Ryan M. Patrick

Going to try this again. Last year’s goals were a mixed bag. Going to do a blog post in January on wasted words, and another on improving my processes. I want to get to a steady-state output of two published books a year and given how long the development effort is for a single book I need to have a more streamlined start to end without having to do huge rewrites.

I’ve got 10 goals for 2026 – here they are:

1. Release The Saturn Anomaly

This one should be pretty easy. It’s off in the Pentagon review process (has been since September of 2025) and once that’s done I should have it done within 60 days of getting the ok. Cover is done, most of my edits are done, just need to proofread and do all of the formatting. I’ll put up a blog post (and on my socials) when the eARC is available.

2. Draft Crush Depth

3. Release Crush Depth

As of the writing of this blog post (mid-December 2025) I’m 75,000 words in and am feeling incredibly confident about my ability to finish it and get it through beta readers in 2026. I’m not 100% sold on my current cover but we’ll see. I think #2 is an almost certainty, #3 is going to be a bit harder but I think it’s in the realm of possibility – especially if I want to hit my 2-books-per-year goal in 2026.

4. Draft The Apophis Contingency

This one will be a bit harder. It’s the sequel to The Europan Deception and it’s outlined but it’s a long book – I think it’ll end up somewhere between 130,000 and 140,000 words. Regardless I think I can get the draft done in calendar year 2026 for a release in 2027.

5. Draft, Edit, and Submit 4 Short Stories

I tried to do this last year and got 3. I have all 4 outlined, and am about 1,200 words into the first one. They are:

• “The Golem of Checkpoint Charlie” – a Cold War-era fantasy that I’m hoping will get picked up for the Raconteur Press anthology The Spy Who Conjured Me. I’ve had the idea floating around in my head for a while, just need to get it down.
• “Orbital Forensics” – an espionage thriller set on a decaying space station.
• “The Veil of Forgotten Stars” – a sci-fantasy short set on a remote asteroid outpost.
• “The Chrono-Weaver’s Thread” – a fantasy story focused on the concept of time.

I think I’m in good shape, especially with the head start I got. I think I’ll do 4 regardless but I’m not sure if it’ll be these four.

6. Critique one novel a month

I haven’t talked about it much, but I left a lot of the writing groups I was in over the course of 2025 for a variety of reasons. Instead of groups, I now have 1-on-1 relationships with a bunch of different writers in very different stages of their writing careers. Instead of paying for a developmental editor, I use manuscript swaps to get high-level feedback on my books. That being said, I didn’t critique anywhere near as many novels as I had hoped in 2025 so I’m shooting for 12 in 2026. And, hopefully, all of those 12 writers will repay the favor and do critique on mine!

7. Recover Memento Vivere

It’s a 60,000 word contemporary fantasy thriller draft that has a lot going for it but it went wrong at some point. I am going to sit down, probably over the course of a weekend, and figure out what I need to fix and then get it on the schedule to finish drafting in 2027.

8. $2,000 in royalties

I’m very open about my finances, much more than other authors, as you can see with my dashboard transparency posts on X/Twitter. I’m coming in at around $1,400 in royalties with 3 books (and about $200 in ads) in 2025. If I can get 2 more books out in 2026, I should be able to hit $2,000 in royalties as I get back into ads. This is the one I’m the least confident about though – you can’t really predict how a book is going to do. I’ll do a bigger “2025 finances” blog post at some point too.

9. 1 Blog Post / Week

Self-explanatory – get at least 1 post out a week. I find they drive a ton of engagement both on social media and also help me organize my thoughts.

10. 1 Social Media Post/Day

This is easy for X/Twitter – I’m there all the time! But I want to up my Instagram/Facebook game.

Overall

I had a roughly 75% hit rate in 2025, shooting for 90-100% in 2026. I think I can pull it off but given how crazy my professional and personal life is, who knows! Regardless I’m excited to see what the new year brings.