Looking Back and Moving Forward: Writing Goals for 2023

Looking Back and Moving Forward: Writing Goals for 2023

2022 was a busy year for me. For the first time in too long, I scored an amazing animation writing gig. Huzzah! I’m currently freelancing on “Scooby-Doo! and the Mystery Pups” for Warner Bros Animation and loving every minute of it. It’s a preschool show that doesn’t talk down to the little ones, so don’t worry, parents, guardians, and animation-loving adults, you won’t have to leave the room when it comes on. There’s a huge lead time in animation, so SDMP won’t start streaming until in 2024 (HBO Max/Cartoonito).

In other 2022 news, the editing on WW (Ghost Star Adventures Book 2), working title, is nearly complete—so close that I’ve taken the step of commissioning eBook and print covers for this fun, action-packed sequel to my YA space opera, Ghost Star. I received a preliminary/test cover yesterday that blew my mind thanks to cover coolness overload. WW will be published in early January of next year. General announcement and cover/title reveal to come.

Speaking of 2023, I have a few author/writer goals lined up…

1.      1) I solemnly swear I’ll finish the novel-length version of Undrastormur (A Viking Fantasy Adventure). As mentioned last year, I’m updating and combining the first two shorts with an all-new third adventure. The end result will be a stand-alone middle grade, fantasy adventure novel set in the fascinating world(s) of Norse mythology. I’m so close to being finished and just have to knuckle down and get it done.

2.      2) I’ve had a mockumentary-style spec screenplay percolating for a while. 2023 is the year to do it.

3.      3) A Dragonfriend omnibus.

4.      4) Lots and lots of novel and short story ideas (thinking about giving Vella a try) that I’ve made note of but won’t even begin to entertain starting until I complete goals 1-3.

That’s all for now. Happy 2023 reading, everyone!

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Roger Eschbacher lives in Los Angeles with his awesome family, a hilarious Border Terrier, and a grumpy Russian tortoise.

In addition to writing fantasy and sci-fi adventure novels, he writes TV animation for Warner Bros., Netflix, Cartoon Network, Hasbro Studios and more. Roger’s YA space opera Ghost Star is a winner of the Kindle Scout competition and received a publishing contract from Amazon’s Kindle Press imprint.

Ghost Star and other books by Roger are listed on his Amazon Author Page which can be found HERE.

 

My New Writing Setup!

 

After years of what can kindly be referred to as procrastination, I finally buckled down and pulled my home office/writing space together. Join me now as I share its writerly awesomeness with you, my beloved readers, viewers, and colleagues.

Step one was to upgrade my tech. 

I boosted my desktop and monitor reality from an ancient Dell Dimension 8300 that was slowly failing, to a much more recent refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7020-SFF Core i7, 1TB SSD with 16GB of memory and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB graphics card. It purrs like a kitten and is a HUGE improvement over my previous machine. I got the refurbished desktop from Amazon. Admittedly, this was a budget solution, but it works just fine for me. I'll admit to being a little nervous about a "used" computer, but its been running great since December 2021, and I'm really pleased with its performance. 

As always, your mileage may vary.

I then purchased a new HP 24" monitor with a HDMI connection to take
advantage of the NVIDIA card. Another BIG improvement that I wish I would've done sooner. Age of Empires III never looked better!

Next, I installed a massive memory upgrade on my muscular, business-level Lenovo ThinkPad laptop. It went from 16GB-->32GB. This thing smokes now, especially when its hooked up to my 100ft. ethernet cable. 100ft. ethernet cable?! Yeah, that helps my burly laptop bypass lagging wi-fi in my house (lots of draws on my bandwidth) by directly hooking into the router which is on another floor. 

Step two was to take down my ragtag assortment of animation-related wall decorations and replace the dingy-looking tan walls with a restful/calming/classy "Sage Gray" paint in an eggshell finish. I absolutely love this new color. 

After that, I installed new baseboards and limited my wall hangings to select animation cels (not a typo) 😊 and posters I pulled in from another room.

Future upgrades will include having ethernet wall jacks installed in several key areas of my house and purchasing a lightweight laptop (Microsoft Surface perhaps?) for travel purposes that won't make me feel like I'm lugging around a backpack full of bricks. Recommendations on good quality yet affordable lightweight laptops are welcome.

Finally, I bought some relatively inexpensive yet great-looking office furniture including a wood/metal computer desk, matching finish wood storage cabinet, and, best of all, a comfortable office chair that smashes the thrift shop $6.00 special that's been killing my lower back and posterior for years.

While it took me way too long to start this project, it took less than a month to complete it and I couldn't be happier with the results. 

Want to show off your writing space? Drop a pic and a brief description in the comments.

#homeoffice #writingspace #writer #author #animation #novels #writing #writingcommunity #fortressofwritertude

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Roger Eschbacher is an Emmy Nominated Freelance & Staff Writer, YA SciFi & Fantasy Author, Actor & Groundlings Alum. If you like SF/F adventure novels, feel free to check out his AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE. (affiliate link) Thanks!

Busy Busy Busy!

Been super busy the past couple of weeks. I finished the “final” edit of the Elvenking: Leonard the Great, Book 3 manuscript ("final" is in quotes because, as my fellow authors know, you're never really finished). Now formatting/reformatting the interior of all three books in the series with a new design template from Book Design Templates - it's super easy to use and looks great.

New covers for Dragonfriend, Giantkiller AND Elvenking should be here by the end of the month. Exciting (for me, anyway)!

Waiting in the wings: Full novel version of Undrastormur and completion of the first draft of Ghost Star 2 (don't have a name for that one yet)!  Doing my best to stay positive and make this crazy year as productive as possible! #fantasy #scifi #author

 

Author FAQ: Tips on Writing Non-Fiction

Q: I have a question for you regarding book publishing. I finished my personal book which I am
considering, sending out. Can you give me any tips on this? I first poked around the bookstore to
get names of publishers that already publish books in the same category as mine. -- Tom K.

A: Well, first off, that's a great place to start. It certainly makes sense to look around for publishers of books similar to yours since, in theory, they're already open to that kind of work. As you know, my

area of expertise is in children's books. I assume your personal book is not a children's book but non-fiction, maybe an autobiography? There are a number of publications that can point you in the right direction for getting your adult market book looked at. There's a magazine called Writer's Digest that contains useful tips. They also offer several publishing bibles. The one for kid's books is called Children's Writers & Illustrators Market. I'm guessing they have a similar title for the type of book that you've written. These bibles are printed yearly and contain contact names and submission information (do they require a query letter first, how many chapters a particular publisher likes to get, etc.). Very useful, but kind of pricey (c.$25) -- you may want to do your research with them at the library.

Another option would be to look into going the self-publishing route which is currently the path I'm following. I've covered that subject in a good number of previous Author FAQs so a quick search of my site's archives should help you find the info you need. The Archive Search is in the right-hand column.

Have you poked around online, yet? That's what I did when I first tried to figure out how to submit my kid's books. Online research lead me to the website of a trade group of children's book publishers that listed all of the contact info and whether or not a certain publishing house was accepting open submissions, etc. I submitted to a number of them and the fine folks at DIAL BFYR were the first to bite. I'm sure there's a lot of helpful info for non-fiction books within the vast expanse of the world wide web.

Best of luck with your personal book!

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Thoughts about the above question or about writing books in general? Leave them in the comments or send them to me via the CONTACT tab. Thanks!