Hitting the Ground Running

The holiday season has come and gone. And with it, all of the ‘chill’ time that happens from the middle of December until the cold dawn of a January morning in the Pacific Northwest. All of a sudden it’s 2026… and I was just getting used to writing 2025 on correspondence!

All sorts of new adventures to contemplate this year in our household. My wife ended her career in high end retail jewelry and has entered into a brand-new undertaking with a fellow sales associate and the former owner of the wonderful organization she’d been a part of for a quarter century. I’m so proud of her for the courage and focus she’s brought to this new venture.

On the writing/author side—oh, my God! Between what Cyd and I are currently working on together, she’s in the early stages of an entirely new series featuring a valiant and uniquely strong female character set in our created Gangrel series universe. Who knows what adventures await there? I love the character who you’ll meet in Book 2 of that series (coming up soon!).

We have the Gangrel War series mapped out and as I mentioned in the last blog entry, we have two of those books with our editor. The final book/chapter of that series is yet to be written, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with Harker, ConNav, Scanlon, et al, just as much as you are.

I will be attending Confinement VII Con in the Nashville area at the end of February. Really anticipating a lot of shaking hands and building relationships there. I’ll be meeting with a couple of authors I’m collaborating with on separate projects, as well as the publisher of some of those series. In June, Cyd and I will both be at LibertyCon in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as vendors. I’ll be sitting on a panel there for new authors… or so I’m told. Should be interesting and educational for us all the way around!

On a personal writing note, I have to thank the amazing team at Ment Marketing and Creative Services out of Texas. Because of their efforts, I’m able to focus completely on writing. Amelia’s team of wonderfully creative and talented people take all of the peripheral concerns of marketing, social media and collateral materials off of our plate. Thank you, Amelia, John, Lisa and a host of others!

That focus has allowed me to sit down daily with a goal of writing a minimum of 1,000 words in the new Shadow Mode series I’m collaborating on with Kevin Steverson, the author of more than a dozen books. So far, I’ve been able to meet that goal… but, as I’m sure some of you have discovered, it’s not easy. Life has a tendency to try and intrude, doesn’t it?

Anyhow, that’s enough for this week! I hope your January is sunny, at least in disposition, and that you enter 2026 with a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude. Whatever you want to do, whatever your dream is for this year, remember that it will match your passion and your degree of dedication. You decide.

Good luck! And may your endeavors be blessed with success!

Craig