Skip to main content

2022 - Year in Review

 


A challenging year, but I'm proud of the work I managed to create. On the publishing front I saw my work appear in fifteen published anthologies. That's one more than last year, which is actually more impressive than it sounds because for the last seven months of this year I also took a day job (because, as fun as it's been to write full time, it's not generating a liveable income just yet – I need to get some full books out there). Casual day work (mostly at night), but that's still anywhere between twelve and fifty hours a week not in front of a computer. Instead standing on my feet, destroying my arches, and making it hard to sit at a computer to write, needing days to recover from the pain. So, with limited time, I still got done what I did, and I'm proud of that.

I'm still pumping out short stories because it helps flesh out my worlds. With each new short, I discover something new about that world. It's a journey of discovery. With each new story, I'm also brought a little closer to having sufficient material to put out my own anthologies eventually. I have five anthologies for my fantasy world building up lists of published stories (six, if you include a flash fiction one). The first is probably ready to go, aside from waiting for the contractual exclusivity to expire. There's also a sci-fi one, but I think I've got a few more stories to tell there before that one's ready. Then there'll be a second era, and so on. There will eventually be straight horror anthology at some point, that's slowly filling its list. There's a steampunk one… one day. There are only three stories written so far in that world, only two of which are published. Also, there are two fairy tale stories that will populate an anthology of its own down the line. Of course, being the creative lunatic I am, I have completed the cover art for all these anthologies, and it burns my soul to not be sharing those images at this point. But it's far too comically soon for those cover reveals.

I have also been working on novels which I need to find a home for once I'm satisfied with them. (Again, I have totally done the covers because I don't do things in the right order)

Focusing on what did come out this year, I have released stories through; Dragon Soul Press, Cloaked Press, Zasra Press, Fiction Atlas Press, Black Hare Press, Iron Faerie Publishing, SFWG, and Crimson Pinnacle Press. I also have stories that have been accepted for publication that will come out next year. So, a huge thankyou to everyone who read my stories and decided they wanted them in their books.

So, thanks for the support over 2021.

-Barend3


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EMBRACE OF THE SPIDER QUEEN and a Dwarven novel

 Greetings once more. Excited to announce that my fantasy/horror story 'Embrace of the Spider Queen' will be included in the anthology 'Beautiful Darkness' from Dragon Soul Press, due for release around Halloween. It is a distant sequel to 'Solyn the Scavenger' [All Dark Places 2] and 'Solyn the Slayer' [All Dark Places 3] set decades later and following a different perspective. I have also just finished the first draft of a novel that takes places just north of the very setting in which the three stories mentioned above take place, but on the other side of the obsidian wall. A subterranean dwarven story. This project got interrupted by another book I'm writing (which was finished but then started getting expanded after a beta read - still some chapters to be written there) so it's good to see it done and, as a discovery writer, finally know the plot. That's how it works for we gardener/pantser types. The first draft is what we use as our out...
Post a Comment
Read more

2023 YEAR IN REVIEW

Firstly Happy New Year!!! I'll be trying to sleep while everyone else is partying because I have a weekend day job. So that'll be a challenge. But here's my Year in review. I know I haven't posted anything in a while, but I've been busy writing, which I hope buys me some credibility.   2023 Year in Review. Been a busy year for writing, which is odd, because this year I've had a full time day job working a fortnightly 36 hours in 3 days then 48 in 4, but generally this gives me 3 and 4 day weekends in which to write, which is nice to be doing with a default income. Of course, working over the weekends has also brutally murdered my social life, so no distractions there either. Some of these anthologies have two stories in them from me, one has ten flash fiction pieces and another five, slightly balanced out by one story being serialised into 3 issues of Stygian Lepus. But 30 short stories (2-20k) and 15 flash fiction published all in all. I've also been worki...
Post a Comment
Read more

TEMPLE OF THE BLACK FIST, TURNING A NEW LEAF, and more...

 Been a while since I updated my upcoming published stories, so here goes; TEMPLED OF THE BLACK FIST Asian themed fantasy story for 'VALOR' anthology from Dragon Soul Press, involving a character from and set shortly before my story ONE WHISKER.  Due: late July 2022 TURNING A NEW LEAF A demonologist's misadventure (fantasy) for 'ROGUES AND REDEEMERS' anthology from Ardent Dawn/Zasra Press Due: February/March 2023 UNDER THE OASIS A steampunk adventure for 'AGE OF ARTIFICE' anthology from Dragon Soul Press Due: late August 2022 THE WORST THING IN THE DARK A contemporary horror story for 'HAUNT' anthology from Dragon Soul Press  Due: late September 2022 CLAWS OF ASCENSION and THE ILLUSIONISTS DAYMARE Two flash fiction pieces for 'HAWTHORNE & ASH Vol 4' from Iron Faerie Publishing due out at the end of the year but corresponding to May and June themes.  An assortment of Drabbles and Semi-Flash pieces for DEMIGODS anthology 4 x 250 word pieces...
Post a Comment
Read more