Right now in my city in Australia it is boiling hot (it’s been 40 degrees!) and I’ve been on holidays. Most of my family is away so it’s been quiet. I was certain I’d be working hard writing every single day … instead I’ve been swimming in the ocean, obsessively completing a 1000 piece ‘Where’s Wally?’ puzzle (which is weirdly addictive!), and watching a hell of a lot of television.
I’ve basically decided to quit my life and become a professional puzzler (that’s a real job, right? haha).
The point is … I crashed out a bit and have been very unproductive. But I think that is maybe okay. It’s been a big year, and after all this resting of the last few days, I think I’m beginning to finally feel up to figuring out what I want from next year (more on that in my next letter).
So, as I slowly get my head back in the game, here is my list of highlights and lowlights from 2022:
My 2022 reflections:
- Wrote and published a Red Kingdom short story Pyres in the Long Night
- Wrote and published a Red Kingdom novella A Pale Box on the Distant Shore
- Launched my first ever adult dark fantasy book Dream of Death City
- Managed to continue learning a language (Korean!) and began online lessons with a tutor
- Got a bulged disc in my spine and spent months stuck at home unable to sit, go out, or, for some of that time, stand up or walk much at all. It was a bit hellish, but I am slowly recovering and learning how to manage my pain so I have less relapses.
- Despite my yuck back injury, I still managed to travel to Korea and have an absolutely incredible experience, which was a huge highlight of the year (especially after not being able to travel for so long because of covid)
- Two of my previously published young adult books were shortlisted and longlisted for two Australian literary awards, so that was exciting!
- I read 26 books. I’m a slow reader so that is pretty great for me! 12 fantasy books, 1 graphic novel, 2 literary fiction, 7 mystery, 4 history, and then I also read some short horror/fantasy stories. Also, I read my own books about a billion times each as I prepared them for publication! Oh my gosh, so many times. Ugh. Haha.
- I wrote a new 110k word manuscript, which I am currently editing. It is part of a different (not Red Kingdom) series, so we’ll see what will happen with that one, but it’s fantasy/mystery and I love it.
- For the past 5 years or so, I’ve been getting up at 5am to write fiction before work. This year I gave that up. I’m getting up a bit later now, and trying to look after my health more than I ever have in the past. It means less writing time, though, and I still haven’t figured out how to make it all work yet.
- Bought more books than I can ever expect to read, haha. But what a joy that has been.
So what did I learn this year?
I learned that you can’t sit hunched over a computer writing every single second of every day and not get a back injury, haha
Stuff I loved from 2022
I don’t know if these are recommendations exactly, but here is some stuff that I discovered this year that made me feel happy.
Maybe something will interest you!
- I watched the television show The Last Kingdom (based on the Bernard Cornwell novels) and it was bloody, epic, gritty and riveting.
- Babylon Berlin (one of my absolute favourite shows of all time that basically single-handedly turned me to writing mystery books) released season 4 and I loved it. This show is a German language historical noir detective series and it is absolute gold.
- The new show Andor became one of my favourite Star Wars things ever and basically revived my hope for the future (I’ve been a big fan since childhood. I literally have a Millennium Falcon tattoo, and my feelings around the recent Star Wars stuff has been … complicated)
- Mindy Kaling’s teen comedy show Never Have I Ever was a fun joy this year too.
- I’m a big kdrama fan, but won’t bore you by going on and on about it here, haha, but some favourites this year were Alchemy of Souls, Little Women, D.P., among many, many others. I also loved the Cdrama Love Between Fairy and Devil.
- My favourite fantasy books this year would have to be the two Curse of the Cyren Queen books I read by Helen Scheuerer (I always love her work!), To Dream of White and Gold by R.K. Hart, which was an absolute joy of a romantic fantasy book. I also loved Rob Hayes wild and bloody anime-inspired ride of Never Die. I also loved Daniel T. Jackson’s epic and sprawling Illborn.
- I also read Howl’s Moving Castle this year (the Studio Ghibli film is one of my all time favourite movies ever!) and I just adored the book.
- I read some excellent mystery books too, and my favourite was probably Bloody Meadow by William Ryan (set in the Ukraine and Russia in the 1930s, this was a great historical detective tale). One of my other favourite books of the year was One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun. It is a very short and surreal little novel about life and the darkness that creeps at the edges of our days. I thought it was absolutely beautiful and haunting.
THANK YOU FOR READING
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PJ Nwosu writes dark mystery novels set in epic fantasy worlds.
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