I know nothing stays the same

I've become a terrible blogger - and Facebooker, too. Likewise a mediocre tweeter, a sporadic email correspondent, and a wholesale failure at G+, tumblr, and youtube alike. But if I can muster any resolutions for 2014, you may rest assured that rectifying this situation...probably won't be among them.

I have (to oversimplify, and yet say something that is true) three books to write in 2014 - plus another two to usher through production. On deck there are also half a dozen work-related trips that will take me out of town - and I can surely count on the ordinary obstacles that life tends to toss into the mix, just when I think I've gotten some momentum going.

I guess we'll see.

Professionally, 2013 was hit and miss at best. I only had one novel released, Fiddlehead - and while it was pretty well received, its arrival meant the end of an era. I also had only a single story hit the streets: "The Button Man and the Murder Tree" - which I'm quite proud of, though I wish I'd had the time to be more active in the Wild Cards universe, as of late. So...bittersweet, all around.

However, I have high hopes for 2014.

It's true, I've concluded the best-selling series of my career thus far, and yes, I've more or less given up on a Boneshaker movie ever seeing the light of day - but let's be real: The odds on that were never particularly high in the first place. (Of course, Hollywood is welcome to prove me wrong.)

But also in 2013, I sold four new books. Furthermore, I handed in a very different kind of adult novel (for me) to a new editor at a new house, a very different kind of YA novel (for me) to a different new editor at a different new house, and conned GRRM into accepting another story of mine for a (non-Wild Cards) anthology. I also got a jumpstart on Jacaranda for Subterranean Press; so even with all the work ahead, I'll have things on the market to show for 2013's toil.

God, I mean - I hope so.
* * *
If life runs in cycles, than 2013 was clearly the end of one - and 2014 must therefore be the beginning of another. I hope so. The last few years have been pretty overwhelming, highs and lows alike. 2013 leaves me with a mountain of work left untouched, a host of things unfinished, a stack of opportunities I just couldn't take - and a couple that I probably shouldn't have. It leaves me wrung out and strung out. It leaves me - above everything else - very, very tired.

But it also shuffles off with a promise...a wink and a hint that there's more to come, and by God, I just might like it.
* * *
So happy new year, everyone. I won't have time for an Official New Year's post, so this is all you're getting. On January 1st, I'm flying out first thing in the morning for Houston, then on to Galveston for Space City Con. And shortly after I return from that one, I'm off to Michigan for Legendary ConFusion.

But then...then it's home sweet home until May.

Between now and then, I'll do my best to keep up with my word metrics here - and continue to provide you with dog and cat pictures, network television snark, and occasional drunken rants with friends in public. But right now, I have no idea how successful I'll be, when it comes to such things. So I'd better not make any promises, except that yes - I'll try.

Thanks for staying with me, folks. Thanks for reading, thanks for buying books, thanks for coming out to my signings and other assorted events. Thanks for being passionate, and interested, and engaged. Thanks for having me along for the ride. Thanks for your patience, your enthusiasm, and glee. Thanks for showing up.

Anyway, stick around. The wheel turns.
The new year arrives.
Hang on tight.

Here goes.