---

It’s tough being a part-time pen name. The pulp work ethic is to write fast, don’t think, and publish often. That is good and right, but I wonder if that is a goal for writing fitness to work up to, rather than an expectation starting out. It would be foolish to think your bench would be 315 if you’ve never lifted before; it takes time to build the muscle and so it is with writing.

We all have day jobs, families, and other responsibilities demanding our time. That’s part of the process. Elmer Kelton, my favorite Western author, said he expected to be a best-selling author right out of college, but of course, he wasn’t. He was an agricultural journalist working for newspapers and magazines in West Texas, and writing fiction at home in the evenings. That’s just the way it will look for many of us.

So, though I want to write fast, I can’t do so without thinking, because I relish the time needed to edit and hone a story. That means I don’t publish as often as I want. However, I’m still very busy behind the screen.

For example, one of my 2025 goals was to sell non-fiction articles to outdoor magazines under my real name, and I may have done that (still revising with the editor but he said “I think we can make it work”). I also wanted to take writing more seriously than I had before, and that meant putting myself out there. So I’m attending a writing conference in March, and I’ve put in two submissions to different pulp-style publications, with a third and possibly fourth, all due by the end of March.

That’s a lot of work but not a lot on a published page. If any of those submissions don’t pan out, they’ll be posted here. And of course, regardless of success, I’m going to grind it out and plod along, working up to greater and greater writing strength as I can.

May it be the same for you in whatever you do. Happy writing!

---

What are y’all working on? Let me know in the comments. Also, please subscribe.