Christiane Knight's Blog, page 2

Where to Find Xiane This Summer [2025]

Dear Friends and Faebies, the summer event season has begun!

That means that your intrepid author and general goofball-around-town Xiane [that’s-a me!] will be appearing in many places, sometimes with a hopefully bon mot–or at least a passably mediocre one–and at other times with an armful of books that I’ll be shamelessly shilling. Summer is always the busiest season for me when it comes to this, and this year is no exception.

I have a packed calendar from now until the end of August, but of course there’s always room for a few more events… so if you’ve got something you’d like me to join or contribute to, please do shoot me a line or comment below! In the meantime, here’s where you can find me, at least so far.

JUNE

The Nebula Conference, June 5 – 6th 2025 – I’ll be attending virtually and participating in one panel, on June 6th at 5pm EDT.

Collaboration and Building a Publishing Community with C.J. Lavigne (moderator), Kate Heartfield, Kristin Osani, and Wen Wen Yang.
So often, we can feel alone on our publishing journeys. How do we make friends? Where do we find help and support? Let’s talk about beginnings: How and where do we find our people, especially when we may be battling distances, introversion, and/or imposter syndrome? What are the best ways to reach out to and work with each other?

JULY

The 2025 WriteHive Annual Conference, July 11 – 13 2025 – I’ll be attending virtually and participating in one panel, date/time TBA. Free!

Self-Publishing on a Budget [I’ll list more details when I have them!]

Greater Goods Night Market, July 18 from 6 – 10pm – this is held in the garage at R.House in Remington, 301 W 29th St, Baltimore, MD 21211. Free!

Locally made, high quality handmade goods in a laid-back party atmosphere? Delicious food and drinks right there too? Sign me UP. I’ll be there with all my books as well as some hand-made jewelry and other goods and my goofy face. Please come by and say hello, even if you have my books already?

AUGUST

Book Fair at Bel Air, August 23, 2025 from 10am – 2pm – held at the Bel Air Armory, 37 N Main St, Bel Air, MD 21014. Free!

40+ authors in all genres plus bookish merch, sweet treats, and games and crafts for kids – this is the Book Fair’s second year and I can’t wait to be back. Last year was a blast, with lots of attendees and fantastic reads to stock your TBR shelf. Did I mention that it’s free?
I’ll be there will books, some merch, and lots of free stickers. I strongly recommend this festival!

Keep checking back for more additions to my schedule, including some things I’ll be putting together. I hope to see you at one – or many – of these events!

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Come see me at Balticon 59!

It’s that time again! I’ve got my schedule, my books, some snacks and a notebook, and I’m ready for Balticon, happening this weekend at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel at the Inner Harbor, downtown Baltimore. This is both my home con and my favorite con, and there’s so much happening there that anyone could have a good time.

It’s especially great for writers, as there’s a fantastic literary programming track with panels that are a great fit for writers and readers of all types. I’m proud to say that I’m on 4 writing-oriented panels this year!

I’m excited about all of them, but I’m really pleased to have been selected for It’s Never Too Late to Start Your Writing Journey. I have a lot to say on this topic and I’m hoping that the panelists will be able to inspire some aspiring authors to take those first steps.

I also have two–TWO!–readings happening, both on Sunday! I’m going to do something new and different for one of them…I’ll be reading from my yet unpublished near-future sci-fi story, A Small Light in the Darkness. This will be the first time anyone outside of my alpha readers have heard any of the story! I can’t wait to share it along with an excerpt from A Third Kind of Madness with the audience.

When I’m not in a panel or a reading, you might find me down in the atrium, either relaxing or in the art show and artist alley. I’m doing some volunteering with artist alley and I like to spend time in the atrium, where people pass through regularly. Come talk to me about my books, what music I’m listening to, Strong Women – Strange Worlds, where I’ll be next, or just chat about what you’re reading these days.

I’ll be sure to have a post-con wrap-up soon after Balticon! I hope to see you there!

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Trials and Success and Saving Each Other

So last night, I had a bit of a breakdown.

