We’re taking a break from the Revisited series to take a look at my year in review 2023! It was a big year. I’ll cover the details and how I’m looking ahead, but first, let’s talk about the big aspects of this blog: writing and reading.
Drawing from the Well
I didn’t finish a chapter this week, but I did make progress on one. It’s something. This is an interesting chapter and I’m enjoying the writing. Hopefully, next week I’ll be able to say that it (and others) are done. I’m past ready to move onto the next step in this process.
Page 322
167,048/177,234 Words
Still, it’s important to look at where I was a year ago and recognize how far I’ve come. At the beginning of ’22, I had most of the first draft written, but it was far from book-shaped yet. Now, I’ve read the whole thing through, revised, corrected, and added to bring it closer to its final form. I wish it looked like a manuscript, but it doesn’t. Hopefully, another year will get it where it needs to go.
Filling the Well
So, right off the top, I’m one book down for Project Bookworm this year. I’m also one book behind already. I’m not worried about it for the moment. The Crown’s Game is a long book and takes a lot of concentration to follow in audiobook form. I’ll get it.
1/100 for #ProjectBookworm2024
Now for the 2024 review of reading.
I completed my goal of 105 books. Hooray! Of that, 3 were eBooks, 4 were physical books, and the remaining 98 books were audiobooks. I think it’s clear that without an avenue for audiobooks, I would not read as much as I’m able. Genre-wise, I read 1 murder mystery/police procedural, 2 romances, and 1 general fiction, 1 adventure novel, 17 science fiction, 23 non-fiction, and 60 fantasy novels. If you’ve been around the blog for a while, the glut of fantasy books should come as no surprise. As far as ratings, I had 1 1-star (DNF), 5 2-stars (did not like), 28 3-stars (liked), 50 4-stars (really liked), and 11 5-stars (loved!). I’ve gotten tougher on the ratings this year which is why more slid to the lower end of the scale than usual. For comparison, I had 32 5-star books last year. Now for the 6-Star Top 10 List:
10. Holy Bible
9. The Anatomy of Story by John Truby
8. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
7. Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr
6. The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth
5. Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Now, my Top 3 were easy to identify, but the ranking of them was REALLY hard. I didn’t even finally settle on it until writing this section of the blog. Number 3 was Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind. It was an incredible fantasy epic filled with adventure, magic, mystery, and betrayal. It made me think about fantasy a lot and it made me feel too. That’s a one-two punch for me. More than that, though, was Number 2 of All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. This book just about had me in tears by the end. The ending itself was totally unexpected and reshaped every assumption I had made about the story up to that point. It was incredible and was an early front runner for 7-Star Book of the Year.
That, however, was claimed by an old favorite. Barely. All the Birds in the Sky almost took the top spot, but, in the end, it had to go to a book that took me back to a world I love, a world that’s special to me for reigniting my love of reading. A book that was like spaghetti all over the place as you read it and yet somehow came together at the end. It was masterful. It was epic. It was The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab. Some of you who know my love of Schwab’s work may be throwing up your hands and saying, “Obviously.” but it wasn’t obvious to me when I was reviewing. This book just made me feel so many things that I couldn’t ignore it. And it’s in good company with other Books of the Year:
2016: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
2017: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
2018: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2019: The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
2020: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
2021: Witchshadow by Susan Dennard
2022: Crystal Caged by Elise Kova
2023: The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab
Well Chat
Let’s start by looking at my ’23 Goals and how I did with them.
- Finish Book II again.
- Finish Self-Edits on Book III.
- Start Book IV.
Boy, was I ambitious. I finished re-editing Book II, but it has not made it to the editor yet nor do I have a cover. I plan on doing that very soon, but it did not happen in ’23. Book III has been a bigger bear than I expected and I lost ALL momentum that I built up in ’22. I’m STILL trying to get back into the habits that propelled me this far. So, yes, I’m still, sadly, early in the self-editing process for Book III. That, of course, also means that Book IV has not officially been started. So, writing-wise, 2023 was a bust. Am I upset about that? Actually, no. I learned a lot about how to write and have done some incredible work on Book III that I’m really proud of. I would have liked to have gotten further, but I didn’t. That’s writing. It’s all good.
Personally, you can see from the featured image that we did a lot this year. We saw at least eleven Broadway plays, several of them in New York. I could have sworn it was more, but that’s all I can find. Not only did we go to New York, we went twice, including once with our kids. We’re already firming up our plans to go again soon. Beyond that, my wife’s business celebrated five years of operation, which is a huge milestone. We saw For King & Country in concert (one of our favorites) and went to a huge Kentucky Derby party and fundraiser. The big thing this year, though, was travel. As I already said, we went to NYC twice, but we also went to St. Augustine and Cincinnati. The biggest trip this year, of course, was Italy. It was the best vacation of our lives and we can’t wait to go again. On top of that, our daughter made it through the first half of her senior year, including a new job, senior portraits, homecoming, and even baptism. Our son is pulling himself together to venture out on his own soon too. And I got a new job! It’s been an incredible year for our family.
That brings us to the look ahead for this year. We have more big plans for travel and Broadway, but this is a big year. Our daughter graduates high school and we expect both kids will be out on their own before we know it. We’re going to leave the country again. I know that there are countless adventures ahead of us. I want to become secure in my job function. We have some aggressive financial goals. So, beyond all of that, here are the writing goals: 1) Release Book II, 2) Finish Book III Self-Edit, 3) Begin Drafting Book IV. If I can do all that, it’s going to be a BIG year this year.
How was 2023 for you? What do you plan for 2024? Hit me on social media and let me know!
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG