As to your career, I wish you look with getting greater recognition and the success you want. I checked your site out and will be especially interested to read your Tacoma novellas when they make it into the wider world. Tacoma's an under-used setting overall. The only use of it I can remember reading is in one or two of Earl W. Emerson's Thomas Black p.i. novels.

Beyond that, though, I often find in my own writing life that what reinvigorates me the most is identifying areas in my writing that I think are my weaknesses and working 24-7 to make them into strengths. You may not have hit just a career plateau but also a writing plateau.

With all due respect, I think you're incorrect. I came across this via Laird Barron's blog. I've been writing fiction for seven years now, published for five, and most of those sales have been to pro markets or for pro-level rates. And after about 15 sales and five years, guess what? I'd say maybe three professional writers in my genre (horror & dark fantasy), of which Laird is one, know who I am and actively read and support my work. Not really an incredible success story, is it? Well, maybe for some, but not for me.

So, I would say that this advice would be something I would do well to consider. Obviously, submitting to the same markets year after year isn't doing me any good – I have no readers, I have no reviews, and I have yet to gain any inroads into the professional area of writing: i.e., no invitations to anthologies, still not allowed to speak on convention panels, and in general not invited to join in the ongoing discourse by pro and neo-pro writers. When I open my mouth, no one listens. When I sell my stories, no one reads them. And I am not uninformed, and I am not without talent. So, yes, I think I do need to take a different approach to where I send my fiction. Getting five cents a word is nice, but it's not helping me create a career, and it's a career I want for the long run. A career will help me earn the respect and the opportunities that come from being considered a pro writer and valuable contributor to the publishing community. Five cents a word only gets me… five cents a word. It certainly hasn't made me a pro! And after so many years, the money is no longer enough.