2023 was fun, wasn’t it?
Let’s get the negative out of the way:
I still haven’t finished Satan’s Salesman 2 or Broken Nights 3. Those have been waiting for my flitting interest to catch up to them. Sequels are painful, in that I get so excited to try something new that revisiting the old tends to slow me down. When I can turn the old new-again, the sequels explode and take off. They will happen someday, and I am hoping that its this year, but I make no promises.
Additionally, I more or less slowed down using Twitter right after Musk bought it. Less because he bought it and more because I don’t feel it works. The problem with a lot of the marketing “stuff” that authors need to do to be successful requires a full-time job level of consistency and effort, of which, I already have a full-time job, and am already behind on writing projects. My mentality has been that if I cannot commit to making the constant posts to make Twitter an effective tool, then why do it at all. This has led to me mostly just being a source of retweets.
Now the great stuff!
Out of a 52 week month, I made 45 posts last year. Not exactly every week, but damn fine work, I believe.
My name was attached to 4 new published titles. One new novel (Wicked West: A LitRPG Western), and three anthologies (Eldritch Prisoners, Eldritch Investigations, and Tales of Nyarlathotep). That breaks down to three new Andrew Doran stories.
My publisher and myself have published 5 audiobooks with Crossroad Press publishing Andrew Doran at the Mountains of Madness, Eldritch Prisoners, Tales of Nyarlathotep, and Miskatonic University: Elder Gods 101, while I worked independently with Ren Henry to produce Wicked West: A LitRPG Western.
AND! We got a republishing (with a new story from author C.T. Phipps!) of Time Loopers.
I even had my largest royalty check, to date, in November!
There were a lot of roadblocks to writing this year, but I think I navigated them well and thoroughly appreciate that none of my followers called me out on missing a week or three when things started to pile up. Every week might not always happen, but I will always be producing art.
On the personal side, this was the year my daughter turned five, we both discovered an interest in roller skating, and my wife and I began our globe-trotting adventures (we went to Spain!) and celebrated 11 years of marriage. We are proud of each other and our family and so proud of all the effort each of us puts into who we are as developing humans and as parents trying to guide a child into this weird world.
What’s next?
Right out of the gate we’ve got Andrew Doran and the Masks of Flesh getting ready to go to the anthology “Tales of Hastur” or whatever name they end up choosing. Then I’ve got a Ghoul story about the origins of Ghouls that I was originally going to make not an Andrew Doran story, but then David, my bro that writes the Harry Stubbs stories, made an off-handed comment about Andrew Doran and the Origin of the Ghouls, and that rocked my world. Now Andrew is at an Antiquities sale trying to intercept a device that might lead to the secret origin of the Ghoul species!
After that? I have no set plans but certain things do need to happen.
- Andrew Doran book 4 is still in the works. I’ll probably need to figure out how to fit that in between all the anthology stories he’s got coming out. Or maybe skip book 4 for now and focus on those. I don’t actually like that idea, but I don’t hate it either.
- Wicked West 2 is going to happen. That book had a great first month and a hit or miss follow-up in the next months, but I’m a firm believer that if you want people to buy your old stuff you have to write new stuff. Besides, that cliff-hanger even had me in suspense.
- Annual promise to someday finish SS2 and BN3.
- Miskatonic University is also ripe for a sequel. Per my previous statement of “Sequels are painful” this one will at least be fleshed out before year end.
- More journaling. My wife said something very interesting this year and it sent my head into a tailspin of revelation. She said “You get grumpy when you haven’t been writing.” It’s likely a common situation with people of an artistic mindset, but I couldn’t get over how I had never noticed. So, as a means of dealing with that and maybe as a little self-therapy, I will be trying to journal more. It is difficult for me to not write for an audience, so a few of those entries might end up on the Patreon if they are writing-related or anecdotal.
- Maybe something new…?
I am probably forgetting a project that I am super excited about, but that’s the thing about this list: It’s a “shrug, might happen,” list. I am going to keep writing, and keep making my art (which, this year saw me spin a little bit back toward charcoal drawings). A friend of mine, the late Dan Amsden, would write 300 words a day, every day. It was a small amount that, at the time, made me feel as though he wasn’t working as quickly as he could be. As I have wizened with age, my mind has shifted and 300 words a day might be smarter than 3000 words every two months. Building the habit, the consistency, and the pride in even the small accomplishments might be how to better attack my lack of persistent consistency.
In short, I am excited as hell about this year in writing, my daughter’s 6th year, and my continued adventures with my wife as we enter our 12th year of love, friendship, and defeating our enemies in the kindest ways possible.
Good luck everyone! 2024 is for us.
Oh, and I turn 40 in a week. So, I have that going for me.
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Author Matthew Davenport 