Most years feel like they fly by. This year landed squarely in the “appropriately lengthy” category (balanced out by quick months and weeks that stretched for years).
Reflecting on the past 12 months, my biggest challenge of 2024 was implementing (or failing to implement) new systems and habits to adjust to growing from a family of three to four. Paraphrasing a line I heard on a podcast this year, everyone needs a six-month “free parking” pass after bringing a new baby home.
And boy, was that true for me. Ten months later, life is *starting* to level out.
Managing a series of big life events takes a toll on creative energy and willpower. I don’t believe in waiting for the muse to pay a visit, but burnout isn’t something you roll up your sleeves and choose to shovel out of your life like a barn full of manure.
My writing projects felt scattered as I tied up loose ends and wrapped things carried over from 2023, like the Gryphon Riders Kickstarter and the rough draft of Autumn of Axes, the final book in the Wolf Song Saga.
It was a year of laying bricks that won’t be realized until 2025, such as Autumn of Axes and Djinn Tamer: Silver League, or the high-level outline for the rest of the Mana Beasts series. All that prep work left me feeling like I didn’t have much to show for the year, as I scrambled to arrange words amidst the chaos of life. Even now, I’m not sure how to grade myself on 2024.
They say “what got you here won’t get you there.” I’ve always had mixed feelings about this quote. I’m a firm believer in consistency and discipline when it comes to my author career.
Lately, however, the word perseverance applies more than discipline. Some days you only put a drop in the bucket and others you turn on the faucet and watch the water rise.
I find myself standing at a crossroads as January approaches, looking ahead with trepidation. What got me here worked, but if it was a car, it’s a little worn out and not equipped for the off-road adventure I can see on the path ahead. If I’ve learned anything in the past two years, facing burnout, busyness, and life as we know it, it’s that I’ve reached the threshold of what I can achieve, equipped as I currently am, the way I currently operate.
A level-up is in order. In Mana Beasts terms, it’s time to advance, to walk down new paths and reach for greater potential.
January
The year kicked off with collaboration: prep work for Autumn of Axes and story meetings with Katie after we made the decision to wrap the series in three books. A.J. and I started mostly-weekly Djinn Tamer: Silver League brainstorms and discovered the middle of Jackson Hunt’s career might be trickier than we thought to write.
I also polished the second Lore Chapter for Elestrals, keeping me both my planning and revising muscles strong. You can check out the final version (illustrated, narrated on YouTube) here.
February
We launched Sword Summer and the rest of the month went into Elestrals world building research, and the first two drafts of the third Lore Chapter (stay tuned for the finished production).
March
The month of outlines. With a clear direction in mind, I started on the Autumn of Axes chapter-by-chapter outline. I also dusted off the cobwebs from Mana Beasts in my mind, realizing I’d reached a significant crossroads in the story where I needed to get the rest of the story in line for the remaining 5 books in the series before I had a giant plot mess on my hands. At times this felt like untangling a car-sized ball of string.
April – August
Survival mode as we figured out life with a fourth member of the family and went through another busy summer farming season. I finished the chapter-by-chapter outline of Autumn of Axes and then started on the first draft of the book. Mana Beasts series outlining continued sporadically. With the multiple projects I had in the air, I made the difficult decision to shut down my Victory Road weekly newsletter at the end of June.
September – October
After a summer pause, A.J. and I got back to our weekly Silver League story meetings and started to build momentum. I wrapped up the rough draft of Autumn of Axes then off we went to Salt Lake Fan X at the end of September. As always, it was great to meet or see some of you again and to get acquainted with new readers. I’m still floored and grateful for the number of people who specifically mentioned that they read these emails.
November
While Katie worked on her first draft of Autumn of Axes, I turned attention to the Mana Beasts Holiday Special (which you can download here as a pdf or epub for free). This was a project I’d wanted to write during the holiday season for years. The timing worked great to fit it in and use it as a transition to get me reacquainted with Kellen and Vex and the wild world of Oras.
I wrote more than half of the Holiday Special via dictation with the StorySpeak app. I’ve tried Dragon Dictation in the past and found it took too much work to “train” it up with corrections. With StorySpeak I had none of those issues and frustrations. Using dictation moving forward to help write rough drafts may be my biggest takeaway from the year for 2025.
December
I finished the Mana Beasts Holiday Special and transitioned into Mana Beasts 3 plotting and series outlining. A.J. and I held a half-day story retreat for Silver League. Both of us left that feeling stoked for Silver League in 2025, and with some killer twists and story concepts. I capped off the year starting my final edits on Autumn of Axes and writing this update!
