2026 Writing Goals

And how YOU can help support me

Feel like sending a little extra love my way? ↓

I’m just going to cut to the chase because, if I don’t, then I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks and—

Wait, that’s the opposite of cutting to the chase.

But gosh, isn’t the preambulatory phase the funnest part of the chase?

Where am I?

Okay, for real now. The main reason I’m writing this is to explain why my posts on here have been, and likely will continue to be, a bit sparser than they once were, and I’d like to do so in a way that a) doesn’t leave you exclaiming, “what the hell, Al?” (mostly because I don’t go by “Al”), b) reassures you that I’m not abandoning this platform, and c) assures you that I’m definitely not abandoning writing.

TLDR (aren’t I merciful today?):

• I pulled my in-progress story “Dead Ends” from here so that I could submit the full version to magazines/other online publications

• I will continue writing and posting on Substack, but will be scaling back a bit to make time for other fiction projects for which I have publishing aspirations (and therefore cannot freely publish on here)

• Scroll to the bottom to follow/connect/support me on other platforms (and let me know if and how I can support any of your creative/entrepreneurial pursuits)

• Provide me with feedback about the types of writing you’ve enjoyed most from me so that I can prioritize those with my shrunken available Substack time

Dead Ends’ dead end

The first thing I should address—because I’ve already been asked about it—is why my recent short story posts went poof.

I was working on a short story that was set to amount to 5 parts of 1500-ish words each. I was posting one part per week through the first 3 parts. It was titled “Dead Ends.”

I didn’t abandon that project.

Actually, I finished the whole story just a few days after posting part 3 on here. I was so pleased with it, though, that I decided it might be worth shopping it around for publication somewhere.

I’ve never done that before. I only started dabbling in fiction back in April or May of last year, and this was the first story I liked enough to even consider seeking publication elsewhere.

I learned a lot of things from researching how one goes about submitting short stories to magazines.

One of those things was this thing:

Having a story already published (including on Substack or other personal blogs/sites) significantly shrinks your pool of submission eligibility.

Whoops.

So, I had a difficult decision to make: have the instant gratification of sharing the full story with my current audience of readers, and pass that gratification onto whoever has kept up with and enjoyed reading the first few parts of the story, or yank that away to give myself a better chance at a broader readership and recognition for something I was proud of completing.

Don’t hate me, pwease, but I went with option #2.

But also, don’t fret too much. You will be able to read the full story eventually. I’ve already submitted it to a bunch of places. I’m going to wait a few months. If it gets accepted somewhere, yay. You’ll have to wait several more months to read it, but I will surely point you toward its new home once it’s available.

If it doesn’t get accepted anywhere, it will just crawl its way back to its original home, and you’ll be able to read it here. Which won’t be all that bad.

So, once again, sorry for the rug pull, but I hope you understand my reasoning for it, and I hope to be able to share the full story as soon as possible.

Fiction writing goals

The secret goal I’ve had on-and-off since I was about 7 years old is to write fiction. It’s remained a secret goal because it never felt feasible. I don’t know why. It just never did. I didn’t get it. I couldn’t imagine where to possibly begin with fiction…or where to end or anything in between. But I’ve always believed in fiction writing as a powerful way of conveying important thoughts and feelings and ideas—more powerful than the hammer-over-the-head approach of nonfiction writing.

Nonfiction presents something for you to consider; fiction presents you with something to experience. The former has the potential to change your thoughts about something. The latter has the potential to change you. Or, at least, a greater potential to do so. There are exceptions, of course, but that’s the way the difference has always felt for me.

And so, while I believed fiction would forever remain outside my wheelhouse, I never stopped pining over it as the form of writing I’d most want to pursue if I could pull it off.

Well, back in May 2025, I somehow got the courage to take a stab at fiction.

It was fine.

I didn’t love what I wrote, but I loved that I wrote it, and that I deemed it fine enough for me to post here publicly. And it was fine enough for me to believe I could do it again.

The next two or three attempts were maybe a bit more fine. Still, my fiction writing remained sparse for a while.

Then, after a nine-month gestation period, I gave birth to something that actually had some life, which originally went by the title “Dead Ends,” and which you, at this present time, unfortunately can’t read.

I think it’s better than fine. Whether or not any magazine editor out there agrees with me is incidental to the most important thing to come out of that story: I now believe I can pull it off. Not just short stories, but fiction in general. Which includes novels. With an “s.”

Yes, this will be more difficult than writing short stories. It will take much more time and commitment. But the real hurdle for me was not: “Can I write something as long as a book?” I’ve done that before, even if it was ghostwritten material that wasn’t published in my name. The hurdle I wasn’t sure I could surmount was, “Can I write a piece of fiction that I’m reasonably happy with?” And I just checked off that box.

So, I’m ready to begin my novel-writing journey. Maybe it will be a smashing success, or maybe I will crash and burn. Either way, I decided that now feels like the right time to at least give it a shot.

I did start writing a novel on here several months ago, which was fun, but it was also experimental and messy, and a bit too ambitious of an idea to tackle as a first novel. Maybe I will return to and finish it at some point, but it’s a project I began with a very half-hearted intention: this is a story idea I want to write, and it’s too big to just be a short story. Guess it should be a novel.