To be honest, it’s been coming. The weight of so many things have been pushing down on me [on many of us, probably everyone reading this] and my brain went through a cycle of Bad and/or Difficult Thoughts, in rapid succession:

I started publishing my writing later in life, and I feel time ticking awayThe world’s got bigger things on its mind than what I’m doing, and the country I live in is slipping headfirst into totalitarianism My body has been showing signs of my disease getting more active and I’m afraid that I’ll lose everything I’ve gained, which was nothing like what I had before I crashed initially, but still better than when I was at my worstTrying to find the people who will love my work is like shouting into the void; I know they’re out there but getting their attention amidst all this is easily one of the toughest things I’ve ever doneDoes anyone even care about my stories?Does any of this matter?

It’s difficult to keep a positive outlook, facing all of that. ¹

Ironically, I’m known for being upbeat and for encouraging new writers. 

But see, that’s the trick. I can do that, with my whole chest, because I’ve been through these times of dark despondency. When I show up with encouragement and advice, it’s because it came hard-won. I can honestly tell aspiring authors:

“Yes, times will be bad and you will doubt everything, including your place in the world and why you should bother trying to get your words out there. But times change constantly. You just have to keep going. You have to trust that your calling is true and remember that staying focused on your goals will guide you through the darkest parts of life.”

I can say that with my whole chest because it’s true for me. 

What defines success? Who tells you what it looks like?

You do.

Success for me looks like getting up every day and putting my thoughts to paper or a screen, analyzing them and looking for what’s true or beautiful or poignant and sharing that when it feels right. Yes, even when the world is falling apart, because sometimes—a lot of the time—this is all I can control.

Success looks like watching my slow but steady progress in my author career, as more people recognize my name and know what I talk about, even if they haven’t read one of my books. 

Success is knowing that people trust what I’ll tell them about life, or building a writing career—or anything really—is based on honesty, life experience, and a deep desire to be helpful and supportive. I always stress that I’m sharing my lived experiences and that theirs might be different, especially when weighing privilege and inequalities as part of the picture, but that being open and ready to lend a hand have gotten me quite far.

Success isn’t linear.

I’m Christiane Knight, and I write hopeful stories, even though I’m not always filled with hope. I write about versions of our world where magic is possible but what ultimately solves the problems and gets the characters through the dark times is the characters saving each other through love, and trust, and community. On the surface it might look like the magic did the job, but that’s not the truth of it.

They save each other.

We have to save each other, too.

Success is putting those thoughts into the world over and over, through stories and comments and posts like these, and trusting that my words will create ripples of hope and change, even if that’s on the smallest of scales. 

That’s how I measure success.  

Success doesn’t mean that the problems and dark times go fully away, either. Those will persist and return in different forms, because there will always be struggle.

“Wherever there’s hope there’s a trial.” – Haruki Murakami [also see: Sea, by BTS]

But the trials do make success, however you measure it, that much sweeter. 

And if I can help even one person with my words and actions, especially in these dark times, that’s the most meaningful success of all.

¹ Because this is the Internet, where nuance goes to die, please do know that I am also terrified for people who are being disappeared or unjustly held in hellhole cells for the temerity to live here or crossing the border legally; angry for the people who are being deported or losing their jobs over political stances that are in opposition to this current regime; feeling helpless and furious that once again Black and brown people and LGBTQIA2S+ folks are in danger [not that it ever stops], women are fighting aggressive patriarchy, and the poor and disabled are once again on the brink of being left to die. I was trying to keep it short and sweet but then thought I’d better say this explicitly, because there’s always someone online who doesn’t know you but is desperate to have a gotcha moment.² There is no second note, other than to say that if you let them keep you from creating, then they win. Fuck that, my friends. Let’s create out of love, and of spite if we have to.

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Join Strong Women – Strange Worlds for a FREE QuickRead

Friends! It’s time for QuickReads again!

Find your next favorite read at the First Friday Strong Women – Strange Worlds QuickReads “book tasting” of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories by women and non-binary writers – 6 authors, 8 minutes each.

It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s amazing! Plus, there will be prizes/giveaways! And you don’t even have to leave the house!

Authors reading: Alethea Lyons, Kendra Preston Leonard, Darcie Little Badger, Elliott Gish, Diane Billas, and Jennifer Hudak.

Join us on April 4th at 12 noon EDT on Zoom. Sign up at the link below!

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/strong-women-strange-worlds-33460611105

Tell them I sent you!

