This….was a very busy year. A lot of stuff happened that was very important and yet utterly not germane to this discussion, so I’m going to skip on over it. I do, however, want to do a rundown of all the writing-related stuff that happened, largely for my own sake so I can convince myself it really went down. To wit:

• I pitched and sold a non-fiction book on being a video game writer titled The Video Game Writer’s Guide To Surviving an Industry That Hates You. That should be out in 2025.
• I sold my horror novel Nightmare Logic to Falstaff Dread, and that will be out in 2026.
• I energetically resurrected, playtested, and revised my card game Squatches and Scotches, and am engaged in getting that in front of publishers now.
• I am engaged in pitching my novel Ghosts of Smoke and Flame to agents and publishers, and have high hopes for it.
• I was engaged on several top-secret creative projects, one of which we are final contract negotiation stages for. I can’t say more about it yet, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and I am really excited that this is happening.
• I sold five stories: “Against the Siren Song” to Sudden Fictions, “Kicking Santa’s Ass” to Interdimensions, “Paws” to Black Cat Weekly, “Used Sleep” to Space and Time, and “Last Supper” to the fine folks at PseudoPod.
• I wrote or revised a double fistful of stories, and have them all out in submission as we speak.
• I commissioned and released audiobooks for my novels Firefly Rain and Vaporware.
• I did a twice-weekly series of posts on game narrative at LinkedIn, drawing thousands of readers.
• I spoke at numerous schools and conferences, including GDC, SAGA Writing Workshop, the GenCon Writers Symposium, DigiPen, RIT, and many more.
• I did readings and appearances across North Carolina, from Wilson to Raleigh to Morganton to Arden, and even did a reading as part of the legendary Noir at the Bar series at Yonder in Hillsborough.
• I continued to serve on the advisory board of the Game Narrative Summit, and to judge the Student Game Narrative Analysis Competition at GDC.
• I was announced as the Toastmaster for Necon 2025.
• I pitched an anthology concept that is moving forward with me as co-editor.
• I wrote scripts for and voice directed the musician Post Malone as part of my work on the video game Hunt: Showdown 1896. I also did extensive other narrative work on the game before wrapping up my time at Crytek at the end of the year.

And there’s probably some other stuff that I am forgetting, but still, that’s a pretty full year.

Now, onward to 2025!