December 2023 decided to kick us in the teeth on the way out, evidently. We’re OK, we’ll be OK, but this last week has been eighteen years long, I tell you what.
According to Goodreads, I read 65 books this year. Considering how many graphic novels, manga, and novellas I read this year, that’s not a lot, and I don’t care.
Some commentary, some WTF-eryEverything else except books, because Goodreads is always the last. (Also, I might finish the book I’m in the middle of before the 31st. One more would be nice.)
In other words, Switch totals and Reddit totals (sigh)“Surely,” I thought, “it’s far too early to do a year-end wrap-up.” And maybe it is, but the last one was at this time last year. So here we are.
It’s been a while, so I’ll preface this with my usual philosophy/statement of scale. Namely: I’m aware that these are tiny numbers. I’m not embarrassed; don’t be embarrassed for me. I’ve come to accept and enjoy what I do. Some people had a nice enough time reading something I wrote. That’s pretty neat. Also, it’s not my main source of income (I still have a day job, much to the annoyance of some of my coworkers), so we’re not starving over this.
I think it’s useful to say awkward things out loud. To refuse to buy into shame. So I’m transparent about the fact that not everyone out here is a millionaire, and believe that those of us who aren’t still deserve to talk about our experiences.
That said, here are some little charts.
With numbers on themTomorrow and Wednesday (Dec. 12 and 13), I’m lined up to run some ads for The Healers’ Road for the first time since 2015. It will be on sale for 99c in the US for 5 days, from the 12th-19th.
So we might get some new readers, which is cool! Or…maybe not, I don’t know! Should be a learning experience in any case!
If you’re new here, welcome. The Books pages on the menu contain all of the details about my books. I have two pen names. One for mostly-serious slice-of-life fantasy where cranky people have long conversations about things. One for goofy portal fantasy about a magical therapist.
This is a freeform blog where I tend to ramble about:
a) where I am in the writing process (often “lost”)
b) video games (I started The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a couple of weeks ago, and have Tears of the Kingdom lined up after it)
c) other people’s books (still a die-hard LeGuin fan, sorry not sorry)
d) anime (my favorite series is Revolutionary Girl Utena; I gravitate toward girly, artsy and as close to devoid of fanboy pandering as possible).
I’m a self-published part-time person-who-lines-up-words with a desk job in the nonprofit sector. All of my education was in STEM, approximately one thousand years ago. But I like writing. A lot. And so here we are.
Welcome.
If you’re not new here, also welcome.
Here’s what I did today instead of anything useful:
Why? Because the next thing on my agenda, aside from beta reading an excellent book that I’m about halfway through, is diving into Healers 4 planning. And as much as I love this world/story, I’m daunted. Almost discouraged. Let’s be honest, though, I’m going to make a solid try of it. Because I love it too much. It’s just hard to take that first step right now.
Let’s wish one another good luck and try again tomorrow.
Book 5 of Therapist, called The Sylvan Dragon’s Herald, is uploading/processing now. It’s the first of three spin-offs narrated by side characters from the original series; this one is narrated by Hazel, the wood witch Lavender met in her first chapter, as she helps the forest’s guardian dragon return a lair’s worth of stolen loot. It’s extremely Ghibli/cottagecore/turning-of-the-seasons/let’s-dive-into-middle-aged-feelings, in contrast to, well, everything before it. Plus some moments of levity, an adorable sidekick, and mental health as always.
I really enjoyed this one. I mean, I really enjoyed all of them in this series; that’s kind of a theme here.
Since we’re committing to Kindle Unlimited/Amazon for the time being for this series, this one will likewise be KU/Amazon only for a while. Like the first round of novellas, my goal is to compile these three side stories into an omnibus when they’re all complete.
Links as soon as the processing …process is done.