The post Join Strong Women – Strange Worlds for a FREE QuickRead appeared first on Christiane Knight.

Life during darker times; a call to action

Good morning, friends. I sit here on the couch, cozy under a rainbow crocheted blanket with my early morning [well, early for me] tea–Earl Grey, hot–and my daily reminder of spring allergies thanks to early morning congestion, and I think about the State of Things.

This blog isn’t usually where I talk about the State of Things. I save that for Ko-fi or my Bluesky account, or I vent with colleagues on one of the Discord servers I’m on that’s specifically for writers. I figure that having a space that’s dedicated to writing and my books and mostly held separate from the ongoing fascist collapse of the country that I live in and how it’s affecting me and those I care about is a nice space to have.

But see, that’s a bigger fantasy than the ones that I write.

Despite all these chunky sentences I’m typing out, filled with language that’s both designed to give you a glimpse of the real me and to humanize everything I’m going to say here today, I’m a turmoiled mess under the surface I offer the public. I’m not hiding that–see the paragraph above where I talk about venting–but that’s usually something I do within containers I deem safer and not quite so much directly tied to my work.

But my work is threatened. Hell, I’m threatened, the artist and author and human where from those creative things flow.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m the only one. We’re all in a state of danger right now, but my story is the one I know how to tell best, and to be honest? I don’t like using other people’s stories in heartfelt statements like the one I’m making with this blog post. It feels like I’m stealing their suffering, and that’s no good. But I share other people’s stories all the time on Bluesky, because that links to their pages and places where you can help them.

Today, it’s my turn.

I can paint a pretty picture of calmness and security, like I did at the beginning. The reality is that at this moment I’m okay. Okay-ish. I don’t have much revenue coming in at the moment, but I’m hardly starving or in danger of losing the roof over my head at this time. But I’m well aware of how precarious my position is.

I’m a disabled person with a chronic illness that makes life pretty shitty some of the time, pun absolutely intended, because mirth is what keeps me going. I depend on my family for support, because I can’t keep a “regular” job and writing, as glorious as it is, hardly pays the bills. Oh, and even if it did, there are assholes out there every day who see no problem with pirating the work of artists and authors to line their own coffers or fuel their plagiarism machines. I’m trying to get financial help, but that’s threatened by the current fascist government.

I depend on Medicaid in order to get the healthcare that I need, which includes regular gastroenterologist visits, CT scans, MRIs, colonoscopies [yep, multiple, I’m so lucky], and a very expensive medicine that doesn’t actually fix the problem, but does make it not try to actively kill me. I spend a ton of time every day dealing with my illness, and it would be worse without the program that helps me stay alive–another thing that’s threatened by the current fascist government.

I’m queer, disabled, and neurodivergent. These things are part and parcel of who I am, and I include all of them in my writing. I can’t imagine not doing that; it’s a reality of my world and of so many other people I know. It keeps my stories grounded, and it’s a fundamental part of what I do to include people that look and live like me and my friends, colleagues, and community. That also puts a target on my back in this fascist regime, and it’s only that I’m a small and relatively unknown author that keeps me safer…for now.

Just using the term “fascist regime” might be a problem soon enough, if things keep going the way they’re going. I’m going to keep using it, because it’s correct and I refuse to minimize what’s happening here. If that puts a target on my back, so be it. It can join all the others.

I’m not telling you all this to garner sympathy. These are just realities; I’ve been living with them for a while now, and I’m not shy about talking about them because, as I’ve said, they shape what I write as well as how I live.

But right now, the biggest reality is that all these things leave me in the most vulnerable place I’ve been in…in perhaps forever. And look, I’ve been homeless, I’ve been destitute. I laid in a hospital bed for days on end after finding out that I almost died, from something that could have been treated much earlier if I’d had decent doctors and insurance before the ACA came along and saved my ass.

I know an endless parade of other authors, especially indie authors, who are in the same, shitty boat.

I know that many of you who are reading this are probably in that boat with us, or in a similar one.

What can we do?

It’s now early afternoon [I took a break to think while I did all my beginning-of-the-day things] and the answers aren’t any closer. In my books, the characters would draw closer together, plan and plot with the strengths they possess and the knowns they have to work with. They would draw on community and yes, their magic–but every time they use their magic to solve a problem, it’s actually a metaphor for pulling from their inherent, often overlooked or discounted strengths, the whole thing they’ve been searching for throughout the story they’re in.

