Tomorrow is the Kalends of January, the start of a new year, a time traditionally associated with Janus, the two-faced Roman god of transitions. Endings and beginnings, gates and doorways. The Kalends of Ianuarius was also the day that Rome’s top elected magistrates, the consuls, took office; it’s the day when the people of Rome offered vows for the security and wellbeing of the res publica and later, the emperor.
For me, 2014 was certainly an interesting whirlwind, with a few blips of WTF and a whole lotta good stuff, both professionally and personally. At the beginning of the year, I finished and published my first novel. Shit, that was exciting and terrifying. I told a few friends that I’d be thrilled if I sold a dozen books. Now at 700+, I’m grateful and gobsmacked. All in all, the reader reactions to Dominus have been positive and supportive and for that I feel blessed. I have an insane story to tell, and there are some people who want to read it, who care that it gets told. Wow.
In 2014, I also learned how to turn an eBook into a professional quality paperback, thanks to the generosity and patience of a fellow fiction writer and great lady. I met a bunch of writers in person over the past twelve months, also exciting and terrifying and also a great experience each and every time. What a bunch of neat people we have in this genre. I wrote guest blog posts – they sucked but I tried. I learned. In the fall, I revisited one of my favorite cities in the world with my dear friends and fellow fangirls and we had a blast! While there, I met two more super kind and funny writers. I became friends with a great artist who created adorable cub drawings of Gaius and Allerix. And I signed up for the UK Meet in Bristol next year. Crap, what was I thinking? Jump first, I suppose.
Finally, I published another history book as well as my first short contemporary m/m story in an anthology. It’s been a pretty damn productive year, but I’m the sort who feels that I could have done more. It’s the curse of an overachiever.
So what’s in store for 2015? I have a few goals:
Finish and publish Games of Rome, hopefully by June. It’s much longer (word count wise) and quite different from the first book, Dominus. More plot, more characters, more history, more sex, more silliness. It’s more… me. Trust that it will be great. Trust myself.
Write and publish at least one free short story in the Dominus verse. I’m planning a raunchy Saturnalia tale. It may turn out to be little more than PWP, but hell… submissive Gaius is necessary to my happiness.
Finish another history book. Pay the bills. History is fun. You’re damn good at it. Don’t forget that.
Spend less time on social media. I’m not the socially type in the best of circumstances, and socializing virtually can be extra depressing and mojo-draining. It’s the black hole of procrastination. Stop wasting time.
Go to Romania. Hey, it’s research. I need to understand Allerix and Dacia better. Take a hike through that spooky forest. See ghosts.
Enjoy my time in England and Europe this year. Drink the pints, sip the wine, and seize the day!
Get my lazy arse up and exercise more. Sitting kills. Don’t die in a chair.
Ignore reviews. It’s a weird fucking story. Some people will hate it. Accept it. Forget it. Move on.
Be thankful more.
Be kind more.
Laugh like a loon, always.
Most of all, gobs of love to Molly, June, and Fiona. I can’t do this without you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
JPK
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