Another year, another holiday season survived. I hope this winter was kind to you; for me it was a bit of a mixed blessing.

The good news is… I’m well on my way to recovering from burnout. In the last Quarterly Quest Update, I talked about how things fell apart midway through drafting Chapter 7 of Shadow of the Curse-Eater, and set some softer goals to strive for in the final quarter of the year.

Winter is a season of retreating inside—from the cold and the dark, the accumulated stress of the year, and a world that, at times, can be cruel and difficult to live in. Many species hibernate during this time; I chose to follow their example and tried to do the same.

Previous check-ins:

• Spring 2023
• Summer 2023
• Fall 2023

Overall Quest Progress

Looking back, my goals for this past quarter were:

• Schedule downtime daily
• Journal weekly
• Refill my creative well weekly

So how did I do?

Pretty darn well, actually. I’ve set a hard rule for myself about how late and how much I’m willing to work per day, and I’ve generally stuck to it—even when things got a bit crazy with my freelance work for a time. I went from journaling weekly to doing daily morning pages as part of my recovery program (yes, you’ve probably heard of it—The Artist’s Way). In the past 10 weeks, I’ve only missed one day of journaling. I’ve also gotten into the habit of weekly “artist dates”—another lesson from my recovery program that I’m absolutely in love with.

All of this, combined with a much-needed break from writing in general (and SotCE specifically), allowed me to begin healing and find my way back to my words, one day at a time.

Shadow of the Curse-Eater

While I was in hibernation mode, I didn’t work on my pipeline projects at all. I set Shadow of the Curse-Eater aside completely until I felt well enough to return to it.

This week, I completed some long overdue marketing copy for use in all the app stores and websites through which the game will eventually be sold. I’ve also been working on reworking my lorebook (what other people tend to call a story bible), which I didn’t give myself nearly enough time to fully develop before diving headfirst into drafting.

If there is one thing I’ve learned about myself in the last ten years of writing, it is that I am—without a shadow of a doubt—a planner, not a pantser.

Once I’m done with the background stuff, I’ll be revising existing chapters before finally returning to drafting Chapter 7 of 10.

The Dragon’s Last Flight

The Dragon’s Last Flight remains on hiatus until further notice. As I promised previously, this will be the first major project I tend to when development on SotCE is finally complete.

Odds & Ends

• I’ve been on break from posting regularly on social media and the blog. I’d like to get back on a consistent schedule again, but I’m still hammering out what that will look like going forward.
• Relatedly, I’ve been experimenting with Threads.
• The newsletter is still going out monthly. I don’t plan to change this in 2024.

Looking Ahead: Quests for the Next Quarter

My focus for 2023 was balance. Over the course of the year, I learned to say no when my plate was already full—and yes to more things that spark joy, curiosity, and creativity. I also reminded myself, not for the first time, that it’s okay to lose balance sometimes, too. “To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life,” as Elizabeth Gilbert wrote. At the time, she was writing about romantic love, but I think the sentiment is true for any kind of love.

As my new focus for 2024, I’ve chosen the theme of light. I want to feel lighter; I want to lay down some of the burdens that have dragged me down in the past. I want to invite more light and love into my daily life. And I want my writing to be a light for others, especially on the dark days we all must navigate from time to time.

This year, I’m also experimenting with some new planning methods, and one thing in particular I want to do is to do a better job of considering my life as a whole when planning for the future—not just focusing on work and writing all the time.

As such, my top three goals for Q1 2024 are:

• Continue (and hopefully finish!) drafting Chapter 7 of SotCE
• [REDACTED—sorry, this one’s a secret for now!]
• Set aside some time to plan and schedule some fun date nights for my husband and me

Creativity craves fuel; a writer’s life must be lived, not merely written down. What I’m looking forward to the most this year is simply living it fully.

Happy New Year, friends. Thanks, as always, for reading!

Kim Berkley is a fantasy author and narrative designer with too many books and not enough shelves. To stay up to date on beta testing opportunities, new releases, and other major announcements, be sure to sign up for her free newsletter!