2016 Writing Recap

For better or worse, 2016 is done and gone. For me (like many people, I imagine), it was a year of transition. For the first time in my life, I made all my income from writing and editing. Most of that income, of course, didn't come from book sales but freelance work, but hey, that's still quite an accomplishment.

On a more personal note, my wife and I also learned we're going to be having our first child—so yeah, if that's not transition and change, I don't know what is. The baby is due in May, and it's exciting, a bit terrifying, and most definitely motivating for me to work harder at the writing I do.

A lot of other writing-related stuff happened, too, so here's a quick recap of the noteworthy tidbits, along with my goals for 2017:

• The beginning of 2016 picked up where the end of 2015 left off, with most of my time and energy focused on promoting the release of book 2 in The Dreamwielder Chronicles, Souldrifter.

• In early January, I released "Wulfram," a prequel short story to The Dreamwielder Chronicles, as an e-book single. 

• In April, I finally pulled the plug on the new novel I had been working on, Remember the Future. It was a near-future cli-fi novel, and the real future simply caught up with my made-up near future, rendering it dated before it was even finished. It was tough to give up on the novel since I'd spent so much time on it, but no writing is ever wasted, or at least that's what I've been telling myself.

• Also in April, I had my one and only piece of new short fiction released in the very cool anthology, Redneck Eldritch. I don't necessarily agree with the personal politics of all the contributors to the anthology, but I'm of the mind that such things shouldn't keep progressive-minded authors from contributing to projects like this. I'm proud of my contribution to the anthology, "Lake Town," and I've enjoyed all the other stories I've read in the book so far. All in all, it's a great anthology, and I'm proud to be part of it.

• In July, Dreamrush, my first collection of short stories came out. For a detailed review of the collection, check out this great review from Robyn Bennis.
• Also in July, I began work on my a new novel, tentatively titled The Beasts of Qaza. The book is a standalone work that's a mash-up of fantasy, steampunk, alt-history, and lost world adventures.
• In September, I gave this blog a reboot, cleaning things up around here and getting back to bringing more interesting features, including interviews with a wide array of SF/F/H authors.

For 2017, my first writing goal is to complete The Beasts of Qaza. After that, I'll be focusing entirely on the book 3 in The Dreamwielder Chronicles. After that...well, I don't know. I'll be a dad by that point, and we'll see how much things have changed.

I wish everyone all the best for the new year. Here's to making 2017 the year it deserves to be, even if we have to beat it into submission.

-Garrett Calcaterra