Can't really believe its the end of 2015 but oh well, it is. I can say I've become more introspective here in the last couple of days of the year, but the truth is I'm always introspective. I live a lot of the time inside my head. Your typical introvert. Anyways, no need to share the latest bit of self-psychoanalysis. I'm I have things to look back on in 2015.
I've accomplished good things as a writer (and publisher) and a year end review or wrap-up felt in order. This post gives me a chance to look over it all and list a few things. Plus, I'll probably look ahead into 2016 as well. There are things I want to accomplish with the new year. Everybody feels that way when they look back on the shape of the previous twelve months. That's what all this resolution stuff is all about. Personally, I'm not great at setting and keeping resolutions. So I won't go that far. The best thing is to have a few ideas and maybe set some broader challenges.
Anyways, here it goes, my look back at 2015.
Things Published in 2015
I must say I did published or reissued a number of books and stories. I'm going to begin by mentioning the books. I actually brought out five new paperback books, two of them newly published, two paperback editions for novels published only as ebooks originally, and my first published nonfiction book (and my company's second published title).
That's been the focus when I wanted working on other projects strictly for other writers via the publishing company. I've wanted to increase the number of books I can get out of my own work. It's been important to me to maintain this balance. I'm getting busier as a publisher so the balance is harder to meet, but I'm not about to give up. I was a writer before all of this and I mean to stay one for the long haul. I maintain it is one of my best strengths as a publisher. Anyway, here are the books:
Heaven's Point Guard: The Kirk Gentrup Story. I put out a new 2015 paperback edition of the 2010 book back in late February. It had been five years and the hardback had officially gone out of print though it remains under limited availability. The book was co-written with Ken "Cruiser" Gentrup and shared the story of his son Kirk, his life and his tragic death. It was an inspiration piece that I impacted the community where I grew up. 2015 marked the twentieth anniversary of Kirk's death. This book led to others and helped me grow as a writer overall. It also helped to launch Founders House Publishing. I'm grateful for the opportunity that this deeply personal project afforded me and I still hope others learn about Kirk's story and share it with others.
A Kingdom of Shadows. Three years after I published the ebook edition of my second completed fantasy novel, I finally got around to publishing a paperback edition. The novel was another important growing experience for me. In a way, it helped me to get beyond the previous novel writing experience with my first book,
Cries of The Faithless. That work took me the better part of a decade to complete simply because I suffered from blocks, lack of confidence, the wrong mindset, and just bad advice. Though it worked out in the end, I kept asking myself if I could complete another novel. did I have it in me? I started
A Kingdom of Shadows in mid-2012 and actually completed the book in a staggering 44 days. It's a new personal record. I was so happy. (Now, time to get busy with the sequel!)
Stormborn's Debt. My fourth novel, a much slimmer book, was written sometime in late 2013 or early 2014 and I sat on it for months. It introduced a new character, Brandin Stormborn, and I knew after several title changes that this book was just the first of many tales about this particular character. I had my first episodic series character. I published it around the same time as the paperback of A Kingdom of Shadows. It was the first of two totally new books released for the year. (I'm currently working on the second book, Stormborn's Fate, right now. I hope to have it released sometime in early 2016.)
Killer of Dragons. Here's my fifth novel - and really you could probably call it a novella. It's very short. I wrote it around the same time as Stormborn's Debt and shared its fate to wait until I got around to publishing it in August of 2015. It is a self-contained work and while it's possible I might write more about the character that appears in its pages, odds are that I won't. It was a fun little 'dragonslayer' tale. I had wanted to write one and I did. It was a fun experience.
The Darkness of The Deep. This was my third novel though it appeared as an ebook in 2014. Like the other two just mentioned, there was a long gap between the actual writing and publication. Like A Kingdom of Shadows, it appears to be a first book in a series. I've not written a word of it and have only a couple of ideas about what a second book might contain. This book was me delving into my love for seafaring adventures and it made me realize I would probably be exploring this in many more books. (Hence, the Stormborn series.) The paperback edition was published in September of 2015.
Okay now I'll mention the short stories. I started the year but publishing ebook single editions of ten of my short stories. You can find those all on various platforms for various devices.
The list of stories included the following:
1. Death to the Messenger (1/30)
2. The Beast of Mern (1/30)
3. Winds of Fate (1/31)
4. The Traitor (1/31)
5. A Reckoning (2/22)
6. The Prophet's Return (2/22)
7. The Risen Queen (2/22)
8. The Ruling (4/3)
9. Oathsworn (4/3)
10. Midwinter Light (4/3)
So, yeah, that was good. I still have others that haven't been published yet, some that I'd written or revised from early material during the course of the year.
It's a good body of work but now I'm ready to up my game. I want to see how many new books I can finish and ready for publication in 2016. I consider it one of my unofficial challenges in the new year. Other than the second
Stormborn book there are other things in the works. So stay tuned for all of that. I might be doing more updates as things develop.
