"...all the magic I have known I've had to make myself."

Shel Silverstein

Earlier this year I got a new tattoo on my forearm. It's the first part of one of my all time favourite quotes - hope begins in the dark. I named my blog after that quote, so it was probably only a matter of time before I went one step further and had it inked onto myself.

Note also the attractive bruise above "dark" from where Remic gave me a love bite last weekend

It's an important quote to me, massively so, and one I've recited to myself daily over the past few years when personal griefs and family tragedies seemed to come one after the other. But it's really the last line of the quote that's been playing on my mind lately:

 

You wait and watch and work; you don't give up. Oh sweet Cthulhu, this. This! You can't just sit around waiting for the world to change. You have to make it change. I laid a lot of groundwork for myself in 2014. I bloody well worked to get back to where I wanted to be.

And in 2015, the Year of the Basilisk, that work is paying off. I've already produced more new stuff than I did for the past two years. I've signed three publishing contracts, two under my pen name, and I'm writing more regularly (almost daily, which I really never thought I'd be able to manage again). I'm writing in new genres, as well as the one I love most, and I'm having a shit-ton of fun on both fronts. 

I'm so excited about BLOOD WITCH, I can't even tell you! A brand new world, new characters that I adore, and a story that made me really fucking love writing again. The provisional publication date is June, so I'm expected all the fun stuff like edits and cover art to start appearing soon. My first Amber Morgan title, THROUGH HER EYES, is out on 8th May, and my second, EXILED ALPHA, will be appearing in a summer-released anthology. I've got a new Ethan Banning short story brewing in my head, and plans for at least two more Blood Canticle books. I used to feel like I had to have a set schedule for my writing - "I will work on A, and then B, and then C" - and if I didn't stick to that, I'd feel like I was failing at something. I'm trying to shrug off that attitude and I'm stumbling into new stories and worlds along the way.

Spring is here. There's no denying there's something magical in the air at this time of year. But I'm inclined to believe it's magic we've created through our own hard work. The first few months of 2015 have been pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings.