2023 in Review

I started this blog during a short trip to Colorado this summer in the prayer that perhaps some day I would be able to expand it. In the last six months I have produced 61 posts totaling almost 95,000 words across many musings, thoughts, stories, and heartaches. That is, to me, immense. Some 700 people have visited the site in those six months, and it is my deep hope that each walked away with something of the Lord. To people who measure growth in thousands and millions, I am thankful that God has answered my prayer to have positive impact on even one other person and taken it much farther than that. We will go farther still, Lord willing.

Deep Thankfulness

I have been writing all my life, but only this year have I become serious about using that writing (and writing more) to try to reach out into the world and share and grow with others. There is vulnerability in the exposure, but freedom in the process as well. So, it is only right that I should thank many of the people who got me here, in no particular order.

To Andrew and his wife Kayla, I cannot imagine having made it this far without some of the conversations we had during that week in Colorado. I praise the Lord for your marriage, your friendship and encouragement to me, and for the kick in the teeth that I needed to actually start this whole process. To Ian and Anna, but Ian especially (no offense, Anna, I’ve known him much longer) I want to say thank you for your critical eye, continuous contact, and unwavering support. You strengthen me with your feedback and challenges. Many new posts and ideas were sparked and honed from your difficult questions.

To my sister, April, who has always been the first person who I sought feedback from, whose editorial eye and sense of storytelling I have regarded as of the very first class, thank you for being angry when I kill off a favorite character and insightful enough to know it was necessary (or kind enough to say so). Thank you for writing your own supporting post on your blog (hopefully the check finally cleared), and for all the difficult conversations about the nature of reality, storytelling, being men and women in a world gone mad, and for your faithfulness to God and as a mother. To my brother, Emmanuel, who has been an excellent example of the steadfast, persistent, hardworking man of God I often wish I could be and am striving to embody. You are the inspiration for some of my strongest characters and for me to grow deeper in the Lord.

For my father who has become my rapid editor when I post something perhaps too quickly and fail to maintain even basic standards of the English language. More, to the father who raised me with many opportunities to grow as a man, hunting, shooting, camping out, pushing me to challenge myself physically and mentally. The father who, many years ago, despite his own misgivings supported me in leaving college to pursue mission work in a foreign country, and has since supported and trusted me through many difficulties: through surgery, through heartache, and through the joys and pains of wrestling with the Word of God.

Finally, to my mother, by whose prayer and faithfulness, by the grace of God, I am where I am today. It is a truism that a Christian’s faith is most heavily influenced by his father, but there is no overstating the profound importance of my mom’s persistence in prayer for me when I was far from the Lord for many years, contending with myself, a dark world, and a depression she didn’t even know about. Now, years past the valley of the shadow of death, I am grateful for her excitement, joy, and exuberant love for the people around her and boundless curiosity. I am more grateful for those traits that I have taken from her, including interrupting people at coffee shops, bothering people on plane rides, and just generally being more outgoing than reserved, despite many years resisting those impulses. She is ever a light to people around her and a passionate defender of people.

Next Steps

With the spectre of a new year looming, what is next? Well, the Sibilant Sword is changing. I am slowly rolling out my Sagas of Siegyrd onto Royal Road to expand readership, and I stood up a Patreon where people can subscribe to get early access to new chapters, as well as opportunities to read posts early and provide feedback before they hit this blog. The Thirtieth chapter of Siegyrd is already written under the title “A Timeless Crystal Song.” It will post here on the 26th of December, but if anyone wants to read it early, they can subscribe and check it out on my Patreon.

Additionally, after the New Year, a new story around Siegyrd will begin. The Dragon’s Daughter Arc will soon come to an end (which, as with all stories, lays the foundations for new beginnings). To tide us over until the next phase of storytelling, I have prepared Sagas of Siegyrd Origin Saga: The Last Sovereign where you will learn some of Siegyrd’s origins, what made him who and what he is. I have many other plans for the year, and will let you know as they come. 2024 is, to me, a year for building the next phase not only of the blog but of my life. It will be, Lord willing, my last year in my current job as I plan to transition to a whole new career path. It is exciting and terrifying, but I hope you will join me along the way.

I am thankful for everyone who has read thus far and who continues to read, and for the one person, who I have never met, someone named Lisette, who gave me my first “tip” as an author here. Goodness is it nice to feel appreciated even in this small way for my work!

Closing Remarks

As Christmas comes and we are reminded of the Lord’s advent and then we step into a new year under His guidance, I pray you will take some time to consider what’s next for you and your family. I also pray you will bask in some sacred moments with those you love and worry little about what is to come and what was. You are still here on earth, and that is proof positive that the Lord has good and wonderful work for you to do for His kingdom. Don’t forget, His best blessings can only be enjoyed as long as it is called today. We live in no other time than this. Hold these tensions without giving in to them: the present moment and the eternity to come; the past and the future; and be thankful that God is molding you into His likeness.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!