It’s the New Year now, and I can think of no better way to celebrate this period of new beginnings and fresh starts by turning around and looking directly back at the prior year. It’s sort of an annual tradition of mine!
2018 has been an absolutely phenomenal year for me. Probably one of the best of my life – which is saying something, because 2017 was fairly awesome as well. (We don’t talk about 2016.) This year, I finally achieved my lifelong dream of publishing a book, Weird Theology, and then a second short book, Rumors, which is freely available. Weird Theology even has an audiobook, which I never imagined being able to say! (If you have read the book, I still suggest you check out the audiobook – it’s amazing to hear Brandon bring the characters to life.)
Outside of publishing I also wrote more in 2018 than I have at pretty much any other point in my life combined (especially if we exclude 2017), averaging about 1500 words per day. I’ve written a total now of 4 first-draft complete novels, 3 complete novellas, and dozens upon dozens of short stories. I’ve been dreaming since I was a little kid of being able to say things like this.
I wanted to take a moment to thank my readers. Without your encouragement and support, I never would have gotten anywhere near as far as I did. The reason that, for most of my life, I never wrote all that much was because I didn’t believe I’d be good enough. You all have given me the strength to push past that and keep pushing ahead, and for that, I cannot thank you enough. The only thing I can do is show my gratitude by continuing to write, and believe me – there’s no way that isn’t going to happen.
Special thanks as well to my amazingly generous supporters on Patreon. Their continued support makes what I do possible, and allows me to focus even harder on producing the best possible final book for you all to read. If you want to join them, click here. I am going to be posting a poll later this week for my patreons, asking what additional rewards I can do for them in 2019, because I want to continue to give back for their generous support. If you are a patreon, check over there soon to vote!
Going into 2019, I have some pretty big plans. I want to publish at least two full books on Amazon next year. Strange Cosmology, the sequel to Weird Theology is a definite (and we’re going to come back to that), and the other book will either be book three of Small Worlds, or book one of an entirely new series, The Dragon’s Scion. I won’t make an official decision until Strange Cosmology is published, so stay tuned for that.
As for Strange Cosmology, I know a lot of people are beginning to wonder when it’s coming out. I do not want to pull a George R. R. Martin and promise a release date before I’m absolutely certain of one, because I firmly believe that is one of the crappiest things to do to people who are eagerly awaiting something. Instead, I’m going to tell you about where I am on the novel so far. This will be posted spoiler free for people who haven’t read the first draft yet and are waiting for the book.
Strange Cosmology went through an interesting first draft period. The originally planned central conflict of the novel got resolved fairly early on as I changed plans, and the book was cut into two Acts in the middle of the writing process. Act two of Strange Cosmology is going to become the third book of Small Worlds, and be called something completely different. Act one of Strange Cosmology is going to be the entire book. This means that Strange Cosmology has needed far more rewriting than Weird Theology, since it needed a central narrative through line that would get resolved in the book itself. My editor and I have finished revisions and new scenes on the first half of the book so far. The second half is going to be much quicker and easier to finish, but it’s still going to require a good amount of work.
I can say, with absolute certainty, that Strange Cosmology will be out this year. As soon as I’m ready to give you a more specific date, I’ll be doing so.
In more general terms for 2019, I have a few big goals. On top of publishing at least two books, I’ve also resolved to increase my 1500 words a day to, at minimum, 2000 words per day. Part of me wanted to be cute and go for 2019 words per day, but that gimmick would have gotten old very fast. You can read more about my plans for that here. I also want to continue to grow this blog so I can reach more aspiring writers with what I hope is good advice. On top of that…well, on top of that, I have a couple secret projects I’m not quite ready to talk about yet. More details on those will be coming in the following months.
Thank you again, so much, for being here with me on this incredible journey. I appreciate you reading and your support more than I can ever say, and cannot wait to see what new surprises 2019 brings.
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