Oof.

I knew it’d been a long time since I’d written here last, but two months? Yikes. Sorry, guys. In my defence, I’ve had a lot going on: plugging away at my thesis, working away at my novels, and now applying to PhD programs. Plus, all the little everyday things: cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, shoveling snow (and man, is there ever snow to shovel at my place), doing laundry, all that fun stuff. Take all that and throw in a month-long family visit (which was, as always, a restorative experience), and I haven’t had much mental space for my site.

But now I’m here. And while I’m here, I’d like to give a (belated) New Year’s update on my 2023 progress, along with my hopes for 2024.

Overall, 2023 was a decent year for writing. I didn’t finish any manuscripts start-to-finish, but I blazed through most of The Ravage, wrote a new ending for Nightmares Inc., got about 90,000 words into the first Usi book (although I think that one will need a rewrite), finished draft 1 of The Procurers, and got maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through the Kosan rewrite. Oh, and I wrote the first few chapters of Blueblood, too.

All in all, not terrible. Is it as much as I’d hoped to do? No. But it wasn’t my worst year ever, either, especially considering the state my mental health was in over the summer. Not quite as good as 2022, but still up there.

Now, going into 2024, I’ve got that New Year’s optimism, and I’m aiming high again. My goal, as always, is to finish four manuscripts: at the moment, the plan is to tackle Blueblood first, then after that move on to DreamHackers Ltd. (the sequel to Nightmares Inc.), then take another crack at the first Usi book, and then move on to Procurers 2. Oh, and if I find the time, finish the Kosan rewrite at some point, and move on to the Keepers of Eternity rewrite. And maybe go back and finish Dante’s Inferno, too.

Yeah, I know. It’s a lot. I set the same goal for myself each of the past three years, and haven’t yet met it. But I’ve found setting highly ambitious goals helps keep me motivated. One of the ways I’ve grown as a human being is I don’t take not meeting my goals quite as hard: this is especially true with writing, where I can step back and say “hey, I may not have finished four novels this year, but I did finish two. That’s still not too bad.”

And this year, well…we’ll see. As I said before, I’ve got a lot on my plate. And the books I’ve chosen to finish all promise their own challenges: I’ve already had to untangle wild plot threads several times during my writing of Blueblood, although I’m making steady progress now. But Blueblood promises to be a long book: it could end up being 200,000 words, maybe even longer, although that’s just a rough estimate.

Then we have DreamHackers Ltd. I’ve tried to write this book already, several times. Each time, I hit a dead end. I’ve had a few ideas since my last attempt, which will hopefully make the writing go more smoothly, but damn, this book has given me issues. If that happens again this year, well…maybe I’ll just switch over to Usi.

But damn it, Usi has given me problems too. Part of the reason for that is just the scope of the thing: the Usi books are by far the biggest, most sprawling, most ambitious books I’ve ever tried to write. I predict Book 1 will easily crest 200,000 words: and just all the little details involved in making the world believable, making it livable, making it feel real and alive; making sure the plot makes sense; making sure the characters all feel real, all have realistic motivations; all these factors and more led me to eventually abandoning that original draft of Usi 1. I’m definitely itching to get back to it, though, if for no other reason because Zuza (the protagonist) is starting to get antsy again. And when she gets antsy, well, it’s not a fun time.

And then there’s Procurers 2. I know how I want this book to end—I’ve had this one’s ending etched very clear in my mind for years now—but how I get there, well, that’s another question. I’ll have to figure that out sometime between now and whenever I get started.

And then, of course, there’s the Kosan rewrite, and eventually the Keepers of Eternity rewrite. I’ve had plenty of ideas for both, believe me: I’m more excited about both of these stories than I’ve ever been. It’s just…well, there are only a certain number of hours in the day, I have other obligations to worry about, and my focus, even on projects I’m passionate about, can be fleeting. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I work better in short bursts of high productivity: after an hour, an hour and a half, maybe two hours on a good day, my brain just burns out. I kind of wish I could write as fast as I do during those bursts over sustained periods…then clone myself so that one Eric could work on school stuff, another Eric could work on housekeeping things, and then I, the original Eric, could just write all day, with maybe the occasional exercise break. But, alas, this seems unlikely to happen anytime soon.

One more thing before I go. I mentioned a few months back that I was looking to hire a pro editor to look at Nightmares Inc.: well, over Christmas break, I finally went and did it! So we’ll see how that goes. I’ll at least have a better idea of what to expect out of the process after I hired someone for Kosan. I’m expecting the book to still have many problems, but hey. I knew going in it wasn’t publishable yet. That’s why I hired the editor in the first place: to help me get it there. And while I’ve always had some issues taking criticism, it’ll help that this time I’m going in with more of a growth mindset. After all, my experience with Kosan definitely helped me grow as a writer. If this one helps me grow as much, I’ll be in a good place.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got the time and energy for today. I’ll try and update here more often going forward: then again, with how hectic my life and the state of my brain can be, who knows? I’ve accepted at this point I’m not the type who can hold to a rigid upload schedule for long: it’ll happen when it happens. I’ll just…yeah, try not to make it two whole months again. As always, have fun, stay safe, keep reading.