SYSTEMS UPDATE: The Clang

As 2023 winds down (internal designation Year of Great Expense), it’s useful to look back and see what was accomplished. Here are the headlines:

Three novellas were drafted and one was published.A short story went out on submission but didn’t get any bites.Four other short stories have been reworked for different formats.THE ENVOY earned a really nice review by a reader.I had my first-ever solo appearance which by all accounts went very well.I sold more physical copies of my entire catalog than I ever have in a single year. December was surprisingly brisk, at least for me.

What’s ahead is a new short story, more exploration of the new format, finishing the Zero draft of one novella and revising the second while plotting then writing the Third of All the Devils Are Here and then plotting The Fourth. There might be more in the short story department, too, because my brain can’t shut off and the idea I had in July just won’t let me go.

Posted to Instagram in ‘23. The immediate aftermath of my cataract surgeries. It’s wonderful to see 20/20 for the first time in my life.

I joined Threads (@ajasont) and Bluesky (also @ajasont) and am finding a community of writers that reminds me a great deal of the community I first found on Twitter back only twelve years ago.

And in my day job, I went to three conferences that helped shape how I think about that work and how I think about my writing. I’ve always known that success on both sides of the equation are intertwined and this year was yet another confirmation of that.

So all things considered, it was a good (if sometimes terribly stressful) year. The closing bells chime the mix of cheer and fear, hope and groping for the year to come to be somewhat less about money and more about dreaming and creating.

A PITCH

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You can find all my books on the BOOKS page. I am revising the next in this series and hope it’ll be out in the spring of ‘24.

AT CAPACITY

It was tempting to write a big year-end list of the things I liked in 2023 like most folks do. Instead, my closing here is a reiteration to like what you like and don’t be ashamed of it. For instance, I like nearly every rockin’ Bryan Adams song there is but the sappy stuff leaves me cold. And there’s no reason on Earth I should like Crime Scene Kitchen but I am fascinated with that dumb show.

The more we talk about the things we love, the things we like, the things that made us smile for a second, the better the world will be. I’m resolving to spend less time on negative things, including people, than I did this year. I’m resolving to give in less to my fears and take more chances creatively. I have space in my life to do that so I’m going to.