As Lucee would say, we’re strongest when we’re together. Or as Cullen would declare, “The magic is us.”

No one’s coming to save us. We have to band together and save ourselves.

It’s going to take a variety of paths. Mutual aid. Protesting. Community action and support. Looking out for each other, even when things seem insurmountable.

I wish I could wrap this up with more uplifting words, because despite my sunny disposition and the hopefulness of my last couple of paragraphs, I’m scared and struggling, and again, I know so many other authors and other creative people are even worse off than I am. People look to us for the beauty that helps the world be easier to navigate and to ease the stresses that come with daily life. They want us to inspire, give food for thought, distract, entertain, and enrich their lives.

We’re happy to do that. It’s our calling. But we can’t do it from a place of fear. We can’t do it in squalor, or while waiting to be disappeared or for our illnesses to kill us off. And we definitely can’t do it while we’re struggling to make ends meet because everyone wants our magic but not enough want to support the magic-makers.

It doesn’t have to be me. If you’re already here chances are good that you’ve read at least one of my books, though if you haven’t, there are links in the navigation bar at the top of this page. If you want to do more for me specifically, I write tons of content at my Ko-fi weekly, and supporters get to see it first. But if you could go to the pages of the LGBTQA+ writers, the Black authors, the disabled authors, the marginalized authors from multiple backgrounds and communities, and support them? That would be a fantastic start! Buy directly from them if possible. Join their Patreons and Ko-fis and newsletters and review their books and tell your friends to buy them too.

That’s a beginning.

Don’t know where to look? Ask me. I have lists, friends. I’m even on a few of them. You can try starting with the books that are finalists in the Indie Ink Awards. Or you can use their dropdown search to find books in different diversity representation categories. There are also numerous starter packs on Bluesky that are worth investigating. Your local library can also give you some help and would be thrilled to do so.

I hope that these heartfelt, honest words convince you to support indie authors, and perhaps have shown you some ways to assist us that you can do even if you’re broke, too. This is a calling and vocation that’s extremely important and is full of people who have traditionally struggled to thrive. Please be a part of our community and help us continue on as the world grows darker and more inhospitable to us.

postscript: It’s no coincidence that instead of coffee on my Ko-fi, I ask for tea. You spill the tea, you say something is your cup of tea. I promise that what I’ve talked about today is no tempest in a teapot.

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The next Third Thursday Strong Women – Strange Worlds QuickRead is coming on March 20th!

Book lovers! Find your next favorite read at this “book tasting” of science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories by women and non-binary writers – 6 authors, 8 minutes each. It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s amazing! Plus, there will be prizes/giveaways! And you don’t even have to leave the house!
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/strong-women-strange-worlds-33460611105

The post The next Third Thursday Strong Women – Strange Worlds QuickRead is coming on March 20th! appeared first on Christiane Knight.

Numbers Games – Do They Matter?

I love stats. Numbers about my author business are my jam.

For someone who struggled with math in my early years, it might seem strange to say that I love seeing my numbers laid out, but for me it’s all about progress–and seeing in a concrete way what’s working and not for me in my writing career.

Having the ability to look over trends with sales and what I did to increase them [if anything!] lets me know what actions I can take in the future. In my case, it also gives me reassurance that I’m doing okay, not wasting my time or spinning my wheels. I don’t write to trend, so my stories sell strictly on their strength, personal appeal, and being found by the right readers for them. I’m also famously anti-capitalist in my approach and do very little paid advertising. I rely on social media, appearances, and community to get the word out there. Want to see how that’s paid off?

My first book, In Sleep You Know, came out on May 1st 2021.
In those 3 years, 9 months and 14 days I have sold 504 books over three titles, in both paperback and e-book.

That doesn’t count anything I’ve given away, just sales counted via KDP and direct sales in person or through my Ko-fi.

