Welp, 2024 was an eventful year, a year in which I bought a shipping container and had it fitted out to be a lab and writing space separate from the house. A year in which a cat (Kitty) adopted me, and I adopted a dog (Sarge)—though the jury is still out as to whether I will keep the latter.

Work-wise, I started as an engineering manager, and I have pretty fully transitioned back into an electrical engineer. As a result, work has been more rewarding in the last few months. There are rumblings of other changes in the future (for the good), but I won’t speculate on them until they come to pass.

Writing-wise, I did 62 commissions in 2024 (double that of 2023), spanning 444079 words (triple 2023), though I am embarrassed to say that I did not publish a single Jack’s Blacks story. I am excited to say, though, that as Jack’s Blacks and my other stories published on Amazon go, I earned just over $200 in royalties this year. While that isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, I’m delighted to have crushed 2023’s year’s earnings of $60. My total word count is now up to 1,888,786 published words (and some 200k+ of unpublished ones on projects that have been put on hold).

With the dawn of 2025, I am not sure what the future holds. I have been studying a lot of philosophy, having made it through the first two volumes of Plato’s dialogues and having just finished The Republic last night. I do hope to continue studying philosophy and identifying how best to improve myself. My reading list has got to be something on the order of 10,000 pages. I want to find focus, a sense of purpose, a guiding principle similar but superior to the notion of getting a house and land: something against which I can weigh all my decisions. I have missed that sense of purpose.

My dad’s advice is to be a good human and find someone for long-term companionship. I think there is wisdom in his recommendation, though I have struggled for years, trying to figure out where to find people. I am not going to set it as a fixed goal since so much of it is out of my control, but I do want to spend more time working towards it.

Writing-wise, I expect things are going to have to slow down. While last year’s pace did not meet 2018’s, it did consume a huge portion of my time, and other things had to fall by the wayside. So, I am going to leave my queue closed for now until I can get caught up on it. I hope to publish a few Jack’s Blacks this year, and maybe I’ll finally start on Animal Farm. We’ll see. It is possible that with my newfound purpose (once I discover it), writing might drop off precipitously. I’m trying to follow the Tao Te Ching, to stay open-minded to possibilities as they arrive and to prepare to seize them when they do.

To my followers, I wish you all a happy, prosperous, and virtuous 2025.