Happy New Year! It’s a fun coincidence that New Year’s Day this year happened to be on a Wednesday, so I decided I’d shake things up a little bit with a post that explores what I’ve done throughout this past year.
Books
I’ve released two books this year, one of them in a more unconventional manner than my usual releases. Chained Soul, a dystopian novel taking the form of an imprisoned man’s journal as he tries to remember who he is and why he’s been locked in a facility, has been released up to Part Twenty-Nine right here on the blog (you can start at Part One by clicking here!) as well as on Tapas and Wattpad, and the full version including the ending thirtieth part will be released in 2025.
The second book that I released this year is the novella The Horse Who Fell in Scorland, which is available as a free eBook on Smashwords (and some other platforms like B&N) and a print book or Kindle eBook on Amazon. This novella is a short fantasy tragedy, as you may have guessed from the title, which follows Duke, the King of Ardenic’s prized warhorse, as he carries the King into his war on the neighbouring country of Scorland, facing battle and hardship for the very first time.
Blog Posts
Speaking of the blog, did you know that this year, I’ve written 41.4k words in blog posts? That’s more than any previous year, and you’ve graced me with an amazing 210 likes, which I couldn’t be happier with. My most popular post this year was the poem ‘Science Fiction’, a neo-Victorian romance imbued with hints of Frankenstein and body-snatching. You can check that out below!
Publications
But my poetry has strayed a little further than the blog in 2024, as four of my poems have found homes in publications this past year.
- ‘The Matter of the Chest’, a poem covering three time periods in my top surgery journey, was published in Issue I of These Writers’ Voices.
- ‘There Are No Bears in Ormskirk’, a poem celebrating the slightly chaotic student house I lived in during my final year of my undergraduate degree, was published in the Varsha 2024 Poetry Collection by Active Muse.
- ‘My Girlfriend Plays Metal Gear Missions in Her Head to Sleep’, a poem inspired and informed by my partner’s video-game-based mental escapades and extensive Metal Gear knowledge, was published in Vol. 01 of Giant Robot Poems: On Mecha-Human Science, Culture & War, Vol. 01 by Middle West Press.
- ‘Pile of Parts’, a somewhat gory poem taking a perhaps alternative view to the idea of rebirth, was published in Issue #1 of Pen&Quill.
Beta Reading & Proofreading
This year, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on over 100 manuscripts through Fiverr, both from authors I’ve previously worked with and plenty of new faces too! I also took the step of adding a page just for my beta/proofreading services on this website, and I’ve been transitioning towards spending more time on these services – and being able to offer them to more authors – since I graduated in July. I’m already helping out authors in 2025 (and we’re only one day into the year!) so I’m excited to see what this new year brings.
And that’s all from me for now! I’ve got some plans for 2025 already, which I may mention in next week’s blog post, but ultimately, I wish you all a very happy New Year, and I can only thank you for your support throughout last year.
Oskar Leonard 