Out of all three books, In Sleep You Know is my best seller, which is to be expected. It’s the first book in a series, and it’s been out the longest. Following books in a series often drop off in sales, and that’s the case for me. My third book hasn’t even been out for a year, so it’s still fairly new. I also didn’t push it quite as hard as I could have, though I did do several readings from it last year [four? five? my memory’s for crap, y’all. This is why I keep notes for everything!] Of course there’s also factors outside of my control to consider too, and that will probably have even more effect as we go through 2025. *shudder*

So do you want some further breakdown?

Here’s how sales went by amount:

E-books, via KDP [246]Paperbacks, via direct sales [175]Paperbacks, via KDP [72]E-books, via direct sales [11]

Out of those sales, CASOD sold the most in e-books, mostly via KDP. ISYK sold the most paperbacks, mostly via direct sales. Overall, as I mentioned, ISYK was my best seller, but CASOD wasn’t far away from it! ATKOM lags behind, which is unfortunate as it’s my favorite in some ways [sorry, my other book babies] but it’s also got some details that could affect its appeal: it’s written in first person, the main character is non-binary, it’s a little darker than the first two. I stand by all those choices, and I acknowledge that it’s the kind of book that takes longer to find its audience. I’m okay with that.

What can I do with these stats?

Now that I have everything laid out in a way that I can analyze, what can I do with it? For one, I learned that I did sell more e-books by far than paperbacks but I sold a decent amount of physical copies. As I make more when I sell direct, I should focus on getting more people to buy e-books from Ko-fi. [also when you get them from Ko-fi, they’re DRM free.]

Selling direct is absolutely my strong point. Plus I make enough money that way that I can make special book bundles with reduced prices at events and still make more than I do through KDP. Nothing seems to beat the personal connection of meeting readers face-to-face. These numbers don’t factor in how much it might have cost me to vend at an event, and that reduces my bottom line, but doing them has so many benefits that it makes up for any loss.

Writer friends, are these numbers helpful for you? I firmly believe that my transparency can help other indie writers get an idea of what one average author in my genre does–and as I said, I generally take an anti-capitalist approach, so this is with a lack of advertising. As always, your mileage may vary. If you’d like to learn more about my approach, this is one of the topics I’ll be talking about at length in my course Emergence, which is in the early stages of launch right now. You can learn more at the course page, or on my Ko-fi.

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Write What You Know, They Say

“Write what you know,” they say, as if everything doesn’t affect everything else, as if the world isn’t inextricably entwined.

“Write what you know” can mean “concentrate on the subjects with which you’re most familiar” and that’s a decent jumping-off place as a new writer, but awfully limiting, don’t you think?

The job of being a writer can encompass a lot of things. For me, it’s about exploration. I create new worlds and see what they show me about this one. My characters come from all walks of life and many of them don’t look like me or share my personal history. They go through things that I never could, simply because our circumstances are so different, or they echo some of my own but they will move through them in their own way. Does that mean that I shouldn’t write them? Of course not.

Talk to people you know are different than you, that come from other backgrounds and experiences than yours. Look for media that features stories that are far apart from yours. Speak with experts, read their testimonies, and invest in hiring sensitivity readers when appropriate. Vet your writing through those who know best, because it’s their lives, and you’ll be able to keep your work feeling genuine and true.

However.

I’m “lucky” – I put it in quotes because many would not consider some of my life experiences lucky ones – that I’ve lived through a lot of different events, many of which were challenging and um, character building. [Pun intended, because jokes are what power me.] I draw from those extensively when I write, and I often joke about what part of me various characters carry with them. If you know me well, you probably already can point some of those connections out.

The characters and plots that often feel the most real are the ones that are connected to real experiences and the types of people you’ve known and understood. The more life you live, the easier it is to fill out a world in a way that other people can believe in, because you’re painting it in your experience.

Plunder Your Reality!

Dig into your history and excavate the people and scenes that resonate with you, trigger your emotions, and make it impossible to forget them. Use that to power your writing in a way that feels more than just believable.

Caveat: make sure that you use these things as inspiration only unless they are your stories to tell, and even then be careful.
Writing from real life examples is a tricky business, unless you obscure them. Let the people you’ve encountered and the things you’ve lived through be color, not something you rip whole cloth from your life and apply to the page. That’s for memoirs and tell-alls. Let people wonder where you get your inspiration from. Hold them close to your heart and don’t base anything completely on a real person or event you’ve lived through. Let them inform your creations, not be them.

