Year End Wrap Up/Looking at 2024

Lots of progress in 6 months with 2024 looking even better.

cheese

2023 was the start of this Substack and after 6 months, we are exceeding my expectations. 

I created this Substack to have a writing project that was consistent and relevant to my interests. I went to school for writing and got myself an entire MFA in the damn thing so I decided it was time to put it to use. 

The problem I ran into is that I discovered that I didn’t want to write a book. After years of mulling it over at an exhaustive rate, I came to the conclusion that a 300-page something was not for me. I think when you get your MFA the natural next step is to publish a large body of work but I couldn’t bring myself to get one together no matter how much I tried. 

I used to write about my personal life a bit and found that to be exhausting as well. Not only for myself but for the people around me and thought it best to keep my personal writing locked up. 

This all led to my slow realization that after working in the book business for 10 years that I should write about an adjacent topic. 

Damage Per Second Is Born. 

As I’ve stated, I have always had a love for Star Wars novels and video game novelizations (or video game novels based on video games). Star Wars is not a niche interest but reading the books is more of a niche than knowing who Yoda is. The nerdier side is the video game one but I ADORE it. I love video games and I love understanding game development. It’s a unique process unlike any other entertainment industry and while I don't comprehend all of it, I am happy to hear folks talk about it. 

Of course, the warm, cozy blanket that wraps around all of this is nostalgia. I’m 35 and my love for video games is due to it informing my childhood. I was an only child with few friends and more interested in fictional worlds. This project allows me to take care of that young kid and also apply my intellectual/academic skills in a productive way. 

July 1st was the beginning of this journey and I went from having 60ish subscribers at the end of September to 120 as of this moment. In 6 months I was able to grow an audience larger than I thought I would have in this time frame. Now, in internet-terms, 120 subs might not seem like a ton but for this format and in this amount of time, I think it is. I feel blessed, really. Every week I meet more writers of similar interests and we are only going to keep growing. 

The Last 3 Months 

If you want to read about my first 3 months in review, you can do that here. 

But, in the last 3 months, it’s been a wild ride of growth. I started my podcast which I wasn’t convinced would be a staple to the Substack but has turned out to be. I was initially only going to use it for interviews but have found uploading a show every 2 weeks or so to be fun. 

I was able to speak with Jerry Oltion this season who I am on my way to considering a friend as we write back and forth to each other with life updates and not just work-stuff. I am blessed to have folks such as Mitch and

Wolfe MacReady

in my life who have supported my project and give up their time to record nonsense with me. Wolfe in particular has so many other things going on in her life that I am just happy to have her on when she has time. Mitch is a besto-friendo who I could talk to for hours without noticing. Writing is still the main focus of this Substack but I’m thrilled that I have another arm to this machine of entertainment discourse. 

Another highlight, obviously, was interviewing THE Karen Traviss. She is incredibly thoughtful and full of insight about not only her projects but writing as a whole. 

I am still recovering from this email she sent me. 

My work is done!

Writing about Gears of War for 3 months and reading 5 novels has been an experience and I’m happy I did it. It is peak military sci-fi and you should go read the books. Do it. Do it now! 

Looking Ahead

Alright, well, the next 3 months are blurry for me. At one point I had the idea to tackle the High Republic books in the Star Wars canon but I haven’t been able to get a content schedule together in the last few weeks so I might abandon it until the Spring. 

There is a good reason for my lack of preparedness. Not only was I busy running a bookstore during the holiday season which is a monumental task in itself but I also found myself on a new career path. Earlier in December I was hired by Hachette Book Group to be a Sales Rep. for Indie Bookstores in several States. I don’t start the job until *checks calendar* tomorrow but there was, uh, a ton of chaos with me leaving my current role as a bookstore manager. All this to say that it’s been difficult for me to plan out 3 months of content when I have been living in a day-to-day framework for the last 4 weeks. 

I will be short term goal oriented with the Substack the next 3 months as I transition to my new job/life/writing routine. It will be more random and much like the first 3 months of my Substack where I kinda just hit a wide variety of topics. 

I still have to finish up my interview with Karen and I have my last Gears-podcast positing tomorrow so there is some overflow. 

If you made it this far, thank you so much. Your support is everything and I love talking about the things I love! Thank you for this space and thank you for sharing it with me and 2024 is gonna be a dope-ass year of content. 

Happy New Year!