I didn’t begin that project with the steadfast intention I now have: start a novel that I can, want to, and will finish.

I will do this because I have something worth proving to myself.

But I will also do this because, if there is any hope for me to keep my BIG goal alive—earning more of my income from my own writing so that I can spend more time on my own writing—well, let’s just say that novels tend to hold a bit more commercial potential than collections of haiku or theological essays (with much due respect to those pieces of writing—I love all my children equally [wink]).

I also will do all of this outside of Substack because that’s the only way I can keep that publication possibility alive.

But I alsoer enjoy the satisfaction of writing something on here, hitting “send,” and knowing that at least a handful of people will read it, all within the span of a few days.

And I alsoest expect I’ll have to do some amount of ghostwriting to help keep the lights on in here.

So, I will try to juggle all three at once.

Can I still make some time for sleep in 2026? One sincerely hopes so.

Things you can do to help me

Look, there are a lot of reasons not to help me work toward my writing goals, and only one good reason to do so:

You want to.

So, I’m just going to lay it all out there and list all of the things you can do to help me if and only if you want to.

Good ol’ buckaroos

Let’s just get the most obvious, squirmiest one out of the way first. As I said, my grandest goal is to make more income from my writing so that I can spend more time writing. Want to help me reach toward that goal in the most direct way possible? You can, in fact, pay me money.

Really, I promise. I won’t say no.

You can become a paid subscriber to this Substack publication for $6/month or $60/year. Why would you do this?

Quite honestly, I don’t know. I mean, ffs, I’m telling you I’ll likely to start posting less frequently on here. I don’t have a good pitch other than…pwease hewp if you can, fwend.

Don’t like subscriptions? Woah! Look at that—another clickable “give me money” button! Only, with this one, you can give me one-time monies rather than “oh shit, I completely forgot I’ve been paying for this subscription for how long now?” kind of monies.

Don’t like buttons? Don’t trust them? Worried about the scant but always very real chance that clicking on one of these bad boys is going to give your computer the kind of virus that no digital equivalent of penicillin can fix? I have Venmo and Zelle and PayPal and all sorts of other shit!

Feedback

I’m going to have to start getting real picky-choosey about the kinds of stuff I write for Substack, since I just won’t have as much time to write a 2,000+ word post every week.

I need to use my Substack-writing time more strategically. If I’m going to scale back what I’m writing and posting, I at least want it to be stuff that people want to read.

Want more theological essays? More personal narratives? More goofy satirical things? More haiku? Want me to get back to providing voiceovers for my posts? Want me to write rhetorically compelling persuasive essays about the merits of using words like “stuff” and “things,” and of spamming the bejesus out of the em dash?

I’m down for whatever—really, I am. Shoot me a message. I’ll listen, and I’ll write back.

Follow me on other platforms

Remember my rousing pitch for why you should send me money? Here’s my version of that for social media:

I hate social media.

Did I crush it, or what?

But seriously. High up on my list of things I know I need to work toward to give myself the best chance at getting published as a first-time author in the (hopefully near) future is getting more than a couple of hundred followers on at least one digital platform.

I hate them all. So choose either or both of the two that I hate the least, and give me a follow. In exchange, I will try my best to start posting something more engaging on them than just, “hey, look what I recently posted on Substack.”

After all, you’d already know that, wouldn’t you?

Help me get other people’s buckaroos

I mentioned I do a lot of ghostwriting. More specifically, I used to do a lot of ghostwriting. I’ve got a couple of promising new leads, but I could always use some more. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the services of a ghostwriter, let them know I exist. I have a website and everything.

You know what else is on that website? Services that I don’t have much experience in. But I’d sure like to change that. Sometimes it’s nice to have a little break from half a dozen concurrent writing projects and fill in that gap with a little human interaction. I can actually be quite helpful in providing writing advice and guidance as either a tutor or writing coach. More importantly, I’m charming and fun and like long walks on the beach.

Hand me the keys to the castle

Know any literary agents or people in the publishing biz?

Golly gee! They must be such wonderful, smart, handsome/pretty people, and please tell them I said so. I have a website and everything.

Tell me how I can support you

You know what the scariest thing about asking for help is?

Knowing you might actually get it and not know how to show your appreciation.

I’m well aware that, with respect to many of you, who are also writers and creatives of various sorts, I’m preaching to the choir (and what smart, handsome/pretty choirfolk you are!).

If you are engaged in something creative or entrepreneurial, you’ve already got my sympathy, admiration, and camaraderie. Maybe I even like you more than I hate social media.

Mayyybe.

Maybe I can spend 5 more seconds on Instagram to click a button (But really, what could be on the other side of those buttons??). Maybe I can even visit your website and everything!

I’m breaking the ice here so you don’t have to. I’m asking you to ask me for my support. I might say no. But I won’t say, “how dare you ask this of me?” That would be fucked up. Almost as fucked up as asking people for more of their money in exchange for less of your writing. Could you imagine?