That's That

It seems a bit ridiculous to put the previous year in perspective; after all, what can we say but the big blue marble completed another track around the giant ball of fire? But a year is how we take stock: of ourselves, of the state of the world, of anything that matters to us as a society, a civilization, a species.

And none of it seems very good. Even if we wanted to set aside the global lunacy affecting us all on both micro and macro scales, we face problems that, to my own admittedly cynical eye, appear insurmountable. We've gone crazy, and none of us seem immune to modern dancing mania. On a personal level, even as I managed the fallout of a major personal incident that occurred a couple of years ago, new professional and personal issues required more of my energy and attention. I skipped events to ensure stability; those I attended had a bittersweet air. I missed deadlines for open calls I found interesting, and flirted with giving up writing several times; while I wrote more fiction this year, only a handful of pieces sold. The result is I begin the new year more tired than I have been in a while.

And yet, on the writing front, this has been my best year ever. I had six stories published in 2022, the most I've released in a single year, including:

• "Mirrors", The Sirens Call Winter 2022 issue 60
• "The Overlay", Midnight Tales Issue #7 - Fall 2022
• "The Faith", Camp Slasher Lake Vol. I edited by D. H. Hitz (Fedowar Press)
• "The Scream Queen's Class Reunion", Midnight Tales Issue #6 - Spring 2022
• "Full Moon Fever", The Horror Zine's Book of Werewolf Stories edited by Jeani Rector (Hellhound Books)
• "Movie Call", Generation X'ed edited by Rebecca Rowland (Dark Ink) 

Add to this I decided at the last minute to take part in NaNoWriMo, and managed to finish a 50,000-word manuscript based on my story "The Faith". 

​I've been on TikTok for over a year now, and 

For 2023, I plan editing my novel, and writing more fiction.

At this point, that's about all I can do.