I can show you some of my personal examples!

Vali and Sousa are both heavily inspired by real life people and their habits and personality.
Sousa’s picked up traits from a lot of different places. I’ve known too may drummers [and punk guys] who ripped the sleeves off of every shirt they own. His propensity to gather up people and take care of them in a big house [after being dissuaded from shutting himself away from the world] is inspired in part by a guy I knew who did much the same. Big Scene Dad energy, although Sousa would hate being called that.
Vali? I often joke about Vali being a lot like me, but she’s much more principled and driven than I am. When I write about her time being homeless, that’s coming from my experiences, though: some directly, some observed. Her combo of recklessness and luck as a graffiti artist is based on how I used to move in the streets of Baltimore and somehow never got in trouble. The way she takes care of people, too; that’s based on my values and experience, as well as her unshakeable belief in the power of hope.
She’s a lot cooler than me, though.

I’ve talked before about how being in a band helped me write the scenes with The Drawback, and spending a lot of time in clubs shaped those scenes too. Mingling with the art crowd at MICA and with outsider artists gave me some of the background for The Ants and their house, the Compound. I can tell you some crrrraaaazy stories from art student parties I attended. And of course the way that Emmaline feels when she’s at the corporate coffee shop, perpetually an outsider because of her illness, watching the world go by from her table–I’ve had several people with chronic illnesses mention how much they relate to her and that scene, how they could see themselves in it.

All the details matter, and I believe the ones that are drawn from your reality are the ones that will resonate the strongest with the reader. Don’t hesitate to plunder your reality for that treasure of experience! Thread it through the parts you’re creating from scratch and it will lend an air of believability that can win over readers and help them get lost in the story.

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The Year In Numbers: 2024

I track things. It’s something that helps keep me moored and on the path I want to pursue, and also it ticks that little reward-driven box for me – I like that feeling of satisfaction that a checkmark gives me.

I also like following my growth and seeing where I’m letting things slip past me, or where I’m losing interest in something.
So here’s some stats and some things I did that I’m proud of or wish could be a little more impressive… but in general, I’m happy with my numbers. Yay!
If you did more of any of these than me, congratulations! If you did less, then I hope you don’t get comparison envy, because any success is worth cheering.

Writing-relatedBooks published: onePoems included in anthologies: threeBooks sold: 63 87 [not all numbers in yet]Panels I participated in: 10Readings I did: 4Conventions I participated in: 3Events I participated in: 5Newsletters I sent: 13 but some of these were intro emails or repeatsAwards I was nominated for: 10, across all three books, all in the Indie Ink Awards. Yay!Interviews given: 1

You may notice that these numbers aren’t huge. That is FINE, y’all. I’m in my fourth year of being a chronically ill, self-published, fully independent author. I don’t have a ton of money to put into advertising, so for the most part, I don’t. What you see here is completely organic growth as I learn the ropes of what to do for my writing career.

I’ve quoted this statistic before, but it bears repeating here:

“How many books do authors actually sell?

In the Penguin Random House/Simon & Schuster antitrust trial, they revealed that out of 58,000 trade titles published per year, half of those titles sell less than one dozen books (yes, 12 books). 98% of the books that publishers released in 2020 (a very big year for books) sold fewer than 5,000 copies – about 90% sold less than 2,000. And, a study in 2006 found that 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies.”

I write and sell books. I participate in events. I’m building a readership, a body of knowledge alongside my works, and a community. I’m building a name for myself in the most organic and authentic way possible. I can trace my growth over the past four years and it’s fantastic. Slow growth is much more sustainable and realistic and I get to keep the joy of doing this work. If you’re a new or aspiring writer, I share these stats so that you can get a true glimpse behind the curtain.

What I achieve is my journey. Yours may look very different!

