Happy holidays! I figured now, on the cusp of a new year, is a good time to reflect and share what I’ve been up to. Nothing dramatic or earth-shattering, but you’ll get to see updated cover art and a title change for my fantasy adventure novel if you keep reading.

Site News

I recently learned that WordPress has built-in support for RSS feeds, so I’ve added a link for this blog’s RSS feed to the navigation menu. I updated the Contact page to mention RSS and this site’s commenting feature, which has always existed but hadn’t been explained.

Writing News

My main focus these past couple of months has been collecting wider beta reader feedback and polishing Novel #1.

After finishing my first chapter revisions, I sent out an e-mail back in mid October to an assortment of friends and family inviting them to beta read my novel (strictly opt-in, no pressure). The group included several who have beta read earlier drafts, as well as a couple who’d never read any of my writing. The e-mail included guidelines for feedback I’m interested in: impressions of characters, narrative, story pacing, genre, beginning, ending, typos, logic issues, and anything else they notice that worked or didn’t work for them… so, basically, literally anything is appreciated but here are some ideas. I also told them that if they reach a point where reading is no longer enjoyable, they should drop the novel and let me know the stopping point. I provided two deadlines for feedback: a soft deadline of December 1st, and a firmer deadline of January 1st.

I’ve already collected feedback from several of my beta readers this round, who got their comments to me on—or before!—the first deadline. The feedback has been overall positive (as in prior beta reads), but with helpful catches and critiques as well.

One recurring observation was a desire for more development of the secondary characters. It seems that the personalities on the page are memorable, but readers learn practically nothing about their background and, in some cases, are left feeling like they didn’t really get to know them or grasp what drives them… and yeah, upon reflection, I can improve upon that. I do want readers to feel like they get a sense of what makes them tick.

To address this, I’m adding to and modifying a few existing scenes. I believe that should do the trick, and I fear anything more than that risks ballooning the novel’s length, torpedoing the pacing, or compromising the focus on the protagonist’s personal journey. I’m cautious of info dumping and want to keep the scenes flowing naturally, so I’m writing with that in mind, too. I’m also fixing some very minor details, and I revised an aspect of the ending that was bothering me in mid November. A couple of my beta readers had time to look at both endings and preferred the revised ending, too.

I anticipate additional feedback from one or two more beta readers by January 1st. After that, I’m giving myself the month of January to finalize revisions. I’ll finish adding and editing snippets and do one final read-through myself, with an eye for typos, flow, and detail consistency.

I’ll use February to work out logistical details for self-publishing. I want to try wide distribution—i.e., make my novel available on multiple platforms—instead of distributing solely through Amazon; I have a few friends who avoid bookshopping on Amazon in favor of independent bookstores or other wholesalers. I’m currently considering using an aggregator called Draft2Digital to simplify wide distribution.

My goal is to self-publish in March of 2026. But I’m trying not to put the cart before the horse. Gotta finish revisions first.

One other aspect I’ve revised is the working title! I had initially titled this work Into the Darkwood, but another fantasy series was published a few years ago that calls itself The Darkwood Chronicles. I pondered alternatives and changed mine to Into the Gloamwood.

I’ve added the title to my prospective cover art. Behold:

I’ve discussed the cover art before, but to recap, the illustration is my handiwork, drawn via a Wacom tablet and Rebelle 5 software. I added the text with another digital art program called Krita. My goal was to capture the tone and genre of the story, and I think I’ve accomplished that.

Aside from Gloamwood… uhh… This year I worked on another novel draft, which involves an eccentric and tiny inventor dragon and is very fun, but progress on that has stalled in favor of revising Gloamwood. I haven’t been writing much original fiction otherwise. I did write a 10,000-word fanfic oneshot, which is now waiting in the wings for a fandom event called a “big bang”—essentially, a collaboration between writers and artists to release fanfic and fanart together all at once. It’s my first time participating in such a fandom event, and participating in the community in this way has been super neat! My fanfic wouldn’t be interesting to anyone who isn’t in that fandom, though, and it’s not an original fiction piece, so I sha’n’t say any more about that.

