What A Fantastic Year! – 2024 In Review
Well, there you have it, 2024, come and gone. It’s strange how a year can pass by so quickly while at the same time feel like it’s lasted a lifetime. For me, tons of things happened last year, so I figured I’d write up a quick run-down of what’s what. If not for you, then for me – I know for one I’m horrible at convincing myself that nothing ever goes my way and that I’m constantly at a standstill, so it’s important to look back and appreciate the small successes!
Writing: While I purposely tried not to write many new things in 2024, I’ve made some incredible headway in my writing career this past year. I focused on shaping up and shipping out old projects, first drafts I had lying around and things I’d written a long time ago, and it resulted in: two contracts for new books, both signed, sealed and delivered; and three verbal agreements for three other books, two of which I’m hoping to sign contracts for any day now.
So this year sees me publishing my first Norwegian book, a young adult fantasy novel called Fjordbeist (Fjord beast, for those of you who don’t read Norwegian), and I’m publishing a new speculative novella with Inked In Gray! Honestly, I can’t wait!
While all of this was happening, I was also published in 42 Stories Anthology – a super cool project full of flash fiction, all 42 word long, and I even won an award for the best story in my category! You should definitely check it out if you like reading different, creative kinds of projects. And though I say I didn’t write much new stuff, I submitted tons of short stories to various magazines, webzines, podcasts, and other online publishers, so here’s to hoping some of those will be picked up and published!
Reading: I’ve read a lot and widely. The second book in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson was probably the highlight of my year, but I also loved Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, Hyperion by Dan Simmons, and The Couple at No. 9 by Claire Douglas. I’ve started War and Peace by Tolstoy which I just know is going to put 2025 to a test for me, but I discovered The Magnus Archives podcast, which I HIGHLY recommend, so that will keep me sane (hopefully).
The blog: The absolute highlight of my year has been running this blog. I’ve had a massive increase in readers, over 15 000 of you dropped by last year, and I love that we managed to move so much of the dialogue and interaction off social media and that we can meet right here on my page. I love interacting with all of you, reading your comments, and hearing what you think about what I’m up to, what I’m reading and reviewing, and what’s going on in my life. So thank you so much for tagging along! It’s been incredible, and I hope I keep seeing you around in 2025.
Music: When I don’t write books or stories, I write music and lyrics, and I play guitar and sing in two different bands: Death metal in Dark Delirium and acoustic pop-rock in Maryon. We’ve played tons of gigs, released a bunch of music, and we have a lot of exciting plans for the new year. If you’re interested in either of those genres (and yes, I realize that they’re at two very separate ends of the spectrum), then I would love it if you gave them a listen! You can find both bands wherever you stream music.
Personal life and day job: I feel like I also got to point out how things are going on the home front, just because it all seems to have come together in a way in 2024 that I hope I can keep up in this coming year. When I’m not sitting at home being creative, I work as an archaeologist in Norway, doing commercial archaeology, and though the job isn’t always as exciting as people think (it isn’t all gold and skeletons, honestly), things are looking up. I’m being given more responsibility, taking on cooler projects, and people appreciate my hard work, my attention to detail, and the fact that I deliver on my promises. (Weirdly enough, that isn’t always a given in today’s modern work environment).
On a side note, I somehow also find time to lift weights and exercise and I’m in the shape of my life, running faster and longer than ever, and I’ve managed to lean down some. To put in shorter terms: I’m happy. We’ve also found time to travel a lot in 2024, and my wife and I made it to the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Ireland, and England. It’s been great to be able to see so much of the world, and I hope we’ll have the time and opportunity to see more cool places in 2025.
But I’m not going to pretend 2024 hasn’t also had its downsides. This post focuses on all the positives and highlights, but there’s a bunch of things I’m leaving out (very deliberately). For example, I had to pay $600 to fix my car after trying to save $45 on changing my own tires… Yeah, let’s not think about that.
Anyway… I think that’s it? 2024 was good to me, and I think I do well to try and remember that. It’s not that there hasn’t been ups and downs, and I’m not going to lie and say I don’t expect some humps and bumps come my way in 2025, but I’m eager to take on new year and give it all my best! I’m looking forward to another 365 days of writing more books, telling new stories, and becoming a better version of myself!
How was your 2024? Great? Amazing? Not as good as you hoped? Let me know in the comments! You know I’d love to hear all about it.
As always, I’d love it if you checked out my books! If you’re into crime thrillers or psychological horror, you’ll love The Columbus Archives or At The Gate. If you’re into short stories, I’ve also written fantasy, science fiction and speculative stories in anthologies and online. Check it out!
You can find all my stories right here
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