2024 was a big year for change.

It was the year I was promoted from a specialist to an account manager with the digital marketing agency I work for, meaning more responsibility as well as more freedom to assess clients’ needs and come up with a plan of action.

2024 was also the year where, creatively, I had to reassess where I put my time and efforts. I had to learn to say no and walk away from certain tasks if I wanted to say yes or carve out more writing time for myself, as well as time to spend with family, friends, and, most importantly, my wife.

It was also the year where I finally released MACHINE: A Cybernetic Fairytale, a book I had been writing and talking about off and on for several years now. After much trial and error querying publishers and agents, I decided to release it independently. MACHINE: A Cybernetic Fairytale is digitally available for purchase on Amazon Kindle or Gumroad. It’s also part of Kindle Unlimited, so you can read it for free (and leave a rating/review).

2024 was also a year where I felt more in touch and in sync with who I am as a person. I realized that, at my core, I enjoy learning and I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned through art. This naturally bleeds into my short stories and novel, as well as the interviews I’ve conducted on The Batman Universe Podcast, and the monthly newsletters I write on my Substack (Read “Because We Can” here). More importantly, it connects me with who I am and always have been.

I’m a storyteller, and I want to share my joy and energy with others in a way that empowers us all to be our best and forge ahead through light and dark times.

Public speaking and putting myself out there also came more into focus in 2024. I’ve often shied away from putting a face to my words. This year, in tandem with interviewing more, I took an opportunity to review the newest Defenders of the Earth comic book for Chronicle Chamber, a Phantom-focused Australian site. On video. Using my real voice. Little did I realize that practicing this skill on the podcast and on video reviews would bleed over into my promotion, where I have to communicate with clients regularly through virtual meetings.

In 2024, I felt unstuck. Releasing MACHINE undid a stopgap in my creative flow, and I went from having one book project in-progress to now having 4 to organize and manage. One of these projects is a sequel to MACHINE and part of my whole “Space Opera” universe. It’s a book I’m tentatively calling “Bellamy” after my favorite pirate. Another is a love letter to classic, sidescrolling beat-em-up games from the 90s. The final two are distinctly different horror novellas.

I won’t make promises for 2025, but I would love to have one of these completed and ready to publish by the end of next year. To prepare for this next step, I’ve walked back the onsite editing and how many reviews I write for TheBatmanUniverse.net. Writing comic book reviews has been a pleasure, and I have somewhere in the ballpark of 250 articles on that site. That said, my favorite will always be Analyzing an Opening: Fear and Myth in Batman (1989).

But reviewing and critiquing someone else’s work, in the long run, is just that, and it still leaves a sense of unfulfillment when you’re watching from the sidelines, hoping to one day contribute your own art to the world. That feeling of unfulfillment is even stronger when you’re reviewing issues that don’t match what you love about the medium.

I’ll still review comic books in 2025, but it will be fewer. This coming year is more about sharing the stories and characters and ideas burning within me.

How about you? What are you looking forward to in 2025?