As another year comes to a close, it’s time for me to reflect on 2024.

Progress (and the lack thereof) on “The Medellan Conspiracy”

At the start of the year, I had planned to finish the rewrite of the second novel in my sci-fi series, The Medellan Conspiracy. Unfortunately, because of health issues, it took me until the end of June to complete the rewrite, five months later than I’d hoped. By then, I knew my beta readers weren’t going to be able to get me feedback in time for me to edit and prepare the novel for publication.

My goal had been to have the first two books of my series completed by the time our local Comic-Con was held in August. Instead, I had to set up my vendor display with only one novel. Naturally, many attendees who stopped by my booth asked when the next book would be available. I had hoped it would be before the end of the year, but other unforeseen circumstances delayed even that.

My beta readers both had busy schedules, and I didn’t get their feedback until late August/early September. Typically, my process is go through their feedback, make any minor changes to my manuscript immediately, and compile any questions/discussion points I have. It took me until late October to send off a detailed email to one of my beta readers. I wanted his take on the other reader’s feedback because she was often blunt (which I appreciated, but I always needed to step back and get a sanity check before responding).

Loss of a Friend

Sadly, my first beta reader was still going through all the notes and questions when my other beta reader, and good friend, tragically died in a plane crash in late November. Her husband, and our entire friend group, were shocked and devastated at her loss, and have been rallying around her husband.

Needless to say, this has also halted all progress with the novel for the time being. That’s not to say it will never be completed. It absolutely will, and I will dedicate it to my friend. She beta read and was my primary proofreader for every book I’ve ever published. Besides that, she and her husband were there for me after my husband died by suicide in 2016. I wouldn’t have been able to get through that year without all their support.

We would get together nearly every week. They would bring takeout and we’d sit around in my livingroom watching geeky sci-fi/fantasy shows and movies. The last time I saw her had been the week before, when we finished watching the Moon Knight series. In fact, the day of the crash, I had sent out an email asking about plans for that evening. When her husband called me late that afternoon, I was expecting him to tell me they were going to run late, usually because she was busy and pulled into something related to her Civil Air Patrol duties.

I never expected him to tell me that she had died in a plane crash. She was too experienced and too careful. It’s still baffling all of us that this happened.

Battling Health Issues

This year has also been a challenge because of the health issues I’ve been battling. (Warning, I’m autistic and love to over share!)

The main issue has been my back. I have moderate to severe spinal stenosis in both my cervical spine (neck) and lumbar spine (lower back). It’s been, at times, debilitating. When the pain is at its worst, I can barely stand or walk at all. Thankfully, I’ve learned to manage most of the pain with a medication called gabapentin. Unfortunately, gabapentin loses its effectiveness if I try to walk or stand too long. This has limited both my ability to do chores around the house, and take my dogs for regular walks.

It took some time, but the spine specialist I was seeing finally referred me to a pain management clinic. They reviewed my MRIs and recommended an epidural steroid injection (ESI) for my lower back. That injection helped quite a lot, and I was able to spend more time tidying things around the house and I also began to walk my dogs again, starting with only taking them twice per week for a short 1-mile loop. Unfortunately, after about a month, the pain came back with a vengeance. It was back to where it originally was before I began taking my medication and once again I struggled to walk.

Since then, I’ve had my medication dose increased and the pain management clinic administered another ESI. For right now, the back feels much better, but I have been more hesitant to do too much. I’m going to ease my way back into more activity, much more slowly this time.

Aside from my back issues, I’ve also had a lifelong battle with chronic nausea and other gastric issues. My gastroenterologist had finally helped me get a handle on my gastritis, but the chronic nausea wouldn’t go away no matter what we tried, and all tests came back normal. Finally, he suggested I might have functional dyspepsia, and recommended I try FDGuard, which is a duodenal-release formulation of caraway oil and L-menthol. It took a couple of weeks to figure out the right dosage and frequency for my needs, but I am finally free from chronic nausea.

Looking Forward

While no one can predict what will happen in the future, I know at least what I want to happen. For me personally, at least. While The Medellan Conspiracy was delayed, it is a finished manuscript, which it wasn’t a year ago. Progress is progress, as they say. This also isn’t the first rough draft of the story, as the current manuscript is merely a complete rewrite of the original manuscript. While it still has some rough edges to polish, the story is in a much better state than the first draft I wrote. So, completing the editing process and publishing this novel is my top priority for 2025.

I also have an omegaverse erotic romance I wrote exclusively for Kindle Vella. Now that platform is shutting down, I plan to rework the story and republish it as a novella. Beyond that, I have no other plans to write a new queer romance in 2025, but I never know when inspiration may strike.

However, once “The Medellan Conspiracy” has published, my next writing project will be the third book in “The Cycles of Revelation” series. I don’t have a name for it yet, but I have already written the opening scene, so I have some idea of where I am going with that story. Also, when I was editing “Artifact of the Dawn,” I had a lot of ideas that will become part of the ending of book three and part of the overall plot of book four.

When it comes to my health, I have been diligently working to improve over the past year. Unfortunately, with as debilitating as my back issues have been, I have put on more weight that I would like. So, that is another focus I will have for 2025. I have found ways to re-introduce exercise into my routine that won’t hurt my back, and now that we’re past the holidays, I can be stricter with my diet again.

I am glad to see 2024 come to a close and I am hoping that 2025 won’t be worse. I won’t wax political here, but as a trans person, I am very worried for both myself and the rest of the trans community, especially in the United States. Let’s hope those fears are never realized.

Here is hoping you have a happy and healthy 2025.