2024 recap and 2025 goals

End-of-year updates are always fun.

And painful.

I smile with pride as I skim through what I achieved. Then I come to the dreaded “what was missed” part.

Well, it is that time of the year once more. As customary for years at the O. Canatan camp, I will do yet another year-end accounting and what to expect from the 2025 post. I am happy to say I eclipsed last year’s productivity with my 2024 deliverables (well, I missed some, but that is okay). Long-term supporters and followers of my work, you may remember 2023 was full of health issues.

Wins for 2024:

1. Released The Blackened Prophecy print editions (hardcover and paperback) with new editing (over 360,000 words) and cover art.
2. A new chapter has been added to Before the Dark: The Blackened Prophecy Compendium.
3. Record Maegi III (halfway there—we have recorded and edited the drums, bass, and rhythm guitars. Keyboards start this week).
4. Finish The Shadow War Book 1 first draft (almost there, writing the final chapter and hoping to finish the first draft before Christmas).
5. Transfer the website to a new host with a new framework and redesign. Launched with success.
6. I visited my home country after 7.5 years to see family and friends and dealt with some personal issues that occupied my thoughts for a long time.
7. Kickstart the secret project and continue developing (still some way to go, but it progressed well).

Misses for 2024

1. I could not work on The Eighth much as I had to finish the print editions of The Blackened Prophecy first. 2025 will be The Eighth’s year as I am shifting gears to write it.
2. Rewrite Demise of Hopes. I tried. I even wrote a draft but was unhappy with it, so I decided to focus on the above item before (print editions). 2025, hopefully.
3. Finish Maegi 3. This could not happen as we had some setbacks with the band members’ personal lives. We slowed things down to create the necessary mental space.
4. Finish The Shadow War Book 1. The items above delayed the project, but it progressed smoothly.

Plans for 2025

Life is what happens to you,

While you're busy making other plans.

I love Lennon’s lyrics (I will not debate where he got them ;) ). I know that some or all of this can go off the rails at a moment’s notice, but I enjoy setting goals and burdening myself. I have issues (=.

So, here are my plans for 2025.

1. Write and release The Shadow War Trilogy Book 1
2. Write and release The Eighth
3. Rewrite and release Demise of Hopes
4. Finish Maegi 3 recordings
5. Create the first alpha prototype of the secret project

I may or may not have more. We will see.

I am thankful for your interest and support in my work. I mean it.

Until more news is available, I wish you all heartfelt happy holidays and a peaceful and healthy 2025. The world is bleak, but perhaps we can create small breathing rooms with art, hope, and goodwill.