It’s that time again! My annual review has become a time-honored tradition, and I love getting to share a snippet of it with you. I keep the public version mostly business-related, but this process goes deep into all areas of my life. I’ve been doing this for 15 years now, and if you’d like to see the previous years’ posts, I have them all under the navigation header Annual Reviews. I originally modeled these after Chris Guillebeau’s Annual Review from his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity, and over the years, I’ve distilled this down to exactly what I need. This week of reflection and goal-setting is an essential part of my year. Thank you for joining me for this introspective exercise!
Looking back on 2024, The Year of Balance
My operating system has been hacked and it’s time to restore to the base version, deleting all the bugs. I have been off-kilter for a few years, and 2024 is the year I bring myself back into balance. Respecting my time, admitting when I’ve done too much and need to rest, saying no to everything that doesn’t spark immediate excitement and joy, and focusing on my creative health as well as physical health will hopefully allow me to slow down a bit. Minimizing distractions and blocking out my time more effectively should allow me to meet my fiction and nonfiction goals, and relearning how to work out without hurting myself will allow my physical being to grow stronger. I want to write more, read more, and get smarter, improving my creative health. Allowing the balance of my time to be focused on my needs will give me the depth I’ve been searching for.
How Did I Do?
Well…not too bad. Especially for the first three quarters of the year, where I was deeply focused on the writing of LAST SEEN and the complementary series here as the novel grew from a concept to a finished book. What a fun process! I’ve always felt that writing about writing gives me focus and enlightenment on my current WIP, and this was no different. I know several non-fiction authors who do this, using their newsletters and podcasts to discuss and refine their nascent ideas. That’s what happened to me. The more I thought about the book, the easier it was to write. Granted, I outlined and hit a wall, subsequently tossing it out, but I wrote faster than normal, back at a pre-standalone pace. I liked the process so much that I might do it again, sharing my steps as they happen, though on a smaller, less “official” scale this time. Of course, I need to finish the series as LAST SEEN goes through the editorial and production process, but this added content will hopefully be fun.
I ended up turning the book in a month early, so you know this isn’t hyperbole. To be able to focus on one project only meant I moved through it all faster than usual. But it also meant a lot of work I’d typically be doing at the same time pushed off to Q4…and that’s when things got nutty. The peace and calm of the first 3/4 of the year went out the window. I started juggling again and got really stressed out. When I’m stressed, everyone is stressed—definitely something to pay attention to next year.
All in all, I managed a full eight months of focused attention. 2025 will hopefully see an even better track record for this.
What Went Right
The release of A VERY BAD THING was the fall’s priority. It went very well. AVBT was selected for Amazon’s First Reads program, which meant the digital version was on sale early and for free. It went to #2 overall and stayed there for several days, then spent several weeks in the top ten. I couldn’t ask for more. It was interesting to see how the new publishing metrics added up to sales, downloads, reviews, and ratings. The book seems to have made you, the reader, happy, and that’s really all I can ask. Tour was very fun—I visited several of my favorite bookstores and wrote more than 24,000 words of interviews and essays—and then it was over in what felt like the blink of an eye. In truth, it was only two months ago, so I’m still a little shocked by how fast it’s all gone.
I was also very pleased by the entire publishing process. I love being given a schedule that is followed because that allows for a lot of planning and balance. The entire editorial team was stellar, my publicist was outstanding, and I’m feeling real synergy with the whole house. It definitely goes in the plus column.
I wrapped the Jayne Thorne series, as well. The series was always meant to have a six-book arc, and I finished book six just before the holidays. It’s in copyedit now, which means it will be out in 2025 Q1. I’ve been incredibly emotional about this. I love these characters, love the worldbuilding, love the gorgeous new covers. I love fantasy writing in general, the idea that magic can unstick even the most problematic plot issue. Bring in a man with a gun becomes spin up a spell. It’s so much fun. And I do love the complete control over the publication process. But without my full attention on growing this brand, which is impractical and a significant cause of my stress levels, it’s time to wrap it up with a nice big bow.
The 22 Steps series is going strong thanks to your engagement with this newsletter! It will eventually become a book on the craft of writing a thriller, which has been a goal of mine for years. Friday Reads continues to be a lot of fun, and I love the community we’ve built here. It makes writing the monthly newsletter more challenging than I’d like, so I am considering revamping a little, doing less chit-chat about my week and more about the books I read. And I will back off more if I’m not feeling it. There are weeks when I don’t get a lot of reading done. And that’s okay!
A Word on Words continues to bring me so much joy. We had a wonderful slate of authors this year, and celebrated our 10th anniversary with a special broadcast episode. The whole team at Nashville PBS makes this so much fun. Special thanks as always to Suzy, Paul, Armando, and Matt for all their hard work making us look and sound so good!
