2024 had its ups and downs, and the completion of a big project left me kind of unfocused for several months. I’d have to say it was a decent year, though.

Past as Prologue

The biggest item, of course, was the final completion and publication of Architect of Worlds, now out as a 192-page softback and PDF from Ad Astra Games. Sales have been pretty decent, resulting in probably the most profitable year for my creative life since I quit working for Steve Jackson Games about 2006.

With Architect done, I kind of flitted from one project to another for the second half of the year, making some progress on several items but never quite settling on one.

Then the US federal elections took place in November, and bang my Muse had me focusing almost entirely on the Human Destiny universe. Which was probably predictable: that universe involves a benevolent alien empire coming to conquer Earth to save us from the weight of human folly, so every time a lot of human folly happens in the world I start thinking about it again.

Meanwhile, I started a transition away from using Amazon KDP and Patreon to get my work in front of an audience, largely because Amazon has been utterly useless in that regard and Patreon has made some policy changes that don’t fit my “business” model. Instead, I’ve set up a Ko-fi page and shop and will be moving almost all of my finished work to that venue. That’s where I’ll also be releasing draft and partial material, some of it free for all subscribers, some restricted to the higher tiers.

Meanwhile, the entire calendar year had me working on the single largest curriculum-development project of my entire career, first working with a senior official, more recently independently. This is a project that will probably occupy the rest of my tenure as a civil servant, however long that may be. I’m also continuing to work toward a second undergraduate degree and (possibly) a master’s from the Open University in the UK. I’m not feeling quite as stressed as I was in late 2023, but I certainly have no difficulty filling up my days.

The Year’s Blog Traffic

The top ten posts for 2024 turned out to be:

1. Star System Generation: A Neat Automated Tool
2. Planning for December 2024
3. Four Spaceships
4. Planning for June 2024
5. “Architect of Worlds” Page Under Construction
6. An Unexpected Opportunity
7. Where to Buy “Architect of Worlds”
8. Status Report (30 January 2024)
9. Planning for May 2024
10. Neat Site for Interstellar Mapping

Looks like the most popular posts from the past year were a mix of status updates, posts about SF mapping and worldbuilding, and items related to Architect of Worlds. Which makes sense.

Looking Forward

So – objectives for the new year? I’m probably going to be focusing on Human Destiny projects for the time being, including publishing regular updates to the RPG book and (once again) trying to get some new fiction written.

In particular, I intend to publish early-draft material for the putative Atlas of the Human Protectorate, in the form of short writeups for individual worlds or star systems. The first of these, a description of the sigma Draconis star system, has already been posted to my Ko-fi shop and is free for Silver- and Gold-tier subscribers.

I also have in mind to assemble the first of several “supplements” for Architect of Worlds, laying out improvements and additions to the existing material. Look for that sometime this spring, maybe – it depends on how much I decide to include, and how long it takes to write and edit. These may or may not be released through Ad Astra Games.

In any case, new items will be appearing at my Ko-fi page and shop, some free for subscribers only, some with a modest price tag attached (but subscribers at the Silver and Gold levels will get discounts on those).

As for my social media presence, occasional long-form posts and status updates about my creative work will continue to appear here, while daily slice-of-life items and short updates will appear at my BlueSky profile. I’m also investigating Mastodon, but that hasn’t come to fruition yet. I fully expect my Facebook account will be moribund for now, and may be shut down entirely if Meta implements some of the changes they appear to be planning.

A lot depends on how things in my non-creative life go – that is, my family commitments, my day job (subject to the whims of the new US administration), and my university courses. I’m trying not to make big commitments for the coming year, and will be taking things one day at a time.

Thanks for sticking with me, regardless!