Whilst I know that very few people will be interested in any ramblings about my year, it's possible that, if all goes according to plan, in future there may be one or two poor, misguided souls who might feel differently. As such, and as part of the plans I'll talk about below, I'm making an early start on those commitments and beginning what I am determined will become an annual tradition: a review of my year's writing, reading, and anything else I think people might be remotely interested in. If, for now, only for posterity's sake.

What Happened (an overview):

2025 was a landmark year. One with plenty of incredible ups, but dotted with more than a few downs to accompany them. I got married last month in what was undoubtedly one of the best days of my life. The planning and the lead-up to such a joyous affair, however, leaked into my writing like few things have before, and left my creativity somewhat stymied in the back half of the year. A worthy trade-off, given it lead to such a wonderful event and was the culmination of over twelve years of love and happiness (and the start of a lifetime of more), but worth acknowledging, too.

In May, I watched Spurs win their first trophy in seventeen years (and the first major trophy in my lifetime) on a big screen at the Tottenham stadium. Another 'best moment of my life' contender (I suppose the wedding ranks higher. Just.). Their performances since, though, have done much to erase any happy memories of that time. Along with the England cricket team's abject failure in Australia this winter, I've soured on sport in general lately.

Before that, I reached another important milestone, having finally finished drafting my first novel, 'The Worth of Scars'. A great achievement, and one that I'm extremely proud of. Though, I hoped (and still hope), it was but the first step on a much longer journey. As I wrote back in March, I sent out the manuscript to as many agents as seemed suitable in the hope of gaining representation. Despite knowing that the the novel's length and potentially problematic premise made it very unlikely to be traditionally published, I rather foolishly allowed myself to become more optimistic than I should have been. It's only natural - the more one's rational side insists upon tempering expectations, the more the other, more hopeful part allows itself to dream. As a result, I was rather less prepared for the sting of rejection (and, worse, the silence) than I might have liked. It's taken many months and a firm decision on what comes next to get me out of that funk.

What I wrote:

Having spent the first months of the year editing 'The Worth of Scars', I was excited to embark on something new. I had another, more concept-focused and much more traditionally publishable premise ready and waiting, and couldn't wait to get going on writing something that wasn't related to 'The Scarred Saga' for the first time in over three years.

Fuelled by this excitement, I began this new project at a decent pace, reaching 60,000 words in just a couple of months and leading me to hope that I might be able to get a first draft done well before the end of the year. Alas, it wasn't to be. Partly because of the stresses of wedding planning detailed above, and partly because aspects of the core concept of the novel weren't as sound as I had thought them. I hit a wall, and have not added much more to the manuscript since.

What have I been up to instead? Well, not as much as I might have liked. I dipped in and out of a number of other projects, including another novel and a short story/novella, but failed to make any real headway on any of them. Then, as my next moves were decided upon, I returned to 'The Worth of Scars', and have been working on what's next for that over the last few weeks (more on that below).

A disappointing year, writing-wise. Though, given how much was going on outside of that, I'm letting myself off the hook a little. Here's hoping I can get back into the swing of things in the new year.

What I enjoyed:

I have not read nearly as much as I might have wanted to when 2025 first began (or watched, come to think of it - I have let too many films and TV shows slip me by, as well). When stressed or down, I tend to rely on comfortable old favourites rather than anything new or challenging. And this year, despite (or, at times, as a result of) its many high-points, I have been stuck in that cycle fairly frequently. I re-read 'A Song of Ice and Fire' and 'The Lord of the Rings', as I do every few years, along with other favourites like 'Wolf Hall', 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' and the 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' novellas - the latter in preparation for the upcoming series out in January next year, and something I am very much looking forward to.

I did enjoy some first-reads and new-releases, though. Like most people in the SFF space I have been inundated with recommendations to read the 'Dungeon Crawler Carl' series by Matt Dinniman, and gave it a go in January. Despite initially believing it would not be my cup of tea and almost deciding it wasn't for me after finishing the first book, I persevered. And I'm very glad I did. So much so that ended up bingeing all seven Audiobooks in the space of about a month. Those Audiobooks are some of the strongest I have ever listened to, and acted as a very comforting companion when I was struck down with flu twice in said month. My initial reservations about the series (and LitRPGs in general, which generally aren't my thing) have never entirely gone away, but Dinniman's character-work is so stellar that I couldn't not fall in love with the series. 'The Butcher's Masquerade' (book 5 in the series) is probably my favourite new read of the year.

'The Devils' was number one on my new-releases reading list in 2025, and, as always with Abercrombie, it did not disappoint. Whilst it's not my favourite of his, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with another eclectic bunch of morally-grey misfits on a somewhat misguided quest - something that Abercrombie so excels at. It's great to see what he can do away from the world of 'First Law', and I'm looking forward to the next instalment in the series.

And, lastly, I was really impressed by 'The Strength of the Few' by James Islington. I enjoyed 'The Will of the Many' - enough to be reasonably excited by the follow-up - yet, as seems to be something of a theme in my reading this year, aspects of it were not entirely my bag, for all its undoubted qualities. It probably didn't help that I read the previous novel on the back of Pierce Brown's 'Red Rising' series, and was perhaps a bit over dark-academia-adjacent novels featuring supremely competent undercover main characters trying to topple an unjust, Ancient Roman-inspired society. All that is to say that I thought 'The Strength of the Few' was a huge step-up, both in overall quality and in catering to my current tastes. I'm eagerly awaiting what comes next.

Away from novels, like I mentioned I feel like I missed out on a number of great films and shows this year. 'Andor' season two turned out to be as brilliant as I'd hoped it would be. Combined with season one, it cemented itself among the greatest TV of the decade - and, I would argue, some of the best output (if not the best) the Star Wars canon has ever produced. That's all that springs to mind right now - though I'm sure I'm forgetting things - though I know I have plenty (Pluribus, One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme and many more) to catch up on.

What's next:

Next on my TBR is 'The Rose Field' by Phillip Pullman, which I have been putting off reading out of trepidation over finally finishing Lyra's journey (one that, for me, first started when I was ten years old). As mentioned, I'm also very much looking forward to the adaptation of 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms'. The tone of the trailers, along with the casting and production, look perfect. I do hope they stick the landing and do justice to a set of books that are very close to my heart.

I'm still undecided on what I will focus on writing in the first part of next year. I'll likely return to the half-finished project I all-but-abandoned in the summer, but who knows.

The big news, however, is that I have decided to self-publish 'The Worth of Scars', and have already begun that process by engaging the services of an editor. More details will follow in due course - publication date, cover reveal, updates on the process etc - but for now (to whomsoever might be interested at this point) all I'll say is to look for a release at the end of next summer, and to keep an eye on my social media.

Because I will be looking to get the word out, and that means becoming far more active online in the new year (having mostly taken a break from social media sites over the last eighteen months or so). This yearly update is the first step on that road as I begin to market the upcoming release everywhere I am able to post/tweet/scream into the void.

It's an exciting step. In some ways it's even more exciting than traditional publication (though, of course, I can only speculate). It undoubtedly offers far more freedom to choose my own course than I would otherwise have, however. Lord knows it has its own challenges, though, and will be something of a slog at times. But, like all novelists, I dream of the day I will be able to hold and admire a physical copy of my work in my own hand. This time next year, I hope that dream will be realised. And who knows, maybe a few other people will hold it in their hands, too.

That's all for now. Cheers, and a happy new year to anyone who might chance to read this!

Gabe