We’re about to ring out the old year and ring in the new. And what a year it has been. I hardly think I need to reiterate anything about the pandemic. We’ve buried far too many people who didn’t have to die, and that sucks.
On a personal level, 2020 wasn’t so bad. I wanted to write 5 books, but got to 4 1/3. Perfection, With Sleepless Eye, and Past the Isle of Dogs are available on Amazon. Paradise has been turned in to Ring of Fire Press for a 2021 release. I am now 1/3 of the way through When We Had Feathers.
Once I finish that book, I’ve got the next Ring of Fire Press book, Promised Land, to get done. As well as the next Angels’ Share book, Feeding the Bird of Tondal, and an anthology, Bone Orchard. Then, if I manage that in 2021, in 2022 I hope to start up a new series for Ring of Fire Press. More details on that later!
Other things that happened in 2020:
One of my short stories, Featherfall, was one of the featured pieces in the St. Louis Fringe Fest. Thanks, Matt!
I had surgery on my right foot, which, so far, has not produced the improvement my podiatrist and I had hoped for, so surgery on the left foot is not currently in the works. I am seeing a physical therapist at the moment. Despite not having the positive results I had wanted, I would recommend Dr. McFarland, who seems to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of her own field as well as other topics. Also, she came to the surgery in a t-shirt that said, In my defense, it was a full moon and I was left unsupervised. Gotta love it.
Todd and I had just returned from our trip to visit his parents in Florida when COVID blew the world apart, so our trips to Nashville, El Paso, Miami, the Keys, and Kansas City all ended up being canceled. We are hoping to be able to travel this summer. Fingers crossed!
I started a YouTube channel, which is still tiny (185 subscribers as of this writing), but which has been a lot of fun to do. I would bore quickly only focusing on one thing, so I have multiple playlists that feature multiple subjects. That may be one thing that keeps subscriber numbers down, but it makes things seem fresh to me. I had hoped, back in January, that I might, might, be able to put up 4 videos per month, which would have resulted in 48 videos in a year. But YouTube currently tells me I have 113 videos up. One hundred and thirteen! How did that happen?
One thing that didn’t happen on my YouTube channel the way I’d hoped was that I thought I’d have far more episodes of Phantom Force filmed by now. But since travel and meeting in groups is out for now, I only have a couple of episodes completed.
As for skill sets, I learned to do water bath canning (thanks Debbie!) and pickling. I’ve gotten a lot more “fluent” in Zoom. I continue to work on learning Twi and even have an Akan-oriented playlist on my YouTube channel. I’ve even managed to read a few fiction books, which is something I have a hard time finding time for these days. I’d recommend Lovecraft Country if you haven’t read it. For 2021, I intend to watch the TV program, which I’ve heard good things about.
So, welcome 2021. Let’s hope it’s a far better year for everyone than 2020 was.