It’s been a while since I posted a general update, so here goes.

Music

I released a second Spiral Island album in December 2021. I rushed the release a bit to get it out in time to mail CDs to family members in their Christmas packages. Now I’m getting ready to release a third Spiral Island album. Those tracks are currently getting mastered. It should be out sometime this summer, and I might share more about the recording of that album soon.

I’m also kind of looking forward to working on new Spiral Island material soon. Electric guitar has been one of my latter-year pandemic hobbies, so it could be pretty different.

Meanwhile, Gentle Brontosaurus is recording a third album right now too.

Writing

I have a story coming out in Fusion Fragment next month, which is very exciting! This is my first professional publication.

There’s a bit more revision to do on my historical / epistolary novel, before I can start querying that.

NaNoWriMo 2023 just didn’t work out for me, with a very time-consuming routine and feeling very emotionally taxed. I’m hoping to be back on that horse next fall.

It was also a real thrill and honor when Flights of Foundry won a 2023 Ignyte Award, and to be one part of the team.

Language

At the start of 2023, I made a resolution to learn Dutch, to be able to talk to my family in the Netherlands in their local / preferred language. I’ve made a lot of progress on that, to where I can follow a lot of dialogue in Dutch films in realtime.