Oh.

Hello.

Ummm.

This is awkward. Isn’t it?

Well, uh, don’t just stand there! Kick your shoes off. Come in! Have a seat! No. Not that one. The one that’s not currently festooned with cobwebs.

So. Hi. Um. I guess it has been… almost a year since my last blog post?

My. How time flies.

Well. Don’t let the pale skin and dark circles under the eyes fool you. I am not dead. Not totally, anyways. I’ve just been busy.

Busy doing what, you might ask?

Fair question. Let me fill you in on what I’ve been up to since last autumn:

• I got my edits back from my writing mentor. His suggestions were encouraging. Glowing, even. It gave me the confidence and the direction I needed to begin my third draft.

• I printed out the whole swollen manuscript (see pictured). I read the whole thing, cover to cover, with a red pen sticking out of the corner of my mouth. Rereading your own work is always a uniquely painful experience—something between rooting around in a dumpster while a pair of angry racoons screech at you.
• In the new year (2023, this one), I began my official third draft. And… it was fun! Whereas the rereading process was uniquely awful, the rewriting process was a lot of fun! I trimmed overlong scenes. Added new ones. Omitted glaring inconsistencies. Hammered out character arcs. It was a sublime writing experience. One of the most creatively fruitful ones I’ve ever had as a writer.
• On February 17^th, 2023, I had the third draft of The Crimson Spider in my hands. It roughly rounds out to around 333,000 words, about 10,000 words shorter than the previous draft.
• I spent hours—hooooouuuuurrrrrsssss—properly formatting my manuscript into just that. A properly-formatted manuscript.
• In April, I sent out my first batch of queries to literary agents. I got a nibble early on—a partial request from an interested party. And that was all it was. A form rejection shortly followed. Even still, getting a chomp from a hungry literary agent that early on spurred my querying efforts. As of writing, I’ve currently sent out roughly 25 query letters to agents.

• I started a new book in June! Another dark fantasy effort, this one with a bit more magic and history. More dark high fantasy as opposed to dark low fantasy, as it were. What are we calling it? I’m glad you asked! The working title is The Darkness That Breathes. I am currently around 80,000 words in. I even commissioned a cute little cover (see above). I will provide more details when it pleases me.

Anyway, so as you can see, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I just ghosted you all for most of my thirtieth year.

And speaking of, I’m turning thirty-one in a couple weeks! (Wheee. Aging.) The past year has been an immensely stressful, but exceptionally beautiful period in my life. I briefly moved back home before finding a new apartment. I’ve embarked on a new career as an educator (perfect for the man who loves the sound of his own voice). I even fell in love, if you can believe it! My partner is currently sitting across from me, working on her laptop (she says hi).

So, yes. Disband the search parties. Send the bloodhounds back to their kennels. I am still stubbornly persisting, against my own better judgment.

But how have you guys been? What have you been up to while I’ve been away? Read anything good lately? Hit any major milestones? I’d love to hear from you all.

Toodles. Hopefully you’ll hear more from me (at least before I turn thirty-two.)