I am nowhere near where I was last year with writing. By this time last year, I was nearly 20,000 words in. I am only 2,000 words in with Blade of the Demon. Never fear, I am fully committed to completing the series!
I’m delayed because I’ve been busy with other things, like Battletech and Horizon: Zero Dawn. I go through phases and needed a videogame fix this time. I’m glad I spent the time playing them though. It was a chance to decompress.
I enjoyed Battletech for the Mechwarrior nostalgia factor. Building and customizing the mechs really brought me back to 1995. My google-fu shows the MW2 recommended PC specs of 90 MHz Processor, 16 MBs RAM, and VGA graphics, 256 colors, 640 x 480 resolution. Crazy!
Horizon: Zero Dawn… holy shit! That game rocked my world. It hooked me from the beginning. I love their version of post-apocalypse. The “ancient tech” is far more advanced than anything else in their world. It’s been out for a while (2017), but I’ve been living in a cave. If you haven’t played it yet, I highly recommend it!
My goal for 2020 is to become a better writer. It’s my goal every year. According to Reddit, and likely many other sources, one way to become a better writer is to keep on writing. Read a lot and write a lot. I think I’ve made large strides in both areas in 2019.
What I read/listened to in 2019:
- Cycle of Arawn (Trilogy) – E. Robertson (5/10. had promise, but did not strike a chord with me)
- Castes and OutCastes (Trilogy) – D. Ashura (7/10 is a little generous. 6.5. the story was fun, but the ending kind of dragged on)
- The Broken Earth Trilogy – N K Jemisin (8/10. I enjoyed this. Post-apocalyptic with a neat magic system)
- Holy Sister (3rd book in the Book of the Ancestor Trilogy) – M. Lawrence (7/10. I think Red Sister set the bar too high for books 2 and 3. Red Sister is like Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, and I like books like these.)
- Royal Ranger 3 – J Flanagan (6/10. I was disappointed. I’m a huge fan of the Rangers Apprentice series and also enjoy the Brotherband Chronicle. Royal Ranger isn’t really living up to the others. Maybe I need to reread the others to make sure they were as good as I remember them.)
- Nevernight Chronicle. – J Kristoff (a bold 8/10. I liked the performer on the audiobook. The story is Red Sister / Blood Song -esque. I think it could have been done with less sex, but I enjoyed everything else.
- Skyward – B. Sanderson (9/10. Holy shit this book was awesome. As soon as I find the time I’m going to pick up the sequel.)
- Lightbringer Series all 5 books – B. Weeks (8/10. I never heard of this series until later in 2019. I was shocked when I listened to it on audiobook. There are a LOT of similarities with Glaive, but Mr. Weeks does it so much better.)
- Graveyard Bones – N Gaiman (9/10. I needed a change and this was a great read. I have not read any Gaiman before this, but American Gods and Good Omens are now on my radar.)
- Blacksmith’s Son and Line of Illeniel (Mageborn books 1 and 2). (These are solid 7s. The first was better than the second, but I’ll likely continue the series when I have time. There was no wait for them on audiobook at the library.)
Most of these were experienced as an audiobook. A good performer is critical to enjoying the experience. I don’t know if/how the scores would change if I experienced them in a book format.
For my b-day and x-mas, I scored some Joseph-Beth (local book store) gift cards. I picked up a neat array and I’m excited to dive in. See pic of my haul below. I think progress on Glaive 3 will be slow-going, but after re-reading Chapter 1 of the draft, I’m excited to pick it back up. Stay tuned!
Thanks for reading!