I'll start by saying the obvious.
2024 was a challenge.
After seeing the publication of both The Broken Places and A Dark Roux in 2023, I went into 2024 with optimism and excitement. I had another book coming out, I was in the process of writing a new one, and I had set up events and conventions that had me pumped. I also had two audiobooks published over the summer which added to the excitement. I set up a newsletter and vowed to blog more (lol). I even began the year signing contracts for both Ashes of August Manor and Porcelain Lullaby. Yep. 2024 was going to be my year.
But life got in the way more often than I would have liked. The pressures of finishing up the spring semester of a particularly tumultuous year in my day job wore on me more than I thought it would, not to mention the added pressure of just being a dad and a husband. So often, it seemed like writing was pushed to the backburner in a way it hadn't been in 2023 or the years prior when I began writing. Then adding on normal, everyday life things like air conditioners going out and, well, what you get is a lot of stress induced paranoia and feelings of failure.
Then, A Dark and Endless Sea launched in June and, while it had a great launch and has done quite well for itself as an indie horror book, it didn't live up to the promises of The Broken Places and A Dark Roux. For the first time, I had to come to the realization that not all of my ideas have the mass appeal that I think they have. That entire book, its genre, its structure, were risks. Creative risks that I wanted to take, but risks nonetheless.
And then there was the process of writing Porcelain Lullaby. Imposter syndrome reared its ugly head like it never has before with this one. Perhaps it was the idea of writing a book that was already signed and has a general release window I had to aim towards, or the fact that it was picked up for an audiobook contract before it was even done added an element of pressure and anxiety that made wish so many times I could step away from it, while knowing that I really couldn't.
I felt overworked. I was constantly turning down blurb requests because I simply couldn't take anything else on. For the first time ever, writing felt like a job. And I hated it.
But with the conclusion of anything also comes hindsight and the ability to look at something holistically instead of all the little jagged pieces that make up an unrecognizable puzzle.
Because 2024, while a challenge, was also filled with some phenomenal highs.
While A Dark and Endless Sea didn't light up the sales folder quite like my previous two books, it was still a bestseller. And so many writers read the book and loved it, offering the kindest of words and reviews. When one of your favorite writers in the world (Andrew Van Wey) messages you to tell you the book hadn't left his mind for a week after he finished it, I think its important to take that victory lap. The book received near universal acclaim during its review cycle, and the reader response has remained strong and steady since its release. For a book that, as I mentioned before, was a risk, that is unquestionably a victory.
I was also able to participate in the biggest horror book convention of the year last year with Books and Brews. There isn't enough space here to adequately express just how incredible that event was. The people I met, the connections that I made, the readers I finially got to meet in the flesh....what a moment, man. What a moment in time.
And as much as Porcelain Lullaby drove me insane while writing it, I am very happy with how it turned out! Sifting through the coals of that story revealed a quite a few diamonds that I hope shine as bright for the readers as they did when I found them myself.
The audiobooks for A Dark Roux and A Dark and Endless Sea were also released, and I could not have been happier with how they turned out. The narrators were so freaking good. The stories truly felt brought to life, and that's coming from someone who's not that big an audiobook guy.
And finally, I got to finish up the edits to Ashes of August Manor and send out ARCs. The response to them thus-far has been...overwhelming. Its come hot out of the gates, and I couldn't be more proud of that book. I worked exceptionally hard to craft a story that revelled in the gothic and the macabre and the melancholy, and it seems so far that all that work was not in vain.
So, what waits on the horizon in 2025. Well, a lot actually.
First things first, Ashes of August Manor will be released on March 1st. To say I'm pumped in an understatement. And my excitement is only increased by the fact that in early April, I will be attending the Scares That Care AuthorCon in Williamsburg, VA. I was unable to make it last year, but I'm so excited to be going this year. I'll be sharing a table with William F. Gray. More on him later.
Also, I will be present at Books and Brews 2.0! I was so thrilled to receive an invite back after last year, and that first weekend of August is circled about thirty times on my calendar.
Porcelain Lullaby will be release (as of right now) in October of 2025. It is going through the final stages of its post-production right now and I'm thrilled with how the story turned out. Ashes of August Manor and Porcelain Lullaby are, in my opinion, my darkest books so far. They are also, arguable, my most emotional as well.
I'll also be finishing up my collaborative novel, Still Watches The Night, with the aforementioned William F. Gray. I don't want to say too much about that right now, but let's just say our shared perspectives on so many topics have created a story I think you guys are all going to love.
As for after? I am continuing to collect short stories for an eventual collection, but I don't know when that will be yet. I will also aim to write two new solo books this year. I have them both planned out already and can't wait to get started on them. I don't know which will be written first, or if I will be able to get both of them done in 2025, but I'm gonna try my damndest.
And that brings me to my biggest revelation of 2025, learned from the fires of 2024. Life isn't going to cooperate. But the people who break through the molds of life's shackles are the ones who find ways to make time when they need to. So that's my aim for this year. Make time, even if it means cutting some less important things out.
Because I love to do this. God, I love to do this. And I want to keep bringing stories to the page.