Looking Forward to 2024

I haven’t done the best job blogging this year, partially because I’ve been microblogging in the captions of my Instagram posts, but also because I haven’t felt as comfortable being vulnerable and spiraling the drain of my own deepest thoughts. I used to do that here, but I eased off years ago and never got back to it. In a way, it’s a good thing, but I miss the outlet. The answer is a private journal, I’m sure, and that is one of my goals for 2024–more journaling!

But what else? 2024 seems more full of possibilities for me than any year before since we will absolutely not be moving for the first time in many years, and not just that, we’re in our permanent home! Every place we’ve lived before has always been temporary, even when we bought and stayed for a few years. Since 2010, we’ve lived in 14 places, this one being the last, and while we didn’t move every single year, there were some years we moved multiple times or stayed somewhere only a month. It’s been hell, I have no idea how our marriage and sanity have survived, but it’s over, for now which means I get to finally settle.

And settle I shall. I’ve painted three rooms, and I’m in the process of building a library. Okay, so it’ll only have three bookcases, but it’s a room dedicated to books, so it is a library! And there will be room for more shelves in the future. The library is a little extension of my office which will finally be my space. I’ve had offices before and makeshift writing spaces, but I’m finally painting the walls and ceiling dark forest green, and planning to put up all the artwork I love, and sprinkle around the skulls and spooky accoutrements that inspire me, and hang big, dramatic curtains so that I can finally shroud myself in darkness and become the forest witch I’ve always wanted to be!

What about writing, though? Well, I’m more passionate about books and storytelling than I’ve ever been which is saying something considering my life has been steeped in nothing but since at least 2019. I’m finally discovering my true voice and the things I’m good at and embracing those things. Let’s take a look back at 2023 first.

For 2024, I’ve got some big plans. They’re big drafting plans, to be fair, but still! All of Dragon Race (title still being workshopped) will be drafted, which means multiple books. Maaaaybe 6 of them??? I’m not the kind of author who can release a book and then start on the sequel. That doesn’t allow me to sprinkle the breadcrumbs I want or to develop the characters satisfyingly enough. But it also means I’ll know before the first book how many books there will be total, so readers won’t be surprised by me splitting a book in two or not ending it when they expect. I’m super pumped for this series and the characters coming out of it.

Xander’s book is also on the way! It’s mostly finished, but it needs some love and finessing before it’s ready for prime time. It’s cozier, like Bound to Fall, but it’s also…Xander, so it’s crass and cranky and entitled. Then I’ve got a story that The Muse delivered to me on a silver platter this fall called Taming Wyverns and Other Wild Beasts. It’s a standalone in its own world and it’s just for funsies featuring a wyvern tamer female lead and a male lead with a beard so yeah, I’m not as one-note as you might think!

And then I’m working on a secret fall project that I’m really excited about and will probably announce sometime in the next few months, but I can’t say anymore now! So stop asking!