By focusing on Gloamwood revisions and putting less pressure on myself to write new stories, I’m letting my imagination rest and play idly. Breaks are good, I think. Restorative. I’ve been enjoying the holidays with family, too.

Life Updates

I’ve been living at my current residence for over a year, now, and I still like it. I appreciate the quiet and comfort it provides.

My day job has been going well. I’m still a software engineer, still working for the same company, same team. I’m providing technical guidance and mentorship to a new team member who is implementing a piece of a project I’ve been architecting, so that’s neat.

I can now run four miles, consistently, at a pace of 10 and a half minutes per mile or better. Usually closer to 10 minutes per mile. It feels awesome. I had a setback when I broke my toe playing with a rambunctious kid, but that’s healed up cleanly, and I’ve recovered my joy and stamina. (My mood tanks if I’m too inactive or cut off from my favorite physical hobbies for too long. Abso-frigging-lutely jumps off a cliff. Workout endorphins are one hell of a drug.)

My sister got a cat. He’s a sweetheart and a total goober. I am irrevocably wrapped around his furry little paw, as is typical with me and cats.

I’m revising my assessment of Hollow Knight: Silksong slightly. I still think it’s a great game and highly recommend it, but I also think there are chinks in the design—specifically, places where the difficulty stems from frustrating punishment instead of stimulating challenge, which is a separate and more fundamental critique than complaints about lack of an easy mode. The runbacks for some of the boss fights are irritating, and while many of the bosses are awesome, a few of them just aren’t interesting or cool enough for me to enjoy repeat attempts. Additionally, resource scarcity often disinclines me from using Hornet’s tools. It wouldn’t be an issue if I were more willing to grind for those shell shards, but I’m not. My time is precious and limited.

Again, I still think Silksong is good. But I wanted to note my nitpicks because I recommended Silksong when I was still in Act I, and now I’ve had more time to play and assess it. Mind you, I haven’t finished the game yet. I haven’t even started Act III. I’ll gradually chip away at it over the coming year, probably. Y’know, in between writing and aikido and work and friends and everything else.

If any of you figure out how to become a time lord, let me know. Thanks.

Oh, and I’ve been reading new (to me) books here and there. I’ve been checking out books through the Libby app recently, grabbing whichever ones are available and intrigue me. This strategy is definitely hit or miss. In a way, that’s both refreshing and useful; when I encounter a story I don’t like or have mixed feelings about, I want to identify what doesn’t work for me and why, whether it’s an issue with how it’s crafted, a matter of personal taste, or a combination of the two. Chewing on that is its own kind of enrichment.

I dropped Pit Dragon Chronicles after the 2nd book; the worldbuilding was thorough and intriguing, but I wasn’t fond of some of the characterization, the romantic subplot, or the direction it took. I quite enjoyed Guards, Guards! by Terry Pratchett for its humor, touch of heart, and memorable characters. I also read the second book of The Cat Who series and liked it well enough, but I wouldn’t say the series has become a favorite, either. So far, I’m liking its cats, instances of succinct but vivid prose, and overall coziness. But aspects of the protagonist’s perspective and characters’ behavior do show the series’s age, and the mysteries themselves are… hm… interesting, but not riveting?

Admittedly I’m not an avid reader of the mystery genre, and I haven’t read many entries in this series. I’ll likely revise my opinion after reading a couple more. My reading experience might also be colored by my out-of-order approach—I read the second book without having read the first, and I’ve now jumped directly to Book 17. I noticed the protagonist seems to have developed and gotten to a better place in life between Books 2 and 17, so maybe reading that progression would be more satisfying. The mysteries seem self-contained enough so far to support out-of-order reading, though. Overall, I’d say The Cat Who series is worth checking out if you like cozy mysteries and cats, and for me, it’s certainly served its purpose as reading material to unwind with.

That’s about it—a scattering of minutiae, a smattering of things. At the personal level, life’s been good for me, overall.

Stay safe, stay well, and I wish you all the best.