So it’s the end of the year and there’s a novel I should’ve finished and published back in August/September that I’m only 13k words into which leads me to procrastinating.  Note to self: Do not write two novels whose main theme revolves around grief in the same year ever, ever again.

Anyway.

That leads me to doing what I so love to do which is crunch numbers and analyze my results.  I’m pretty much maxed out on what I can do in terms of my AMS ad analysis at this point which leads me to the “what should I focus on for next year?” dilemma.

As I may have mentioned before, I have eight pen names.  Why do I have eight pen names?  Because I’m a fool.

No, actually, not true.  More because I write such a wide variety of things that they don’t sit well under one name.  I suspect that if anyone lined up all of the titles I’ve published so far they wouldn’t actually believe they were all written by the same person they are so vastly different from one another.

And I know in my heart of hearts that to achieve lasting success at this I need to cut back and focus on just one or maybe two.  I know this.

Problem is, which one?

My top ten titles are spread across six of those names.

And one of the names that isn’t in my top ten is now doing quite well for itself and will probably be there within the next month or two.

This one (M.H. Lee) could probably go.  It’s such a hodge podge of randomness, mostly short stories that aren’t big sellers for a self-publisher.  But I want to finish Erelia and once I do who knows how it’ll go.  Write the entire series, slap some good covers on it, and actually promo it and, if early reviews are an indication, it’ll probably do just fine.

So here I am with two fantasy novels, a romance novel, two romance collections on opposite sides of the heat scale, a romance short story, and four non-fiction titles on three completely unrelated topics as my best sellers.

I know that I should pick one name and run with it.  Finish the fantasy series, write a related series under that name, blog and tweet and FB under that name all the time, and go, go, go.

But I’m pretty sure I’m not that person.

There’s a reason I ended up with three majors in college.  (And would’ve majored in six subjects if I could’ve gotten away with it.  Religion?  Linguistics?  Computer programming?  Russian literature?  Counseling?  The possibilities were endless.)

I think if I had to write one series only, I’d quit.  I’d be so bored I’d just walk away from it and never come back.  I have the day job for pay-the-bills-but-slowly-numb-the-mind.  Writing is where I get to play and explore and try new things.

Of course, this lack of focus is also the reason I still need the day job…

Sigh.

So what are my plans for next year?  Haha.  Well…As of now I have one romance novel, two fantasy novels (possibly three, all in different series), and five non-fiction books on four separate subjects on the schedule.  Good news is that’s only four of the pen names, maybe five.

Of course, that will also likely change as life happens…

Well, at least it keeps me entertained, right?  The perks of not being under a contract and being small fry enough that no one cares what I write.

(Of course, I should note for anyone who is dying for me to write something specific, just drop a line and you’re likely to move that project up on the priority list…)