I could say I'm sorry to see 2025 coming to a close, but I fear my nose would grow so long that it would punch a hole right through my monitor.
To be clear, there are many things I'm grateful for, and many ways in which I'm lucky. I'm just not going to be talking about those particular things right now.
2025 has been a year of significant challenges for my family (I'm not going to be talking about those, either). We generally try to avoid politics as a topic here at SleuthSayers, so I won't dwell on that beyond saying that I'm not particularly happy with the direction the country is taking--or, for that matter, the direction my state is taking. I just have this weird thing about not caring for fascism, I guess.
To turn to matters we do talk about here--in 2025 I wrote only ten new stories. That's way, way, way below my average. Partly I think it's been the distractions, both personal and public, which so often have demanded my time and attention. Partly, I think, it's also been the increasing scarcity of markets. This was the year Down & Out Books went, well, down and out, and the year Black Cat Weekly announced they'll be ceasing publication late next year. I don't think I'm imagining the fact that there have been fewer interesting anthologies open for submissions. There are still markets out there, of course, but hunting for them seems to take more time these days.
(I should note that Down & Out now has a new owner, and BCW is very much open to continuing under new management, so, fingers crossed, maybe things aren't quite as dark as they seem.)
To be fair to myself, at least some of the time I would have given to writing has gone to what I think of as writing-adjacent activities, mostly associated with serving as the president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. That counts … right?
It was also a slow year for publishing. I had eleven new stories come out in 2025 which, again, is well below my average. Now, I did have an additional five stories that would have been in Down & Out anthologies that didn't end up getting published, and I'm hopeful that those stories will see the light of day, perhaps in the very near future.
And to look on the positive side, I am very proud of the stories that did come out. This was the first year I had stories appear in both Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. I was also honored to have a story nominated for a Thriller Award. I spent some time preparing my first collection, which should be coming out from Level Best Books in 2026. I also wrote my first collaborative story, and while I can't say anything specific about it, I will say it was a blast, and I hope to do more in the future.
So, all in all, I don't have much to complain of, but I do hope to write and publish more in the coming year. Stay tuned.
Here's hoping everyone reading this had a rewarding 2025, and may we all have a happy new year!
Thanks, Joseph. 2025 has been a hard year, some of it political, but a lot of it medical. Aging bodies are a lot less cooperative than one would expect. I wrote a play this year, my blog posts here, began a story with (I think) strong bones, and that's about it. I hope to get back to writing more in 2026. Happy New Year to all!
ReplyDeleteMy own fiction writing is a rarity in these parts, especially this year. I have not written my own stuff in about four months now. I did five short stories, and a couple are on projects that are now pushed back to next year. I have not tried to edit the rejections and send them out again. I think I am done writing wise.
ReplyDeleteI plan on letting my SinC and MWA memberships lapse. Not only can I not afford it as, with the way things are now, I will be homeless by the summer, I just don't see the point.
Just too much medical and too much everything else. Getting up every damn day and staying sober is about all I can do.
The MWA membership is pricey. I never joined SinC.
DeleteThankfully, so far I don't have to worry about being homeless. I just have to worry about upcoming biopsies and a body that's falling apart. And I'm my husband's caregiver...
It's a mess, isn't it?
Staying sober is a huge achievement every day, Kevin.
DeleteJoseph, this sounds so much like my experience this year that we might be related (we both teach/taught, and I was brought up in the midwest, too, so there's that). I published seven stories this year, but wrote fewer than usual, and for the same reasons. Age/health, the social climate, and disappearing markets. It's also hard to stay upbeat when you have 15-20 submissions floating around and you wait an average of six to eight months for a response, often a form rejection.
ReplyDeleteOn the positive side, I do have several stories scheduled to appear sometime (?) next year, and I'm working on a novella that is beginning to show me where it wants to go. And you gave me a great blurb for my collection of stories that appeared in June. Your own collection is due out early next year, too, isn't it?
Happy new year to all and may the plot continue to thicken rather than sicken.
Politics is not quite as verboten a topic here as it once was, Joe. The Canadian SleuthSayers have given us a lot of straight talk, and I hope we'll all continue to feel free to speak out against anti-Semitism when we can do so in a relevant way. But as you say, that's not the topic today. I had two flash stories published in 2025 in Yellow Mama, one written in late 2024, the other written and published in 2025, and only one other story published, in Black Cat Weekly, in 2025. That one was first sent out on submission (elsewhere) in 2022. Most of my attention went to my new poetry collection, The Old Lady Shows Her Mettle, which came out in October 2025. I'm very pleased with its quality, its reception so far, and how well it says what I have to say in 2025—so much so that for the moment, I have nothing left unsaid in poetry and no desire to write about sheriffs, waitresses, or angry wives with frying pans. I'm open to whatever 2026 may bring.
ReplyDeletePS Forgot to mention a second long story published in September 2025 in Black Cat Mystery Magazine, submitted to that magazine in September 2021 and accepted fairly promptly. Payment was on publication, ie this year.
DeleteI submitted three flash stories in 2025 & all were accepted. As to what I _wrote_ in 2025, besides the three flash pieces, I wrote the beginnings of a couple of stories that weren't turning out, so I trashed them. Otherwise, I reconnected with two old friends, one of 20+ years duration & the other about 60 years! Went to Puerto Rico twice on vacation. Contracted pneumonia for the 2nd time & spent a week in the hospital, with complications. I'm also my husband's caregiver but he had to be caregiver for me some of the time.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Elizabeth. Can you tell us where to find your stories?
DeleteI'm glad you and your husband have each other as givers of care!
One is accepted but not published yet at Yellow Mama. Two of the stories are at Punk Noir, "The One I Loved" & "Bradycardia", also I contributed a one-sentence crime story to the "One Shot Kill" prompt at Punk Noir earlier this month. That was really fun!
DeleteWrong year. Actually "Beggars Night" & "Bradycardia" were both published in 2025.
DeleteKeep in mind, Joe, that what qualifies as a "slow year" for you — "only ten new stories" written and eleven published — would be a career year for most other writers.
ReplyDeleteAll things considered, my 2025 was about average for me on the publishing front. Like you, I wrote ten new stories (which for me was more than last year) but only had seven stories and two translations published (less than last year). I also saw two new anthologies I edited and one I co-edited appear in print, as well as a re-release of one of my older anthologies. I won a Derringer and was a finalist for another Derringer, two Anthonys, and an Agatha — which was way better than average. The closure of Down and Out left four of my anthologies orphaned and cancelled the publication of a fifth — way worse than average — but I was fortunate to quickly place all five of them with Open Road Integrated Media, which will release the unpublished one and re-release two of the four previously published ones next year and the other two previously published ones in 2027.
I haven't written anything new in several months, but I've got a bunch of stories, translations, and book projects in various pipelines for 2026, including several things I'm pretty jazzed about, so it's shaping up to be a better year! I hope you're right that your 2026 will also be an improvement over 2025!
Congratulations on a fine year, Joe. Well deserved.
ReplyDeleteThey will come out if I have anything to say about it :)
ReplyDelete11 published stories sounds pretty good to me! Congrats, Joe.
ReplyDeleteI had five short stories published this year (four by The People's Friend, another in the Scarlet Stiletto Awards 2025 anthology) plus one four-part serial (also in The People's Friend).
All up, I wrote 11 short stories this year (including three specifically for a collection of short stories, currently being considered by a publisher) plus the serial. Six were accepted, the rest are under consideration. Four of the six accepted stories will be published next year.
Wishing everyone much success in 2026!