with it. Let's see how it does. 

New Stories

 My story, "I Was Meant to Live Another Thousand Years," is up at Kaleidotrope right now. Take a look: https://kaleidotrope.net/summer-2021/i-was-meant-to-live-another-thousand-years-by-matthew-sanborn-smith/

In the past couple of weeks I've written a couple of short pieces. A twitfic called "Afterglow," (Number 180 of the One-Thousand) and a flash piece (unless you feel 1,400 words is too long for a flash piece) called "Tempus Fuhg It."  (181)

Colonoscopy tomorrow! How exciting. An all-translucent liquid diet yesterday and today, three(!) rounds of laxatives, and a sore bum-bum.

Where was I?

Wow. I had to come here to look something up and realized I haven't posted in six months! Here are a few new things: I've been vaccinated, I recently went out and did stuff with friends for the first time in sixteen months, and I have a new story coming out in Kaleidotrope next month called, "I Was Meant to Live Another Thousand Years." I'll try to link it here when it comes out, and I'll try to post more often. Bye!