This has been an incredible year. While I published my debut novel Credible Threats, Sam Adams book one, in 2022, this year felt like the year my career truly got started.
Originally available solely from Amazon, I managed to get e-books of Credible Threats available for wide release, and physical copies will follow early next year. I got some great reviews, did some guests posts and interviews, including my first on-camera interview, sent out my first newsletter, and got my book in a brick-and-mortar store for the first time. My book was added to TBR lists, given as Christmas presents, and found its way onto the shelves of libraries I visited as a child.
I entered the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award contest, and Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off 9, and I made it to the semifinals in the latter, getting a fantastic review from Before We Go Blog, something I scarcely could have imagined in those early days when I was writing and rewriting Credible Threats with no end in sight. I also had a great time doing an online book tour with Escapist Book Company, and more recently, I was honored to receive four nominations in the Indie Ink Awards.
And I can’t bring up SPFBO9 without mentioning the great time I had participating in the first-ever SPFBO Dungeons and Dragons game, in which myself, and fellow Before We Go Blog contestants Delilah Waan, Clayton Snyder, Palmer Pickering, and Steven William Hannah livestreamed a rather chaotic DnD game for the masses. It was my first time playing DnD (shameful for a fantasy writer!) and I had a fantastic time. If you’d like to read more details about all this, you can scroll through the “News” section of this website.
There were many smaller moments, too, just as meaningful as the big stuff: my cousin telling me I “slayed” because I wrote a book; the time a writer of Firefly liked one of my tweets; the review that compared Credible Threats to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my favorite TV shows. All in all, this felt like the year I truly joined the writing community.
Of course, the biggest story of 2023 was Sam Adams book two, Rising Shadows. It was an often stressful and anxious process, and I hit a number of creative walls before finally getting over the hump. While I had aimed to release it this year, there was simply too much work to do in too little time, so that was one goal that went unreached. But all is not lost: the book is complete, and on track to be released early next year; you can expect a release date soon. Furthermore, I’ve begun writing Sam Adams book three, Mysterious Ways.
And that brings us to 2024, and I can’t wait to see what the New Year brings. As I said, Rising Shadows will be dropping next year, and my main priority will be writing book three. And I think I may have a few surprises in store as well. Thank you so much to everyone who’s supported me this past year. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Onward!