12/23/2022 - 2022 Wrap Up

Dec 23, 2022 4:56 pm

12/23/2022 - 2022 Wrap Up

Happy holidays readers, writers, artists, and the occasional bot!


This email brought to you by the calm between the storms that have been mucking with our electricity (and as a result, our wifi).


We are almost done with 2022, which has felt like a huge year in art and publishing in general and for me personally. Maybe that's because I'm so close to it and need some perspective, but I imagine, five, ten, twenty years from now, I'll still look back and say, "Wow, 2022 was a big one."


In the world at large, there have been major breakthroughs and heated debates about copyright, AI art, audiobook sales for authors, and the size and control publishers and printers can have. Regarding the AI Art conversation and Midjourney in particular, an author friend recently put out this article, which I think lends some interesting perspective for those on either side of the issue: https://mikewyantjr.medium.com/ai-art-and-the-end-of-creativity-21d470693b57


While I can't claim to be an expert (or at all capable of stopping the tides of change), I have a hard time buying into any absolute, sweeping claims of doom-and-gloom. Because, despite new circumstances that look like overwhelming obstacles, many people are making major headway through innovation and many are doing just fine staying their former course. I do occasionally give in to the "race against time" mentality, but I'm nowhere near ready to hang my head in defeat—especially not after my personal 2022.


A Brief "Year in Review"

A few months ago at a convention, I was lamenting the feeling that I was falling behind in my writing output this year compared to last. Mark Stallings, an excellent author and community member, remarked that I'd recently gone through a few of the biggest stressors in close succession, including buying a new home, moving across the country, a major career shift (including starting a business), and a death in the family.


I fully admit that I haven't quite figured out the balance between giving myself grace and pushing forward, but I'm really proud of what I managed this year as an author.

  • Had three novels published, finished writing two, and [hard to calculate] editing tasks;
  • Wrote and sold several more short stories, with a generally improving acceptance rate, and still racked up a lot of rejections;
  • Self-published a novella on Kindle Vella and two re-released short stories;
  • Put out a call for an anthology, ran a successful Kickstarter, and edited a collection of excellent stories that I'm excited to release next year;
  • Attended 17 author events, for most of which I was a speaker, a vendor, or both;
  • Started a newsletter, and completed many other behind-the-scenes tasks that are hard to explain.


Many of the things on the longer, itemized 2022 list were first for me, which I hope I can call the first of many. A lot of these are owed to connections in the community and the support of the Chris Kennedy Publishing family, Writers of the Future, Superstars Writing Seminars, Apex Writers Group, and two new that are newer for me: TWT (The Writing Tribe) and the local James River Writers. If you are an emerging author looking to make connections and find your community, feel free to email me and ask questions about any of the above groups.


On the self-pubbed short story front, both "A Roach By Any Other Name" (a first-contact story in the THIS FINE CREW universe) and "Clarence Hemlock: Computer Wizard" (an urban-fantasy story featuring a cheeky digimancer) are available on Amazon for $0.99 each.


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The Murderbirds anthology is continuing forward. Now that the edits are almost entirely done, we're formatting it for the first printing and adding illustrations. I'm excited for its release next year—even if intimidated by the work ahead of us.


Here are a few of the illustrations so far:


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I'll be tackling some more illustrations this afternoon, possibly during a power outage—fingers crossed that it doesn't last very long.


To the End of 2022 and the start of 2023

For the coming week, I wish I could say that I'd be taking some time to rest, but I'm going to be working on continuity edits for the completed 4HU novel and the formatting of the anthology. While not exactly restful, it's still quite exciting for me.


With January comes a new semester to teach, a new convention season (starting with MarsCon 2023), and the first print order for the Murderbirds anthology.


Thank you all for joining me for this awesome year. Have a safe and happy holiday season.


Cheers,


Mike Jack Stoumbos


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