The Plan

Here's the breakdown of my current plans:

1. Edit and post the next installment of my "Turned Into a Love Doll" (TIALD) series. It's written. I just have to get around to putting it up for sale on Amazon. 
2. Finish writing the Epilogue for the last story in the TIALD series.
3. Find a good cover image for use with that last story.
4. Edit and post the last installment of TIALD. 
5. Edit and post my Christmas story, which is already almost ready to go. 
6. Set up a Black Friday sale so that my Christmas story is available for free Thanksgiving weekend. 
7. Set up a Christmas Countdown sale so that the story is available for as little as possible for as long as possible as a thank you to those who like my stories. 
8. Finish the sequels to "Under Her Skin." 
9. Write a screenplay based on an idea for a full length, mainstream-ish movie I've had for a long time now. I've even written the first few pages of it already. Yes, it includes TG transformations as a major plot point. It's kind of a mix of Gothika and Don't Say A Word.
10. Write a more literary novel that I've been fleshing out in outline form. It would involve a more real life transition, but in a unique way.
11. Become rich from my movie and book and retire to the islands. (Ha ha.)

Time will reveal how far I actually get. 

Trope Fatigue

I am really, really sick of the word "trope." It is so very overused.

For those that don't know or care, "trope" has come into common use among those that discuss fiction. What is a trope? Under it's current use, it's any idea that has been used more than once in a TV, movie, or other popular entertainment. The girl next door? Trope. The happy hooker? Trope. The bad guy that pretends to be a good guy to get the girl? Trope. Car chase? Trope. The slow clap? Trope.

This is my problem with the way the word is being used. It's meaning is so broad that it holds very little meaning. It has a somewhat negative connotation, as if the author that uses it is being lazy or unoriginal. This, by the way, is bullshit. Just because a "trope" is used - or even overused - doesn't make it bad. "The guy gets the girl in the end" is a trope, but there are many, many examples of it being used in entertaining and original ways. I would much rather have someone say that a story is weak because it's predictable and boring than because it uses a common trope. The first gives me something to work on. The second is too generic to be meaningful.

When will people critiquing fiction realize that it isn't about the elements an author uses? It's the skill that's used to combine them.