January 2026 Update

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Just a reminder: It’s okay to leave comments!

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Just in case you were wondering what I've been up to so far this year, this post will fill you in!

Submissions:

I still haven't heard anything back about the dieselpunk story I submitted, but the editors of the anthology say their reading period will begin soon. I'm guessing mid-February at the earliest.

And I still have a few other short stories sitting around just waiting to be submitted. I may have found a spot for another one of my stories. It's a horror story titled Closure. The submission window doesn't close for a while, so I have time to check things out.

Other Writing:

I continue to work on my sci-fi story, The Dark Scent of Rain. Someday I may actually finish it.

Shore Leave:

I attended the January Shore Leave meeting via Zoom. It went a bit better Zoom-wise than before, but I didn't gather a whole lot of new info. They are still working towards their 501(c)(7) tax designation (a type of nonprofit entity recognized under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code as a tax-exempt social or recreational club) and have made some progress. And, as previously reported, they did not announce any new celebrity guests during the meeting but did make an announcement a few days later. The new celebrities are Laurette Spang and Herbert Jefferson Jr. of Battlestar Galactica fame and Marta Kristen of Lost in Space.

Not long after that, they announced Julie Caitlin Brown of Babylon 5 and Star Trek (TNG & DS9) plus Oded Fehr of The Mummy and Star Trek: Discovery. As it stands now, these are the announced celebrity guests.

Also, voice actor Bonnie Gordon is scheduled to appear. She's been at Shore Leave before and has always been popular. She does comedy, singing, and Q&A sessions about voice acting.

Thirty-six author guests have also been announced. You can see them here: 2026 Author Guests. No writing panels have been announced and probably won't be for a while.

Patreon:

Apart from this monthly update, I posted two other updates:

• Mid-January 2026 Update

• A Just-After-Mid-January-Update Update

As you can see, I'm quite adept at making up magnificently descriptive titles for my posts.

I also have been keeping my new 2026 One-Stop Story Shopping post updated with all my Medium posts. I keep hoping to do more here, but I never seem to come up with a good idea for Patreon.

Medium:

I've been doing a bit of an experiment with Medium this month. I've posted something every day. Yes, that's 31 posts. Haiku, Poetry, Micro/Flash/Short Fiction, and an article or two, I believe. Doing so hasn't been as difficult as I first thought, though I'm not sure I can continue with that pace forever. It did boost my views, reads, followers, subscribers, reader interaction, and financial returns considerably. I've reached the highest numbers ever for reads and views, increased the number of followers and subscribers substantially (8 and 3), and had one of my best earnings months ever. Of the posts for January, the ones that did the best were the haiku and micro/flash fiction. The longer pieces didn't have as much traction with the readers. A sign of the times, perhaps?

And, as stated, I managed to earn a little from Medium! Best of all, it wasn't just pennies! I was in the "folding money" range for January. It still isn't a lot, but at least it feels like I've accomplished something. Having Medium place real money in my account, however, is still a ways off.

Here's the graph of views and reads:

Here are my January Medium posts:

January 2026

Haiku: Sycamore Skies
Poetry: The Path Not Taken
Haiku: Silent Stream
Haiku: A Cold Day
Poetry: Seven
Haiku: Still Life
Fiction: A Word With Death
Haiku: Water Wings
Flash Fiction: Every Story Has Two Sides
Haiku: Secrets of The Moon
Micro Fiction: Runaway
Haiku: Dancing Flame
Fiction: Package Deal
Haiku: Whispers
Haiku: City Rain
Haiku: Stone Cold Beauty
Micro Fiction: Meeting of Minds
Flash Fiction: A Story About Stories
Flash Fiction: Leveraged Buyout
Haiku: Toys in The Attic
Haiku: Space Flight Test
Fiction: Glowing Terms
Poetry: Up the Lazy Lemur
Micro: A Guest For Dinner
Flash: When One Door Closes
Poetry: Misty Moonlight
Article: Advice No One Will Follow
Haiku: Cherry Blossoms
Haiku: Birdseed
Article: I Like Old Engines
Poetry: The First Sunrise

Well, that's all for now!

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© 2026 K. R. Smith All rights reserved