In today’s post, I’m going to talk about the following:

• A Review of Brian Buhl’s 2023, In Brief
• 2024 Anticipations
• My 2024 Blog Challenge

2023, In Brief

This was the year I published The Repossessed Ghost. It debuted at Baycon, and I felt like a rock star that entire weekend. I participated on the Small Publishing in a Big Universe podcast a couple of times. Huge highlights meant the year could have been great.

On the other hand, my day job became harder and my mental health took a dive. I haven’t been this depressed since before I joined Trimark, and if you know anything about my level of depression back then, you know that’s saying something.

This was the year that my blood pressure became an issue. This was the year that someone I thought was a friend told me that we weren’t, really, because of something that happened years ago. This is the year that I stayed home when others were going out. This is the year I wanted to give up. Like, really give up.

I stopped writing at the beginning of November, and my mind went to dark places. I need to write. When I’m not writing, I get like this. It’s hard to write when I don’t think I’m going to be able to share my stories, but 2023 showed me that I can get my stories and my posts out in the world, even if it’s only to a handful of people.

So, now that I’m safely standing inside 2024, I bit 2023 farewell. You had your high points, but you were mostly a long, difficult time.

2024 Anticipations

Here’s a big one!

One For the Road is a short story about two witches trying to save their modern city by capturing Father Time and delivering him to the annual New Year’s ritual. Without Father Time, the city will fall apart, and it’s up to Tina and Alexa to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Melissa had this idea for a story, and I kept telling her that she should write it. It’s her story. Then just before Christmas several years ago, it dawned on me that she was asking me to write her a very specific story. How could I say no to that? One For the Road is sweet and fun, just like Melissa.

I’ll talk more about One For the Road over the next couple of weeks. It will be available everywhere on January 12th, the first day of Arisia in Boston.

Speaking of which, Melissa and I are going to Arisia in Boston. Then next month, we’re going to Boskone, which appears to take place in the same hotel. We’re front loading this year with some fun writing conventions.

What else am I anticipating this year? There’s something with my day job I’m looking forward to, but I have my doubts about how it’s going to go. We will see.

There’s some Writing Excuses stuff that we still have to decide on. I would love to go to WorldCon, but that’s a lot of money, and if things are uncertain with my day job, I might not want to commit so much money to that kind of trip.

I’m looking forward to writing more this year, which brings me to my final topic.

My 2024 Blog Challenge

I’m going to try and write a blog post every day in 2024.

Are they going to be like what I’ve done in October? Sort of. In October, I plan out the entire month before it begins. I write the posts on the day that they’re to be posted, and I deviate from the schedule when the whim takes me. A lot of the October posts wind up being these long, thoughtful essays, usually about writing or something writing related.

I’m not going to plan out the entire year in advance, but I will plan it out in 2 week chunks. I know that the next couple of weeks, I need to talk about One For the Road. I’m an author, and I need to promote my story. I don’t need to be obnoxious about it, but it still needs to be present and put at the forefront. I can keep it interesting and more than just “buy my book.”

I’m going to try and adhere to a format in order to make it easier to write something every day. The basic format I’m planning is:

• Personal news
• Upcoming events/promotion/follow-ups to previous posts
• The Actual Topic

The Actual Topic can be nearly anything. I will mostly talk about writing, but I’m freeing myself to include video games, programming, and other things I’m into. I contain multitudes.

This is an election year, so as things get spicy, I’m sure some of my political thoughts might take the spotlight. I’m not going to turn this into a political blog or go on any of the rants I’ve enjoyed in the past. At the same time, I’m going to be me, and I’m a person that cares deeply about my world, my country, and the future we’re leaving for our children.

One thing I might do as an Actual Topic is publicly write a story. That is, I will expose my entire process here and write a story out in the open. It won’t be a Mel Walker story, and it won’t be related to anything I’ve already written that hasn’t been published yet. This will be an entirely new thing. Maybe it’ll be a short story. Maybe it’ll be a novel. Once we get to the brainstorming part, I’ll figure that out with you. I think it could be fun, and it will go farther than anything I’ve done before to teach writing.

This is going to be hard, and I’m going to be tempted to treat this like so many other New Year’s resolutions. I’ve proven I’m capable of keeping this up for an entire month, so maybe I’ll re-evaluate this plan when I get to February. I think it’ll be good for me.

This is 2024. Let’s make this year actually great!