Trying to return to blogging, so best way to start off is with one of these. As in previous years, I take this time to look back at the past year in my SFF writing life–and what I might hope for in 2025. Here we go!

The first time I did one of these was waay back in 2015. Can’t believe it’s been ten years! In that initial installment I wrote about discovering that I was indeed a writer and my hopes for my writing life. A lot has happened since then. I became a junior tenure-track assistant professor in 2016 and in 2024 I got tenure–so make that a not-so junior Associate Professor now. In 2017 I bought a small Edwardian castle in New England. In 2018 I expanded my family by a factor of twins. Can you believe they’re both six now and in first grade? Also in 2018, I had my first book published–a novella called The Black God’s Drums. Then I wrote some more stuff, won a few awards, somebody actually put up a wiki page on me… yadda yadda yadda, and here I am. I became an author, with all the perks and responsibilities that entails. It’s been fun, exciting, humbling, surreal, and… actual work! Writing went from something I did on the side, to real job. With deadlines and tax forms and lawyers and accountants. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very grateful for this turn of fortune. But work is work, and that remains a sobering part of this new reality.

I’ve had to figure out how to balance everything from family to academic life (yes, I chose a second writing career) so it doesn’t all collapse in on me. Or I don’t burn myself out trying. So, how am I doing? Were my goals met this year? Did I finally manage to find the perfect balance and reach the flawless Omega molecule state of writing-work life-family-life-uniformity? Did the spinning top fall at the end of Inception, or what? What happened in HBO’s Watchmen when Angela ate that egg exactly? Where in the heck is Season 2 of Severance going? I can’t answer none of that, but stick around and I’ll tell you about the rest.

Write More: At the top of the list, of course, remains every writers pledge to just “write more.” Writing is like a stunning spell–to paraphrase Harry, it’s an author’s bread and butter. On the one hand, it feels like I’m doing lots of writing now. Can’t help it. I got contracts and I owe people stuff. That’s what success is in writing kids–you get contracts, and you owe people stuff. Jot it down. And don’t forget my academic life, where it’s publish or perish. So, it seems I’m always writing. Or editing. Or revising. And, new ideas keep coming. So, there’s always the next thing I wanna work on, even while I have the old thing. The one place where I’ve slacked off a bit is in the short story department. I published no short stories in 2024. And all of the short stories I published in 2023 were written previously. I didn’t write a single short story last year. Or the year before that. I didn’t even have lots of short-story concepts in mind. Short stories for me have become sort of a graveyard.

Part of it is, to be honest, I was never strong at writing short stories. My first attempts at short stories embarrassingly ended in novelette or novella territory. Took a lot of practice to get the hang of keeping the stories short. One of my early reasons for writing short stories was to practice the craft and get my name out there. Now that I’m out there, short stories have fallen by the wayside. As a fellow writer put it to me in purely practical terms, there’s simply more financial return in long form writing than short stories. It’s not even comparable. Writing short stories over long form novels when you have an agent who’s eager to get you out there, is leaving money on the table. Literally.

But, as I’ve said before, I like writing short stories! I like reading them. I like small worlds and characters I may or may not ever return to. I like short outlines that don’t require entire pages in Scrivener to plot out, as with novels and novellas. No, I don’t miss submissions and waiting and then possible rejections. No one likes that. Don’t lie to yourself. But, short stories remain good practice to jog my imagination and help me practice writing. Plus, as I’ve learned, it’s always good to have a folder of shorts that aren’t published–for when anthology solicitations come around. So, the question I’ve asked for years now is, how do I get back to creating more shorts? Dunno. I guess one way is telling editors, “yes, I’ll submit a short story to your anthology”–even when you have no short stories for their anthology. Because this year I’m on the hook for at least THREE anthology stories. And I haven’t started any of them. Guess I’ll have to figure something out won’t I? Stay tuned!

In other news, my novella writing continues–with the publication in 2024 of The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. I consider that a win.

Finish.The.Damn.Story:  As I’ve said many times, there are folders, endless folders, on my computer (now Dropbox) with unfinished stories. Because I’ve had novels and novellas to finish, I put this one on the back burner. Let’s be real, some of these need to be surrendered to sleep in the abyss. There are stories’ dating back to the early aughts. The person writing back then was me, but not me. How I thought, my writing style, my ideas, have changed vastly in 20+ years. Some of those stories still excite me. Others are embarrassing, or worse, boring. Some, will no longer work, because I’ve cannibalized them for new ideas that have been published. But there are a few I’d like to fiddle with. However, time, remains the greatest challenge.

