Hello again, internet. It’s been a minute. One of my New Years resolutions is to actually use this blog more frequently. Next month marks the tenth anniversary of when I started writing the first book of The Resistance is Dead trilogy. That’s hard to believe. When I was a kid, I remember numerous grownups telling me how much time flies when you become an adult. The longer we stick around, the faster the years zip on by. In a way, that is true, but I have a theory that time flies mostly because we settle into comfort zones and our brains try to abide by routines and run on autopilot mode as much as possible, because autopilot mode is efficient. But autopilot mode is a thief of experience and growth and learning. I am just as guilty as anyone when it comes to operating within the autopilot comfort zone more often that I would prefer. But I’m also working consistently on challenging that autopilot mode and leaving the comfort zone.

I say all that to confess that the whole process of trying to be a successful independent author is contradictory to my personal preferences for privacy and anonymity. I am a showboat trapped in the body of an introvert. It all started in high school when I found my tribe with the theater kids. I was in three plays. In the first play I sang about being in love with a girl named Fred doing Once Upon a Mattress while wearing blue tights in front of a lot of classmates and parents. I was equal parts terrified and exhilarated.

I also played Jonny the Zombie with a broken heart in Zombie Prom as a senior in high school. (fun fact: I absolutely called back on that experience when fleshing out the perspective of Adam Chambers in President Zombie and beyond.)

I learned back then that just because something scares me, doesn’t mean I should avoid it. Fear can be helpful, but it can also be a gatekeeper to block all sorts of experiences if you let it have the final word.

When it comes to the books, I am running a free promo for The Outbreak for five days on Kindle starting January 5^th (last day is the 9^th). I’m also working on a fourth book to be published by the fall of this year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of The Outbreak.

I published a revision for Death is Not the End last year, mostly in response to a negative review about me soapboxing that confirmed some discomfort I already had about the book and the question of how far too far really was. I cut out three chapters and did a general polish of the story. The story is better now, and I am genuinely happy to stand behind it. The deleted chapters involved my worries about the potential rise of fascism in the modern era, and a couple of chapters about my religious views and experiences. I don’t regret publishing the book in the original state, but I also felt very uncomfortable promoting the book, so the negative review was permission for me to dial it back. Now I feel much more comfortable as an introvert who enjoys privacy in promoting it.

If I could change anything about my journey over the past ten years with telling stories, I would have published under a pen name. Anonymity would have given me a shield against overthinking every opinion I share or want to share. But I didn’t do that. It is what it is. There is no reset button in real life, but there are plenty of opportunities to learn, process, and choose different branches as we move forward. I genuinely stand by my stories, weird as they are, and I plan to keep writing new fun, slightly disturbing, hopefully somewhat philosophical and also entertaining stories for as many laps around the sun as I’ve got left in me.

I’m learning how to navigate and properly focus my daily allotment of energy.

I’d like to do a series of posts reflecting on some of my Escapist articles and my experience with them. I’d also like to share a few different fan theories similar to the articles I wrote. I’ve got a fairly decent backlog of ideas and subjects to explore, but until now I’ve been focusing my energy elsewhere.

This year, I’m coming out of the shell.

During the past year and a half I’ve gone through a number of big changes and challenges, which made going into the shell necessary. Now my batteries are recharged, the dust has settled, and I aim to challenge my established routine of staying quiet and not posting on this blog, starting now.

Happy New Year, internet. Let’s make this a good one.