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| Perpetual Calendar, photo by Plenty.R, used under CC license |
I have done these year end posts going back to 2007 ( 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) and as ever, the consistent theme is change. From last year's post, my main goal was:
". . . to stay open to new possibilities and new opportunities as they arise."
Well, I'm pretty sure I've managed to meet that goal. And along the way, I've done a ton of work writing, publishing, and networking, despite a year that was also full of personal struggles and loss. But that is what makes up a life. And despite grief, setbacks, and disappointments, I know that I am extremely fortunate.
I both love and am loved. I have the support from family, friends, and readers to continue to do this writing thing that challenges and fulfills me. Stories and characters continue to surprise and delight me.
It's easy to lose perspective in the day to day slog of survival, which is one of the reasons I do these round up posts.
So here's what I accomplished in 2015:
- In January of 2015, I published TIME AND TITHE, the sequel to 2012’s Fae Fantasy, The Between.
- Between Fall of 2014 and early Winter 2015, I drafted and revised ITHAKA RISING, book 2 in my Halcyone Space SF series.
- ITHAKA RISING was published in July of 2015.
- Bill Burrows recorded and co-produced audiobooks for both DERELICT and ITHAKA RISING.
- I wrote (and completed) the first draft of DREADNOUGHT AND SHUTTLE, book 3 of Halcyone Space.
- Between this blog and others, produced close to 100 original posts, wrote dozens of poems, and a few short stories.
While the release of ITHAKA RISING didn't match up to the amazing and surprising success of DERELICT, I'm confident in my process. And I'm confident in the quality of the book. It will find its audience. I will continue the series through at least another book or three. It seems like the further in to the universe I get, the bigger it becomes and the more story I uncover.
What's on tap for me in 2016?
- DREADNOUGHT AND SHUTTLE will be published Summer of 2016 (Here's a peek at the blurb!)
- After Ro Maldonado, a reckless young computer programmer, resurrects the damaged AI on a long dormant freighter, she and the accidental crew of Halcyone grapple with explosive secrets they exposed from a war that officially ended decades ago.
Now, charged with protecting the location of Ithaka, the heart of the resistance, Ro and her friends must learn to lead double lives within the Commonwealth. But their plans to hide in plain sight disintegrate when an old enemy returns and threatens revenge. As they track him down, each course they plot endangers the life of his hostage and threatens to reveal Ithaka, brand them traitors, and reignite a war that could destroy them all.
- I'm also working on a short story that takes place during the war 40 years before the events in the Halcyone Space books. It will be in STARBOUND, an upcoming anthology.
- Draft book 4 in the Halcyone Space series
- And finally, for something completely different. . . I'll be working on a new kind of story in a new kind of way. Author (and friend) Rick Wayne and I will be collaborating on a SF/thriller: Vito Nonce - A man who cannot be remembered is sent to kill the woman who cannot forget. I am ridiculously excited about this project. Getting to work with Rick is an amazing opportunity. I love his writing and can't wait to get going!
To you, who have taken this journey with me, I offer my thanks and my gratitude. Writing stories for readers to enjoy is an enormous privilege. Beyond the sales numbers and the Amazon rankings, and the frustrations of signal boosting and struggle to reach an audience, is the sheer joy of seeing a reader engage with and be moved by something I've created.
That moment of connection is magic. It's what drives me to keep going during the solitary times where I'm staring at a blinking cursor, not knowing how to find the next words.
Thank you. If you have read a book of mine and enjoyed it, if you have reviewed it, or recommended it to a friend, or sent me an email, or signed up for my newsletter, or added a word of quiet encouragement, I am grateful.
My promise to you is this: I will keep writing and keep creating worlds for you to lose yourself in. Or maybe to find yourself. If I can do that, I will be content.
Wishing you all the best for 2016.
#SFWApro
I'm so excited to see what you produce in 2016!
ReplyDeleteWrite all the words for 2016!!
DeleteHappy New Year, LJ. :)
ReplyDeleteRight back at you, sweetie!
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