Novel Writing: So as you all know, before 2010 I was a would-be novel-writer. Only, that idea went nowhere. I decided instead to focus on short-stories and my first published long-form works were novelettes and novellas. My novel-writing game diminished to nothing. Then in 2021, I wrote and published a whole NOVEL! Two years later, in 2023, published my first middle grade novel–Abeni’s Song. The sequel to that one, Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold, I wrote in a 3-month frenzy between August and October. It debuts in April. The third in the trilogy I’m set to embark upon, like in a few days. So, for the time being, looks like novel-writing is back on the menu! After that? Oh, I got some ideas….

Read More: Reading is fundamental. Support RIF. As a writer, it also helps the imagination. Can’t even begin to understand how anyone writes without reading. After a quasi-hiatus on reading due to academic life, in 2015 I pledged to start reading more genre. And I’ve been doing a decent job of it. In 2024, I continued with the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. I also read some new fantastic works by authors I consider to be writing mentors, including Lone Women by Victor LaValle and The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. Enjoyed both immensely! Read quite a few books by fellow authors who I consider some of the best in genre currently, including The Library of Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse (third in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy), The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera, The Dead Take the A Train co-authored by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey. All were fabulous reads, but the one that stayed with me was Chain-Gang All stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Blew. Me. Away. Dove into some writers I hadn’t before, including Blake Crouch’s Darkmatter and Incursion as well as Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend…which was absolutely haunting. I’ve also been on a classic titles in horror kick.

So, last year I read both Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, then I embarked on a Steven King kick–plowing through the unabridged The Stand to IT to Salem’s Lot, and even The Tommyknockers. Oh, and how did I forget, re-embarked on the first (published) books of Dune–up through God Emperor of Dune. Finally, I took the time to read some stuff outside genre, including Ya Gyasi’s Homegoming, Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake, and (this one I’d been putting off for a while to get myself up to it), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. It was just as beautiful and heart-wrenching as I expected. There’s a few more I’m missing, including a few shorts. I got through a lot of reading this past year. Let’s see if I can continue it in 2025.

Submit: So my submitting in 2024 was pretty… non-existent. Not a single short story. Part of this is the reality of having contracted long form works. The whole writing a thing, not really with a hard deadline, and then pitching it out to see what happens, and then moving onto the next thing, has been replaced. Now it’s: I promised the thing, I signed a contract for it, I got an advance, editors are expecting the thing, get it done already! Like I said before, it’s a job now. 2022 was a better year for submitting. Given that I have the aforementioned three anthology stories due, looks like 2025 might be an improvement.

Get More Involved in Mainstream Genre: When I first started doing this way back when, I promised to become more involved in genre culture, to see what I might be missing out on. Because so much of this literary world is about creating relationships and just being aware of what goes on in these spaces. I’m not for the drama that also takes place in those spaces–cuz watching nerds beef will always be weird to me. But, thanks to having books out and a fiyah publicist, I’ve also been doing a fair share of interviews, podcasts, cons, book festivals, school visits, etc.–forcing me to get out there. It’s been a learning experience: figuring out how to navigate these spaces; strategizing how to utilize them; meeting and greeting readers (my fave part!); meeting, sharing, and learning from other authors.

This past year I did my first actual book tour, for The Dead Cat Tail Assassins–as my previous books all debuted too close to the pandemic. It was brief, but fun. I’ve also had the chance to enter the MG/YA convention/festival world, thanks to Abeni’s Song. That has been illuminating, if only because it’s so different from mainstream genre. Kids as your audience is a whole notha thing. All of the traveling can be tiring–and the schedule at times hectic–but it’s always worth it! Cuz these books don’t sell themselves! Going to be doing more in the coming year. Best place to find out where

Brand New Year: So, what’s in store for 2025? Putting out the second part of my middle grade trilogy, Abeni and the Kingdom of Gold. Will be attending cons and doing interviews and stuff. You can keep up with them on the News & Events page of my author site. In the mean and between time, got one other novella I’d like to get done (at about 80%) and a brand new novella idea I’d like to write. Also, sketching out notes towards another (adult) novel. My plate stays full!

Blog More: We’ll see. I’m out here trying.

So, all in all, a decent year in this SFF writing life. I’m thankful to be here. Thankful to all I’ve managed to accomplish or be blessed with. Thankful for readers (LIKE YOU) that make it happen. Here’s hoping that 2025 lives up to your own writing hopes as well. Till next time. Excelsior!

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