Well, this might be a tad late, but it’s better late than never, eh? You might think that being on holiday gives you more time, but in reality it just frees up the time to do things you’ve been putting off.

Anyway, I’m doing it now. And 2014 was a HUGE year for me. It’s the year I became a published author and sold my first short story to a paying market. I did a lot of things, but it’s best summarized. I managed to do a ton of writing, selling over fifteen short stories, seven reviews, three audio podcasts, four interviews, and was nominated for two awards. I produced two short films and watched over 200 feature length ones. I read 50+ books and wrote one of my own. I’ve had my work stolen and translated into Korean behind my back. Yes, that actually did happen.
I started editing a Hugo award winning podcast and subsequently had the privilege of meeting and working with some of my favourite (not to mention biggest!) all time authors such as Peter Watts, Robin Hobb and Allen Steele. I’ve watched too many HBO shows and drunk too many bottles of beer. I’ve met some incredible people and made friends that’ll (hopefully) last a lifetime. I’ve grown as a person and writer (hopefully for the better!) and I want to thank you all for everything, especially for putting up with me and tirelessly reading my work when it’s been shoved in your faces. So a especially big thank you to all my editors who’ve taken the time to pick up a new writer from the slush when they could have gone for thousands of others. Being a published author at just 18 years old (I’m 19 now, but I was 18 when I sold my first one) is never easy, nor is it common. The key to getting published isn’t some sort of secret code or manipulation. It’s white paper, black ink, persistence, and a will of steel. I’ve gotten a mountain of rejections and no doubt will continue to receive them. But that one acceptance letter makes all the difference in the world, and that’s all you need. So keep trying, and don’t ever give up.

I hope everyone has a marvelous 2015, one that involves many books being written, sold and read to hungry readers all over the globe. Support your industry, yeah?

– Jeremy

It’s not easy to get your books reviewed by other people. And these aren’t even books, these are short stories. And it’s well known that short stories don’t exactly cast as wide of a berth that novels do. So getting someone to review short stories is even harder.

But I’m not one to give up, and I sent out some copies to reviewers to take a peek at and if they truly liked them, to review on their blog.

I was pleasantly surprised to know that not only was someone willing to do just that, but they were willing to review, in detail, all four stories. Now that’s awesome.

The stories reviewed at: Heart of Steel, Aliens Ate My Anti-Grav Speeder, A Dome of Chrome, and Without A Trace. The full blog slash review is over here, so go check that out. Lisa’s doing an incredible job, casting light on stories and magazines that might not otherwise get that attention, so it’s well worth giving her a few minutes of your time.

And if you don’t have the time to read the whole thing (she really did go into detail on some of the stories, and honestly there’s no greater reward than that for a writer), she summed it up like this: “His storytelling range is impressive, even just going on what I’ve talked about here…from dry humour to imaginative alien cultures, whether short stories or sharply written flash fiction, there’s a lot here to explore, and I’ve only mentioned four stories! I call that an excellent start, and my fingers are crossed for published novel.”

Dry humour? Imaginative alien cultures? How does that not sound awesome? (Yes, I do have a very dry and dark sense of humour. It’s gotten me in trouble more than once). Either way, I definitely use her blogs as sources for reviews to read, because she liked mine. She must have good taste then, right? Seriously though, her stuff is awesome. Give it a read…and thanks again to Lisa! I hope to meet you one day and hand over that published novel. It’s coming, don’t you worry.