Happy Wednesday! Oh, and there’s something else happening today, I guess.
Some stuff happened for me this year. It started with me losing my old job to AI (thanks tech bro marketing bosses), veered through a whole host of big challenges for my family and friends, and ended in a strange, uncertain, though not distressing place. 2025 could be a great year, a stressful one, or both. I genuinely don’t know.
Through it all, I’ve been trying to push myself and my writing abilities. I shifted towards more vulnerable, sometimes volatile protagonists. I plumbed new depths of grief and regret and rose to new, different heights of hope and joy. I even wrote in first-person for the first time (for real. Check out chapter [--] of Chasing Memories!). And on top of it all, I got drafted into the Creators program here. So, I must be doing something right, right?
I think some of my best characters came around this year. Gem, Vee, and Nate caused a stir early on, quickly followed by Elise and Cadence blooming to close their story as only they could, and then the high fantasy bug hit. What better challenge could I give myself during my rush of finishing one long story than to hit the genre I’d messed up so many times before?
But thankfully, this time has been different. With Echoes, I’ve trusted myself to play outside the lines and go off-script while still maintaining all the narrative aspects that make fantasy so magical and enchanting. The results are probably the most engaging cast of characters I’ve ever created, definitely the richest world I’ve imagined, and a story that is heartfelt, hilarious, and suddenly horrifying all at once. Best of all? I’ve loved every exciting, inspiring, frustrating second of writing it, and I hope to keep doing so into the new year.
What’s next? Well, I have some ideas. But first, I have some people to thank, something I’ll save for a better time!
Until then, keep safe all, and merry Christmas!