Writing Projects
Mana Beasts
Hard to believe (at least for me) that it will soon be two years since the Storm Totem Kickstarter. I’m itching to get back to Mana Beasts and I want to make sure I do it right. This will be my first series larger than a trilogy, which requires substantially more plotting to weave the plot threads and surprise twists I have planned. And to make sure I can bring the finale home, which starts with what comes next in book three.
The Holiday Special was the perfect primer to get things rolling again. In addition to outlining, I’m also listening to Beast Mage and Storm Totem and taking the time to create an internal wiki so I can keep the magic system and mythology straight. It’s extra work on the front-end, but saves extensive rewrites (or embarrassing continuity errors after the next book is released and it’s too late to fix).
Wolf Song Saga
I’ve got deeper thoughts about Autumn of Axes than I have space to write about here and now. Lots of lessons to share. The short version is, it’s a book that almost didn’t happen and might be the hardest project I’ve ever worked on. Not because of Katie, and not because of the book itself, but because of the timing of the project, changes and struggles in my personal and creative life, and some of the challenges we’ve faced with the series.
I’m working on my final draft revisions now! Both Katie and I are proud of how it turned out and eager to share the finale to the series with readers. Much like its protagonist, the Wolf Song Saga is our scrappy underdog series. I hope Astrid and Maera continue to entertain new readers for years to come.
Djinn Tamer: Silver League
I’m in awe of the almost-cult following Djinn Tamer has grown over the years. If you’re a fan, I’m sorry for the wait. The first book will be out in 2025, I swear! For reals this time. Thank you for your patience and ongoing support. We don’t take it lightly.
As mentioned already, we’ve been planning the series throughout the year and had a solid half-day planning session earlier this month. Silver League is going to take the Djinn Tamer series to all new heights. I can’t wait to share the next chapter of Jackson’s adventure with you all.
Gryphon Riders
Aside from the limited print-run special edition omnibus last year, Gryphon Riders is on hiatus while I catch up with Djinn Tamer and work to stay consistent with Mana Beasts. I’ve got a handful of plans for future books, including a standalone sequel, a standalone prequel, and a sequel series.
Teutevar Saga
Like last year, I’ve continued to file away ideas for a reboot to this series. Thanks to everyone who reaches out about Teutevar! I promise it hasn’t been abandoned.
Victory Road
As much fun as I had writing Victory Road and the Cooltrainer Chronicles, the weekly emails and social content took too much time away from other writing. And in the big scheme, Victory Road didn’t fit in well enough with the rest of my brand to justify continuing it. As much as I’ll miss writing as Cooltrainer Ace, it was time to say goodbye.
Bingeworthy Writing
One of the reasons I gave up Victory Road was to make room to talk more and provide education about writing. This started with an overwhelming response from readers who said they’d be interested in writing resources from me, then grew into the Writing Tips section I include in each of my twice-monthly emails.
In 2025, I’m expanding my writing education with Bingeworthy Writing.
Who is Bingeworthy Writing for?
- Existing writers who want to hone their skill through actionable practice.
- Professionals & entrepreneurs who want to leverage writing & storytelling in their careers & businesses.
- People without English degrees who think they “can’t write” and want to learn to craft compelling content with confidence.
My promise to you: I’ll deliver the TEA (Tactics, Examples, and Action steps) with each email I send:
- Barebones tactics to become a more captivating, compelling writer, no matter what you write.
- Analysis of bingeworthy writing and what makes it work.
- Authentic insights based on my 10+ years in the self-publishing business.
- Actionable steps to blend copywriting & storytelling together into unputdownable content
If this sound like it’s up your alley, then you can:
- Sign up for my free newsletter, Bingeworthy Writing (stay tuned for my free 5-day email course: Bingeworthy Writing Blocks.
- Kick off your New Year’s writing goals by entering for a chance to win a free, 30 minute 1:1 writing coaching session with me.
2024 Stats
Books written/revised: 2
Books published: 1
Rough draft words written: ~ 77,900
Books read: 18
Favorite book: Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Favorite movie: Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1
Favorite podcast episode: Mike Posner on My First Million talking about fame, loss, reinvention and creative careers.
Favorite new tool: storyspeak.ai (dictation app)
Roadmap
- 2025 – Mana Beasts #3, Djinn Tamer: Silver League
- 2026 – Mana Beasts #4, Djinn Tamer: Silver League
- 2027 – Mana Beasts #5, Djinn Tamer: Silver League
- 2028 – Mana Beasts #6, TBD
- 2029 – Mana Beasts #7, TBD
- TBD: Gryphon Riders, Teutevar Saga reboot, Djinn Tamer: Gold League.
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