Friends, we did it. We made it to the finish line. We beat 2020—although, I admit, in some ways, it feels more like 2020 beat us rather bloody.

A lot of people went through a lot of painful experiences this year. It would take a book, and a much worldlier mind than my own, to fully encompass the scope of our collective suffering. My heart goes out to everyone who suffered much worse than I did, and bore it more bravely than I sometimes bear my own burdens.

But as Neil Gaiman wrote in his own New Year’s message, not everything about 2020 was bad. I, for one, still have hope that some of what we endured this year will finally spark some much-needed change within our most broken systems and norms. 

On a personal level, I went through a lot. My family went through a hell of a lot, with not one or two but three different cancer diagnoses and other health scares to boot. But in spite of all that, I also wrote a hell of a lot and managed to grow, creatively and as a person, in ways I’m honestly quite proud of. 

Looking Back: 2020

Let me start by saying I promise not to make any jokes about hindsight. However, looking back, I’m pretty happy with what I managed to get done this year, even in spite of pandemics and riots and gods only know what else that I’ve happily managed to forget for the moment.

Writing in 2020

Progress on The Dragon’s Last Flight, as always, is much slower than I would like. But I managed to not only finish the first draft, but also the first round of revisions, which involved completely rewriting about a third of the script. Because this is a collaborative project with an uncertain timeline ahead of it, I’ve decided to hold off on trying to set a new release date until we have a clearer finish line in sight. But I am still committed to finishing it, and slowly but surely, Odd Lazdo and I (with the help of others, now) are working to make that happen.

I may or may not have mentioned this in passing in the past, but in between bouts of TDLF productivity, I’ve been working on a smaller-scale Twine project I’m hoping to release as a free IF game in the near future. Having learned from my mistakes on TDLF, I am not going to properly announce it, or its release date, until I have a clearer development timeline. But I did finish the first draft in just a couple of months, which is a big deal for me, and I’m quite excited to get much more done with it very soon.

As anyone who follows me on Facebook is already well aware, I’ve been writing for the ‘Speaking Out About Self-Injury’ blog on HealthyPlace for close to a year now. It’s a sensitive topic, and sometimes difficult on a very personal level to discuss, but I love being able to use my writing and my experiences to help others. The scariest part has been recording videos to accompany my posts—I had to jump into it with absolutely no experience and a past history of stage fright. And my courage has rewarded me with a new opportunity I may be discussing in the near future if things work out as I believe they might.

I’ve managed to consistently post on my own blog every two weeks this year, and I like to think I’m heading in the right direction, content-wise. I want, always, to balance carefully between what I honestly want to write about and what you, dear readers, actually want to read about… and I think, slowly but surely, I’ve gotten better and better at finding that sweet spot.

I’ve also gotten back into writing poetry for the first time in years, not so much for publication but for my own sanity. Although I have been submitting a few pieces to a few places here and there… we’ll see what, if anything, comes of it. 🙂

Reading in 2020

According to Goodreads (which I may be switching from to another platform soon), I’ve read more than 30 books this year. More importantly, I got to read—and reread—some particularly excellent books this year. I finally got around to revisiting The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which felt very much like coming home after a long and difficult journey—especially during a year like this.

I also had the pleasure of beta reading a wonderful fantasy novel in progress that a good friend of mine is working on—Soten, by R.C. Abbott. I can’t wait until I get my hands on the next book in the series. 🙂

As for published books I’ve read for the first time this year, here are a few of my favorites to check out if you need a few more books on your TBR pile:

• The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (high fantasy): I adore the depth of this novel’s worldbuilding, especially around the dragons and their influence on human cultural and religious systems and practices.
• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (literary fiction): Although I read more fantasy by far, I adore good lit fic with mesmerizing imagery and memorable characters.
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (historical romance/fantasy): Having watched the show first, I was already in love with the characters and story before I started reading. But it was Gabaldon’s descriptive writing and attention to historical detail that won me over even more here.
• The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes (historical fiction): I read and enjoyed Me Before You and its sequels after seeing the film and loving it, but wasn’t much interested in reading more of Moyes’s work until I was given this as a gift and absolutely devoured it. But then, I’m biased toward any narrative with a love of books at the core of its plot.
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (and The Rules of Magic, while we’re at it) (low fantasy): I am ashamed that I never read these before, given my lifelong love of both the movie and many of Hoffman’s other fantasy novels. I’m so glad I finally got around to it; I foresee many rereadings in the future.

Gaming in 2020

I’ve done a really poor job of keeping track of the games I’ve played this year, in part because including this section in my updates didn’t occur to me for some reason until very recently. However, here are a few highlights that come to mind:

• My Lovely Daughter (horror visual novel): As someone whose heart breaks at the merest mention of Nina Tucker from Fullmetal Alchemist, this game was beautiful torture to me. I absolutely adore the art style and the storytelling.
• Borderlands 3 (open-world action RPG): Few games make me laugh as hard, or cry as hard, as games in the Borderlands franchise. The newest installment did not disappoint.
• Phasmophobia (survival horror): Technically, this one is still in early access, but I’ve spent too many hours playing (okay, mostly watching people play) this game to leave it off the list. It’s such a simple concept, but man, is it going to influence horror games—and my nightmares—for years to come.
• Ghost of Tsushima (open-world action/adventure): I haven’t quite finished this one yet, but I could happily spend every minute of the rest of my life on Tsushima Island following the golden birds, writing haiku, and raining death upon my enemies from the shadows.
• Cyberpunk 2077 (open-world sci-fi RPG): No, I don’t want to talk about how messy the launch was or the various ways in which this game failed to live up to toxic levels of hype generated prior to its release. I just want to thank everyone who poured their heart and soul into making this beautiful thing—because bugs or no bugs, Night City is an incredibly beautiful thing, and I’m so glad it exists.

This was actually a pretty incredible year for me, gaming-wise—in addition to lots of good games to play, I now own a Switch and an Oculus Quest 2. I am so excited for VR technology and look forward to desperately trying to keep up as it continues to progress. 🙂

Looking Ahead: 2021

And now, a few goals for the new year. It’s hard to look ahead when everything still seems so uncertain, but hope springs eternal, and I am ever the optimist. Here’s what I’ve got planned for 2021:

• Writing: As always, I am hoping to finish my WIPs. In an ideal world, I’ll have finished TDLF, my unannounced Twine project, and a novel manuscript by the end of the year. I’m also thinking of trying to create something (SMALL) in Dreams on my PS4. Also, I am going to try posting one blog post a week, instead of one every other week. Wish me luck!
• Reading: I won’t be putting a number on my reading goals for this year, but I do hope to diversify a bit more in terms of the authors I read and their cultural backgrounds. I haven’t quite finished my reading list for the year yet, but I’ll be sure to post it somewhere when I do.
• Gaming: Again, I’ve learned not to put a number on this one. But I’m looking forward to finishing Cyberpunk 2077 and Ghost of Tsushima, as well as a few other games in progress. Some of the games at the top of my play-next pile include Stray (once it comes out!), Kingdom Come, and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. We’ll see how it goes. 😉

More than anything, though, I’m looking forward to all the possibilities a new year brings. New art to make, new experiences to have, new places to (hopefully) go… new horizons to chase. Whatever happens this year, I plan to make the most of the time I have, while I have it. My wish for you is that you are able to do the same.

Here’s to 2021!

Want to read some of the stuff I’ve been working on? Check out the TDLF demo on itch.io, or read the first chapter of The Harbinger’s Head for free via Choice of Games!