The newsletter hiatus is over!
After a long hiatus, I'm back to writing amid chaos, anxieties, and an exciting dark fantasy project.
The Chimes of the Failed
It has been months since I last wrote anything here, and for good reason. I mean, beyond the whole world getting turned upside-down and shat on. I also lost my day job, and haven’t been able to get one since. I told myself that I would write another one of these once I got a job, but that has yet to materialize. But I figure I’ve gotta just get back in the saddle regardless, so here we go.
Anywho, the state of the world is a shitshow, and my thoughts and opinions are myriad, between the countless human rights violations happening all around the world, the global economy rocking like the Vomit Comet, and just the uncertainty of it all. If you’ve read my book “Firewind’s Accord,” (which you can find at djstuart.itch.io/firewinds-accord or books2read.com/firewindsaccord) you should know by now where I stand on some current events. If it feels like I’m being vague, it’s because I am, but not so I can remain on the fence like some centrist knob. For some of us, speaking out can be dangerous to ourselves and our loved ones.
So back to writing. I am thankfully in a privileged enough position that my writing can continue apace, regardless of my employment status. If anything, I may be able to ramp up my productivity, marketing, and social media presence. Yet I’m still looking for another opportunity — just not one in my old career. Turns out working in IT worsened my anxiety and depression and nearly pushed me to the brink. And with the sheer number of doctor’s appointments and therapy I now have to attend, working a M-F 9-5 job just isn’t feasible anymore. On the one hand, it sucks that I’ll never be “normal” again. On the other hand, fuck being normal.
In other news, I managed to dust off an old 269k-word epic fantasy manuscript and turn it into a 125k-word dark fantasy. It took four months for me to kill a few darlings and completely alter the narrative voice, but I feel it was worth it. It’s tentatively titled “The Cruelest Gift,” and is with a beta reader now, mainly because I’m using their dialect for a number of characters, and they’ll help me get it right before I ship it off to more beta readers. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to have this horrid, evil thing seen and completely misunderstood by both the best-intentioned and worst-intentioned people you can think of. It’s gonna be hilarious.