ReadingBooks read: 17, according to Goodreads, but my library says 5 more than that. I also read a LOT of online materialDNF: 4, all non-fictionGenres: fantasy, science fiction, fantasy/romance, romance [this is new for me!], self-help, referenceMost recommended: This is How You Lose the Time War [Amal El-Mohtar/Max Gladstone], Rakesfall [Vajra Chandrasekera], Someone You Can Build a Nest In [John Wiswell], Toward Eternity [Anton Hur]
[these are affiliate links]Most read fiction periodical: Uncanny MagazineUnsorted list of things I’m proud of this year

I’m still learning Korean! I’ve mostly been working on getting comfortable with reading it on the fly, even though I don’t know what most of the words mean. Getting the pronunciation right is challenging because of how consonants work in the language, but every time I get it right I feel like I’ve won. I like to watch videos of people filming walking around various areas of Seoul while I absorb the atmosphere and try to read signage as we pass by. You’d be surprised how much you learn that way!

My orchid rebloomed. I have never managed to get an orchid to rebloom! This one was a surprise gift from Christopher, and it arrived in gorgeous bloom. I was delighted and added it to my collection of indoor plants happily, but I fully expected that I’d be tending it for the green leaves alone after those blossoms fell. It surprised me with holiday flowers.

I’m drinking more tea. Fancier tea, that is. My pal Velma and I have both been exploring the world of tea this past year, with Velma taking a much deeper dive than I have so far. That works well for me, because she suggests the ones she’s liked the most, and our tastes align. And we trade care packages full of tea samples. It’s been a delight!

I shut down 24-7 streaming at Radio Xiane and that was good, but I’m ready to bring back playlists/shows. This was HUGE for me; I have a difficult time saying NO and letting things go that I’ve loved but no longer serve me. In this case, I was spending money on the streaming host and not seeing a lot of return [in other words, not many listeners or support] – so I made the difficult decision to let the streaming service go. But I really enjoy putting together mixes and introducing new music to people, so after sitting with the idea of quitting completely, I felt like making mixes on MY schedule, when I feel like it, was something that could bring me joy again. So here we are, in 2025, and I’m planning to start a practice of random show releases. Radio Xiane lives!

In alignment with my values, I’m moving as many things as I can to smaller, indie or indie supporting platforms in 2025. Instead of Goodreads, I’ve started updating at The Storygraph. [follow me there! my books are there too!] I use Ko-fi instead of other platforms that have some sketchy history. This year everything is queerer and artsier and indie and filled with communities I feel good supporting.

I took time to rest, and not push myself. This is HARD for me, y’all. I am a go-go-go kind of person, and all the enforced downtime I had after the Big Bust really rankled. I credit that time for opening my eyes to the idea that I could write and publish my own books, though… which of course I could, but I was literally so busy all the time that I never took a moment for really reassessing what I wanted from life until I was forced to change.

Now that I’ve had a taste of what that’s like, I’ve learned to incorporate it into my life. I need to rest. [So do you.] I need time to reassess and recuperate and recover, and if I don’t take it my body will make me take it. I have a hard head, so it took my body breaking down to make this lesson stick. But it did!

What about you? What are your numbers, your successes, your reasons to cheer? I want to know!
May 2025 be kind to us all. Life has been challenging and we need each other more than ever. Know that you can always come here for support in your creative endeavors. I’m cheering you on!

The post The Year In Numbers: 2024 appeared first on Christiane Knight.

Leave the year behind; we must always move forward

Goodbye to 2024, a year that brought me growth and opportunity, a third novel published and new opportunities to do readings, share thoughts, and learn from others. It wasn’t the easiest year and there were certainly disappointments, but I’m not going to rehash those. There’s going to be plenty of time to deal with challenges, so I’m staying focused on the things I can control and will enjoy.

My Word for 2025

As you might know if you’ve been following me for any amount of time, I always choose a word that encompasses what I’m focusing on or seeking to bring into my life. This word will guide me and remind me of my goals for the year. And this year I chose EMERGENCE as my word.

Emergence: the process of coming into being, or becoming important or prominent.

It can also mean the process of coming into view after being concealed, something that I’ve become well-versed in after my time in enforced confinement thanks to illness. Now I’m ready to bloom, to show what I’ve got to the world, and to share that light with you.

I have a special announcement that will be coming very soon in 2025, and EMERGENCE is the keyword you should remember!

I’ll talk more about it here on the blog, as well as over on my Ko-fi, so if you’re not subscribed to my updates you might want to do that!

Until then, let me wish you a happy new year; may 2025 be kind to us all.

The post Leave the year behind; we must always move forward appeared first on Christiane Knight.