2024 Recap

Books, Writing, Life, Movies, Reviews

There are many ways to look at this past year. It ends with me reading books by authors I’ve never read. It began by reading books by authors I loved. One of them I won’t read again for how dirty they did a favorite character.

I’m finishing Native Son by Richard Wright this weekend. I’m unsure what my first book will be in the new year. My wife and kids bought me Ellen Datlow’s yearly anthology of horror. I’ll probably finish that.

I look forward to it every December.

Thanks to the Horror Writer's Association, I had a mentor this year. We worked through a story I’m rewriting/editing/revising for the pitch session on Bluesky next month.

I did not write as much as I would have liked this last year. It was a year that didn’t go as well as I’d have liked.

My day job was going well until July, when it was sold. I made good money. It’s finally starting to pick up, but those first three months after the reopening were terrible. Most of that was caused by people who weren’t kept after it changed hands. They decided to take it out on those who were kept. Something that hurt us.

I attempted to find something other than bartending. Most companies will not hire a 48-year-old, and I received no’s from so many applications. I want to help my wife with the bills more than I have.

I saw fewer movies this year because I didn’t want to spend the money, and I can see this trend continuing in the new year.

I wrote several reviews for books I received on NetGalley. I’m unsure if I’ll continue writing reviews and using NetGalley. It felt too much like a job that had to be done and less like reading for enjoyment.

Writing was challenging. Having a mentor didn’t help as much as I’d hoped. I’d wanted it to help me improve. It made me feel inadequate. I considered quitting writing this year. It came up more often as the year went by.

By the end of the year, I decided to write for myself and see where it went.

I feel like writing should be fun. Yes, editing sucks, and I need to edit more. It’s something I’ll be doing more of.

I took breaks from social media this year because of…*waves hands at the world*.

There are two short stories out on submission. I’ll keep writing and keep submitting. I have a short story collection idea I’m tossing around. I’ll spend time doing that for the first three months of the year.

Have a good year.