I’ll Need More Holidays in 2016
Having sent my last project of the year off to the editors at Black Library, my mind is already turning to what I have planned for 2016. It’s all very exciting stuff, but as I’m trying to wind down and relax for the Christmas holidays, I’ll leave blogging about those plans until the new year. Instead, I’ll take a look at what I’ve been up to in 2015.
Writing, writing, and more writing
It has been another year packed with writing projects – a relief as a freelancer that paying the bills hasn’t been an issue. I’ve had projects with Black Library, Riot Games, Voodooworx, and StreumOn, the makers of the new Deathwing video game. Although most of these are still under wraps and won’t be published until next year, the following books all came out in 2015:
The Unforgiven (the third book in my Legacy of Caliban trilogy)
Raptor (a Horus Heresy audiobook)
Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan (a Phoenix Lords novel)
Deeds Endure (short story in Warhammer World exclusive anthology Meduson)
Howl of the Banshee (an Eldar audiobook)
The Shadowmasters (A Horus Heresy audiobook short story)
I’ve also had great fun this year writing original short fiction for various anthologies, and the following have been published in 2015.
Game Over (contains my story It Was Beauty…)
Legends 2 (contains my story The Blessed and the Cursed)
Nice Day For a Picnic (contains my story A Wild Affair)
We Can Improve You (contains my story Driver Not Found)
The Story of Hau’Rax (bringing to life the miniatures range from Voodooworx)
The Year of the Hobby
I made a conscious effort this year to devote more time to all things gaming – no mean feat when you have a small child. I bought myself a small paint station that is easily portable, which means getting it out for an hour in the evening is more manageable. I’ve managed to paint several mini’s and some have even seen action on the table. My gaming buddy Carl and I are still enjoying his game Open Combat, and as each game can be fairly short, it’s perfect when you have limited time.
You’ll probably know about my kickstater habit, and this year saw the arrival of the Cthulu Wars expansion (currently consulting an architect about the extension we’ll need to house it all), along with several smaller (literally) games such as Tiny Epic Defenders. Now Kez and I are in more of a routine with Sammy, we’ve managed to find time to actually play games in the evening. I even managed a gaming night with friends.
The New Website
June saw the launch of my snazzy new website. It was several months in the making, so it was great to finally get it out in the wild. I wanted the new site to reflect my three main areas of work – writing, games design, and writing advice, so I hope people have found it easy to navigate to the areas they are interested in. The stats have been really encouraging, so overall I’m really pleased with the new site.
Unsurprisingly the most popular pages of the new site have been Dark Angels Secrets Revealed and More Dark Angels Secrets Revealed, closely followed by the Spoilers page. The books pages are also proving popular, with Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan, and The Unforgiven amongst the highest viewed.
Newsletter
Along with the new website, I also launched my monthly newsletter. The sixth email has recently been sent out, and I think I’m finding my feet with the content, although it is still a bit of an evolving beast. There’s a bi-monthly competition for newsletter subscribers to win a signed copy of one of my books – the next one in January is for the Ultramarines anthology, so if you haven’t already signed up, there’s still time!
Writing Workshops
I’ve had the opportunity this year to deliver several writing workshops, something that’s still fairly new to me, but which I thoroughly enjoy. The feedback I’ve had from the Derby Book Festival and Edgelit has been positive, and I’m hoping to do more of this type of thing in the future.
And Last But Not Least… Sammy
By far the best thing about 2015 has been watching my son Sammy grow and develop. He’s still happy and smiley so we must be doing something right. He’s a real chatterbox and keeps telling people that “Paw Patrol fix Santa’s sleigh”. We’ll be celebrating his 2nd birthday on 28th December.
So that’s it for 2015. I hope you’ve enjoyed my work this year, and will continue to support me through 2016.
Happy New Year!
**To make sure you don’t miss out on any blog posts, you can keep up-to-date with everything Gav by signing up to my monthly newsletter. As a bonus, every other month I randomly pick a newsletter subscriber to receive a free signed copy of one of my books. The next draw is for the new Ultramarines anthology which contains my novella Catechism of Hate.**
