December 2025

Hello everyone,

Welcome to December and the last stretch of the year!

I don’t know about you all, but I am tired. Tiiiirt. 2025 has been exhilarating and exhausting because of that. Lots of changes in how I operate, lots of opportunities taken and opportunities to come. Changes in my body, changes in my mind. For better, for worse.

I’m not quite ready to do a recap of the year—still a month to go, after all, who knows what could come up?

I do know that I’m already looking forward to cracking open a new bullet journal, though. Stealth mode, black on black on black with black edges. Real swish. (Enjoy the tools you use.)

I’ve settled in for the rest of the year, no more appearances, no more real traveling, though I am sending this from a mini writing retreat with some writer friends in the middle of the southern English countryside.

Over the weekend, Sara and I celebrated her birthday by doing one last trail run—another night race, this time in Oxfordshire (no castles this time). We were both not at our best best, dragging along this pain or that niggle, but we move! Literally.

This will be the last missive for the year; I’ll give you all a break from me, and myself time to cook a bit. That said, there will still probably be stuff popping up on the blog; it’s become a place I turn to whenever I need to let off the steam of an idea. I’ll also try to stay logged off socials now that the brunt of promo season is over, but you can always leave a comment here.

Career Advice from a Pro Writer

Catchy, huh? Sounds like one of those self-help blogs or something.

This post is a compilation of my answers to questions I am asked a lot about whether or not to get an MFA, how to find writing groups, what do I wish I’d known or what I would do differently (I wouldn’t do much differently at all).

It’s hardly exhaustive and I may add to it if I’m asked more questions that fit, but I hope for those who need it, it is useful.

Dutch Comic Con

DCC was a blast, no small part in thanks to the wonderful American Book Center, who hosted me at their stand for some signings and panels over the weekend. I had the great pleasure of paneling with Johanna Van Veen, author of sapphic horror, and I even plucked up the courage to grab one of her books even though I am a committed scaredy cat.

A hearty thanks also to all of you who stopped by to grab a book or say hello! Especially those of you who met me for the first time when I was at DCC in ‘22! It means the world to know that you liked my work enough to come back and not run away forever. ;) And to everyone in your awesome costumes—Jinx, Pitfighter Vi, Jayce!—all of you were so rad, and your creativity is inspiring.

I also got to hang out with some wonderful folks from across the video game, movie, and comics industry—I learned a lot about voice acting and performance capture work from the several of the Baldur’s Gate 3 crew, and how we all have the most fascinating side projects…no matter how busy our actual work schedules are. Carl Lumbly dropped the first James Baldwin reference I’ve ever heard at a comic con, so I’ll be looking forward to his one-man show.

Writing

Last week, I finished a very very rough first draft—zero draft?—of Fell Runner, but it’s feeling very thin and I know some things that might strengthen it, but I need to read through it so that I can do it carefully. That’s what I’ve been working on this week at the mini-retreat. I’ve just finished a quick re-read and have lots of ideas for how to make it better. This novella is due at the end of the year, but I’m hoping to turn it in—well, by the end of this week. Then I’ll work on Novella #3, aka Codename: Monster Slayer. We’re already in talks about what the cover might look like, and the ideas are pretty cool if I do say so myself. They’ll get more solid once I have a finished outline, and it’s inspired by one of my solo RPG adventures, so I’m really eager to get to it.

I’ve also been thinking about this side project that I have hinted about—a serial short novel called Mirrorsworn. With the new novella on the scene, that’s been delayed (?? or something), but unfortunately (fortunately?) I’ve been thinking of things that might expand it beyond the original straightforward idea. I got scope creep, bad. It’s looking more and more like it’s got the right makings of a trilogy. At the same time, I want to play with it and start spitting out chapters to subscribers (I have a few; do you want to see them?) just for the hell of it. But since I can’t commit to a proper schedule, I am holding back a little longer.

Warmongers is also with my editor! Officially. So that book is officially on the backburner, but like all things on backburners, it’s still bubbling away and ideas pop up for it. I popped it open for a minute the other day and I really really liked it, so I have a lot of faith in what it can be one day.

Happy holidays to you all. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, may you enjoy the warmth of the hearth (or central heating) and the comfort of loved ones. And a good book or several.

See you in January.