We went to Scotland with our travel besties and had such a wonderful time traipsing through castles and moors, up mountains and by lochs, taking ferries to remote islands, climbing ramparts where movies were shot, and nestling in by the River Ness with a cozy fire and good book. The weather was incredible, too. We had several 80-degree days, unheard of for a Scottish fall.
We also took a trip to NYC for the World Series! Seeing our beloved Dodgers win in Yankee Stadium was too cool for words.
Thrillerfest was amazing, as was Bouchercon. It was so good to see friends and catch up! It was such an honor to have two nominations for the Thriller Awards, and to be a Guest of Honor at Bouchercon. Highlights of the career, both.
I keynoted an event in Alabama, the Vive the Livre annual fundraiser. It was the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to, and it went much better than I expected. You know how I love to give speeches. It ended up being a wonderful evening, with amazing folks.
Physical health was a major part of my year. After the hEDS diagnosis at the end of 2023, I’ve spent much of this year in various kinds of physical therapy, learning how to move my body in ways that don’t injure me. You can imagine this slower, more intentional movement is challenging for this former athlete to comprehend, but it works. Fewer injuries means more creative time! I also adopted a strict ketogenic diet that’s had unbelievable results. Much of the long-COVID heart issues I’ve been challenged by are improving; my brain fog is gone; I lost weight and gained strength. It’s made everything better, and I’m sticking with it. I’ve learned a lot about how pain manifests in the body and adopted several methods that help knock it down and keep me functional. Recognizing when I’m in a flare allows me to back off, and that’s been a huge boon.
As for the rest, we had multiple international sales of several books, Hollywood interest, and revamped our living room and my office to be cozier. I spent time with writer friends near and far, had lots of family time, and finally bid farewell to my childhood in Colorado. Except for that, it was a pretty good year.
What Went Wrong
The fourth quarter was challenging. Between illnesses and travel and conferences, there was too much time feeling less than optimal.
There was a lot of travel this year. On the surface, that sounds like fun, but I was gone from home 104 nights. That’s…disruptive. I can write on the road, and I absolutely love airports and flying, so that’s not an issue. It’s just the constant packing and unpacking, planning, expenses, and general hit to the habits and rituals I crave. Some of these were our usual summer decamping from Nashville and visits to my parents, but there was quite a bit of work travel for us both, and the fantastic Scottish vacation with friends. I’m committed to traveling less this year. We’ll see if I can pull that off.
The other issue with the frantic Q4 was I felt like my creativity plummeted. Even though I was fully engaged with four different books in various stages of editing and publishing, it didn’t feel right. My fiction numbers for this year are lower than normal, and that always makes me itchy. Last year, I had an epic number of releases—this year, only two. Next year, because I was committed to balance and the idea “do less,” that’s also down to two. On the surface, it meets my goals of 2023 to do less and do it better, but for someone who measures success by a single metric—finishing—I don’t feel like I finished enough this year. I have higher expectations of myself still. Empirically, I understand writing and finishing a novel and touring a book is more than enough, and yet… it doesn’t feel like enough. Need to work on this, for sure.
I had a fall in September in on the Scotland trip (the last day, thank goodness) that really hosed up my knee, but it turns out it broke apart some scar tissue and my therapist has been able to shift the bones a bit, untwisting the tibia and allowing me a more normal stride. Having that pain resolved is the biggest blessing of the year, and I’m looking forward to continuing this journey. hEDS doesn’t go away; it’s a lifelong condition, so the more I can do emotionally and physically to support my body, the better things are going to go.
I have a very hard time not getting myself stressed out with too much work. This year, the cultivation of good habits, less extraneous work, more words, and plenty of rest and exercise should help keep things on track.
NITTY GRITTY: AKA NERDOLOGY
2024 Total Words: 315,174
Fiction Total: 168,604
Non-Fiction Total: 146,570*
Fiction Percentage: 55%
Books Read: 75
Creative Projects as J.T. Ellison: 3
Creative Projects as Joss Walker: 2
*(Excludes Email and Trello, which total ~160,000)
MAJOR PROJECTS WORKED ON:
JT Novels:
A VERY BAD THING (2024 Standalone) - Released
LAST SEEN (2025 Standalone) - Completed and in copyedit
YKW (New Standalone) - Proposal completed and submitted
JT Short Stories:
O Murder Night (Edge House) - Edited and released
JT Non-Fiction:
22 Steps: Watch A Novel Come To Life - In progress, estimating a 2026 release
The Creative Edge Substack
Joss Walker Novels:
THE BOOK OF SPIRITS (Jayne #5) - Completed and released
THE SCROLLS OF TIME (Jayne #6 - the final book in the series) - Outlined, completed, and in copyedit
A Word on Words:
Taped 9 episodes
Premiered the 10th Anniversary Special
Nominations and Honors:
IT’S ONE OF US Nominated for the ITW Best Thriller of 2024
These Cold Strangers Nominated for the ITW Best Short Story of 2024
Bouchercon Local Guest of Honor
Vive le Livre Keynote Speaker
2025: The Year of Cultivate
Words. Relationships. Mind. Health. Habits.
