Into 2023

Looking Back

What a wild month! After finishing the Glorious Mess Advent Calendar, I took a much-needed break – not from writing, just from the added complexity of keeping the website updated. Not that I’ve had much time for being on the website, but it was nice not worrying about it.

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the Advent Calendar. I hope your holidays were joyful and restful. I’m sure by now, the year has begun to fall back into a normal rhythm, if it ever stopped.

It’s hard to believe that the first month of 2023 is almost over. Time flies, but also drags. I’m sure most of us can understand that feeling.

I have no words of wisdom to give, no reflection to add to the conversation. That, in itself, is an oddity and rarity; I usually jump at the chance to share my thoughts. Perhaps, I guess, it’s because I’m looking forward with such expectancy that it’s difficult to look back.

Looking Forward

Of course, it’s impossible to look forward into 2023 without seeing my wedding staring me in my face. For those of you curious, planning is going along well, and we’re both beyond excited to start our life together (insert smiley face here).

I could wax poetic about the time of waiting and expectancy, but that’s not the reason for this post. No, this one is about Scribe of Worlds and what we have planned for this coming year.

The Scribe of Worlds

2023 is going to be a year of change for me, and since I’m the only one who runs this site, it’s going get hit with the effects, too. As you probably know, I’ve been working on a novel (Visti El Bulron), and I’m excited to say that part one of that is done (first draft, anyway), and I’m slowly figuring out how to get to where I need to in part two.

There’s also a seven part series (with a couple stand-alone novels) that’s been in the works since… 2015? Earlier, if you trace the origins of the individual stories. But that’s another conversation entirely, and probably won’t see too much progress beyond world and plot building. It’s like dominoes… They take time to set up, but they should all fall into place real quick once we get there.

Oh, and there’s a couple novellas I want to get back to – Timeless, Cyclade: Phoenix Squadron, and The Enchanted Realms: Part Two. But they’re more like a puzzle – laid out on my living room table to chip away at as I have time.

So far, I’ve told you a lot of things that I am not doing, so the question still stands, “What will 2023 bring?”

Well, that’s just it. I’m not sure.

I do know that February 1st, March 1st and April 1st (or thereabouts), I’ll be posting new content. Not a full rotating collection, like I was hoping last fall. Novel Excerpts will probably stay Visti El Bulron for the foreseeable future. I might drag some stories out for The Archive. We’ll see about Short Stories.

What I will be posting, though, is new Adventures in Fantasy stories. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve fleshed out more of the details throughout this past month, and I’m excited to share it with you.

Adventures in Fantasy

Adventures in Fantasy (which might end up getting rebranded, so if you have any ideas, just let me know!) is an anthology of short stories set in low-fantasy world that may look very similar to our own. The universe doesn’t have a name yet.

You’ve already met some of the characters in Miracle Mile and Snow and Fire, but there are lot more stories and characters to come! Each story is crafted to be complete within itself, but, just like life, overlaps and interweaves with other stories in the collection. Keep your eyes out as you read – the connections might not always be as obvious as you think! There will be two or three major plotlines, with a lot of subplots.

My favorite thing about this is that the stories are non-linear and self-contained, meaning that you should (in theory) be able to read them in any order and get just as much enjoyment out of them. Yes, it’s like Kaleidoscope, but that was only realized in retrospect. I just wanted to write stories about this world.

Some of them are important. Some of them are for world-building. Others might be red herrings. Or maybe every red herring is you catching me red handed. The only way to find out is to jump on in and see what Adventures in Fantasy will bring you!

Why Only Until April?

I already have enough stories for a once-a-month post schedule until about June or July. However, come May, I’ll be married and moving into a new stage of life. While I want to promise I’ll be able to keep up with posting, I’m not going to put that on myself. Hopefully, around June, I’ll be able to figure out what the second half of the year will look like, but until then, all bets are off!

So Comes the Year

I used to plan out what I wanted to happen in the year. I made lofty goals of finishing this project or that. Last year, I decided I wanted to take a cross country road trip.

Well, I took that trip.

I also got engaged.

My point is that I can never be sure of what the year will bring. Maybe I’ll finish one of the novels, at the cost of finishing the full Adventures anthology. Maybe I’ll find a love of selling cars, and stop writing altogether (unlikely, don’t worry). But I hope you’ll come along with me. Like I always say. Life is a journey.

Care to wander through 2023 with me?

Now, in the meantime, I’ve left Marge at the mercies of an oddly dressed stranger. So if you don’t mind, I should probably get back to her.

See you in February!