Mid-January Check-In

*casually blows off the dust on this blog* How’s it going, y’all?

I’ve been decrying the dearth of blogs once more, only to remember that: hey, I’m part of the problem. I used to blog a bit more here and elseweb, but life became busier and I became convinced whatever I had to say wasn’t worth saying. I’m not so sure the truth has changed on either of those fronts, but I’d love to pick up the practice again.

For 2025, I set myself a daily practice of nibbles in lieu of any large goals or grand resolutions. Just little things I can do every day that slowly nibble away at a larger cheese–I mean, goal. One of those nibbles has been writing, and so far I have only missed one day, and that due to a plumbing emergency (don’t ask — just picture red-tinged water bubbling up between the floorboards and the alarmed squeals of small children). Despite sometimes only writing a meager 23 words, I’ve surpassed 9k this month. Sure, it’s for this weird little story that will likely never see the light of another’s eyes and remain hidden beneath the other forgotten files on my harddrive, but I’m having fun writing for the first time in easily two years and I actually believe I can finish this.

And who knows, maybe the act of finishing something will be enough to break whatever this weird writing curse has befallen me (don’t ask — just picture red-tinged water bubbling up between my fingers). For now, let’s designate this one catastrophe!WIP, to helpfully differentiate it from catacombs!WIP and cannibal!WIP, my other two on-again off-again projects. I passed the 70k mark yesterday and foresee it being around 100/110k total, a lot like TPA.

I guess it’s a Real WIP now. To that end, maybe I’ll hearken back to my pre-publication roots and do a little progress tracker for this Half-Life meets D&D horror fantasy, now with decommissioned rail systems, survivor’s guilt, and fun explosives.

Working Title: catastrophe!WIP

71019 / 100000 words

My other daily nibble is catching up on all the books I’ve missed over the past 5 years being intentional about reading every day. I actually started this nibble back in August and it’s reaped rewards a dozen times over, but I wanted to continue it into 2025. It’s too easy to let the day slip away with work and necessary tasks and children’s needs, which is why I initially set out to read as soon as I woke up in the morning. That has slipped recently, and I’ve noticed my reading has slipped along with it. So back to the daily nibble, even if it’s just one page.

This year I’ve already finished reading one book, Metal from Heaven by August Clarke. A vibrant, violent, and at times hallucinatory fantasy about workers’ rights, the slipperiness of utopia, and the sacrifices revenge demands. This book is an overall exemplar of all that’s amazing coming out of the fantasy genre right now, timely in a way that’s also timeless. I’ve already seen it mentioned as a contender for numerous awards lists and it’s absolutely deserving of the buzz.

So yeah: starting the year off right, I’d say.