I am creating a garden comprised of the words above, and can’t wait to see it bloom. This year is going to be very straightforward, with two simple questions to be examined: What’s working for me? What isn’t working for me? Approaching the five buckets in terms of a literary garden will allow for more binary decision-making. I’m going deep into the creative soil this year, watering a number of seeds that have lain fallow for too long. That means cultivating a sanctuary for my creative life that gives space for growth and joy. No more doing things because I feel obligated or want to make someone else happy. What happens in this house, in this office, in this metaphorical garden, takes priority. If something doesn’t work for me or spark joy, it will be exorcised without guilt or explanation. Reading goals have been upped, as well as daily habits and limits on social media. Creativity, education, reading for fun, health, rituals—all of these fundamentals will be nurtured.
I had a very specific goal for this year’s theme. I wanted a word that would denote hygge and contentment, respect for solitude and a safe, cozy sanctuary, routine and focus, deep work and self-care. I wanted something like “Structure,” but that wasn’t as harsh. I already have a lot of structure and discipline. What I need is a softening of that drive so I can accomplish all of my goals without stressing myself out. It's great to make and hit goals, but not by sacrificing everything else.
It was a hard one, but ultimately, “Cultivate” was the winner. The idea of my creative life as a garden is very appealing on a number of levels. The idea of “Cultivate” has several components that are integral to making this creative garden flourish. The most important is eliminating the things that tear at my focus. I say yes too much, and that really pulls my attention away from my work and goals, so I’ll be practicing dropping that word from my vocabulary. To cultivate this year’s goals, I intend to:
Respect habits and balance creative and personal time
Designate and defend time blocks for deep work
Create physical and mental spaces conducive to focus
Establish rituals that signal transitions between different moments in the day
Curate an environment that supports both productivity and peace
Maintain boundaries that protect concentrated reading and writing time
Continue my wellness journey post-long-COVID and hEDS diagnosis with a good balance of personal and work goals
Add an education module to the year, breaking the year into quarters for self-schooling deep dives on a few topics of interest
Declutter physical and digital spaces
Limit travel
Spend more time with IRL friends, cultivating the wonderful friendships I haven’t had much time to enjoy lately
As you’ve heard me say countless times, my only true creative goal is finishing, and I’m excited to be able to work on that exclusively this year. I’ve been in a career pivot for the past couple of years that is nearly complete, which means my focus can return to just my crime fiction writing. My agent loves to point out that large supercargo container ships take two miles to stop and turn around… my boat is finally pointing in the direction I’ve been shooting for. I’ve moved to a new house, have too many ideas to count, and, now that the Jayne Thorne series is nearly wrapped, I’m putting fantasy on hold for a bit. I doubt that will hold forever, but at least for this year. I like writing fantasy too much to give it up completely. All things to their season, eh?
I want to revamp “doing less” to mean “doing less extraneous non-writing.” I want to pull back on social media this year, starting with a Dry January—Social Media Edition. Also on the chopping block is blurbing. I have too much reading to do for the show now, and a massive TBR stack of books I want to read for fun. It’s not something I embark on lightly but it has to be done.
With less extraneous work, my fiction word count should rise. I have several short story ideas I want to explore in addition to a couple of new standalone novels. Being solely in the J.T. world should help them come to fruition. It’s a good year to fill the pipeline again.
My physical habits are still front and center, and I’m working with a health coach to reinforce some of the lessons learned and take things to a whole new level. Health coaching is more than diet and exercise, it’s all aspects of a life well lived, and I’m enjoying the process so much. I’m certain the habits and rituals we’re working on will help me meet all my goals this year.
2025 Creative Goals
200,000 fiction words
Finish the editorial process and release LAST SEEN
Go deep into the writing space
Develop and complete the next standalone (YKW)
Develop a new story for a follow-up standalone
Expand the Edge House universe into a full-blown novella
Explore a possible new series concept
Explore some ideas in a congruent genre (not fantasy 💌)
Write two new short stories
Continue the 22 Steps writing series following the development and writing of LAST SEEN, and continue writing Friday Reads
Wrap the Jayne Thorne series with the publication of Book #6 in March
Read 80 Books
Tape 10 episodes of AWOW
Focus on Substack writing and limit the rest of social media
Quarterly study on a topic of my choosing
JT New Releases:
LAST SEEN (September 2, 2025)
Joss New Releases:
THE SCROLLS OF TIME (Jayne #6) (March 2024)
I’m curious to see how this plays out this year. I will do a mid-year review, and I’m planning to focus on some monthly wrap-ups on my own to keep better track of what’s going on.
As always, thank you for joining me on this journey. This community is a never-ending source of joy!
2024 DEETS:
You had a very full year in 2024. May your 2025 theme of "Cultivate" result in a bouquet of health and word count! Cheers!
I love your recaps. Here’s to a happy and healthy new year for all of us!