Monica Valentinelli

November 29, 2018

Take the Make Art Not War Challenge and Change Your World

Wrapping Up the End of the Year

Wow! It's been a hugely busy Fall! After GameHole Con, I glanced at my projects and have been plowing through revisions to clear my plate for next year. I have a lot on the horizon that I want to do, but until my current obligations are out the door I don't feel comfortable starting on the things I want to do for me. That includes a Patreon! And a more predictable newsletter schedule!  For today, I wanted to share my end-of-year wrap up. By the numbers, this roughly represents 250,000 published words of games, stories, and non-fiction. Metrics can be very hard to assess as a writer, because there's so many things outside of my control--awards, sales, and buzz to name a few. Word count is one of those metrics I keep going back to, however, because I know I can focus on filling that blank page!  I'm already on track next year to surpass that number, and I'd like to double if not triple my output. I hope your 2018 wound up being better than you hoped; sometimes I struggle with Life, the Universe, and EverythingTM. It has been challenging, though, because as a creative I'm my own boss, middle manager, production worker, and cheerleader. If I don't write? I'm pretty much screwed. And right now, I need to write a lot.  How are you doing? Send me a mail and let me know!  Happy Winter Holidays!  - M  In the 11/29/2018 edition: *|MC:TOC|*

By Monica Valentinelli on Nov 27, 2018 03:28 pm

Hey everyone, with the end of the year rapidly approaching I thought I’d share what releases I had this year. Most of these books and games are available to purchase online. I have to say–I really appreciate your support this year! Because of you, I was able to hop firmly on the proverbial writing and developing horse to put out some great stuff! This year marked a few milestones, too. As always, if you’re interested in supporting my efforts, you can buy me a coffee or sign up for my newsletter–with the caveat the updates will be changed. Right now they’re sporadic because my emphasis isn’t on marketing or promotion, but I will be wrangling this to more manageable and predictable levels next year. 2019 is going to be very interesting for me, because I’m launching a Patreon and will be focused on releases.

Games

Production-wise, I’ve been working on wrapping up Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition for Onyx Path Publishing. I also did quite a bit of volunteer work for SFWA, and I’m so pleased that next year we’ll celebrate the very first Game Nebula Award. More to come on that! This was the first year I played a game for ExtraLife, too, and I had a ton of fun with A. Happy Gnome.

KARMIC TIES AND FIFTH WHEELS, Unknown Armies Third Edition, 2018, Atlas Games

TREACHERY IS THE DEEPEST CUT, Prince Valiant RPG Episode, 2018, Nocturnal Media

BECKETT’S JYHAD DIARY, Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, 2018, Onyx Path Publishing/White Wolf Entertainment AB

RING OF SPIRAGOS, a SCARRED LANDS adventure for D&D 5E and Pathfinder, 2018, Nocturnal Media/Onyx Path Publishing AB (Developer)

Fiction

For fiction, I had two short stories come out this year. The first is a short story about a cyborg who faces termination; the story has a contemporary theme and explores the topic of consent.

The second was written as a prequel to Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror”, and focuses on one of the author’s rare female characters. I have a few short stories already scheduled for next year, and I hit submissions hard so watch this space.

“My Name is Cybernetic Model XR389F, and I am Beautiful”, 2018, Uncanny Magazine

“From an Honest Sister, to a Neglected Daughter”, Sisterhood: Dark Tales and Secret Mysteries, 2018, Chaosium Publishing

Non-Fiction

In non-fiction, my releases were concentrated in books. I wrote about creating an alien language for Wonderbook Revised, an essay about representation for Hath No Fury, and an entire encyclopedia about Firefly!

The Firefly Encyclopedia is available everywhere worldwide, too–even Walmart and Target! My publisher, Titan Books, has been working with sites like Tor.com and SyFy.com for give-a-ways and previews, too.

WONDERBOOK (Revised and Expanded): The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer, 2018, Harry N. Abrams (Contributor)

FIREFLY ENCYCLOPEDIA, 2018, Titan Publishing

“This Is Not Another Why Representation Is Important Essay”, Hath no Fury, 2018, Ragnarok Publishing

That’s it for me this year! I already have announcements for next year and will be pleased to share them with you in the coming months. I hope your 2018 was fabulous, and wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors.

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