Happy New Year!
I waited until today to write this up because I didn’t want to jinx it. Physically, 2020 sucked for me. Professionally, it was one of my best years to date. So… let’s call it a draw, 2020, shall we? AND NEVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN!
On the physical front, 2020 was painful and damn-near debilitating. In no particular order, I got shingles (again), dislocated my knee (again), had a kidney stone (again), and had a migraine so bad back in June I couldn’t stand up for three days. I also noticed my neck (nerve damage from previous injury) was becoming limited in the motion I could do to the right (which was why the doctor told me I was 100% disabled back in 2005, even though I didn’t file for disability), and my right arm is starting to randomly go numb. Oh, and there’s a spot on my liver which has the doctor worried. But fear not, intrepid readers. I’m pretty sure the VA will save me if it’s cancer (insert sarcastic emote here). Oh, and don’t get me started on my stomach issues…
On the professional front, the only setback I really saw was the publisher of the Kin Wars Saga decline to continue the series, which meant that the fifth book of the series (WINTERBORN) will become the first in a new series set in the universe, but will be published elsewhere. However, selling two short stories to BAEN Books for anthologies (“Appalachia Rex”, in the next Black Tide Rising anthology, WE SHALL RISE, and “Semper Malevolum” in the next Freehold anthology, FREEHOLD: DEFIANCE) really made up for it. I also had a short story come out in 2020 in We Dare Vol. 2, co-written with my friend Christopher L. Smith, titled “The Fallow Fields Pt 1 & 2“. It might as well have been a novella at that length! I also had two books come out in 2020. GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY, co-written with the awesome Jamie Ibson, was released last January, while DAUGHTER OF THE PRIDE, follow up to the Dragon Award Finalist novel SONS OF THE LION, came out in July. That was amazing, and the response to Sunshine and the characters absolutely blew my mind. Out of 95 reviews, I think there was 1 or 2 3-star reviews and zero 1-2 star reviews at all. That is hefty praise from fans.
Then, as 2020 drew to a close, I received the most exciting news of the year yet. I was going to be editing an anthology from BAEN Books, titled CHICKS IN TANK TOPS. This blew my mind, since I’d dreamt of writing for BAEN since I first got into writing twelve years ago. The authors who have already signed up to write in this are some of the biggest and best out there when it comes to SF & F. This is a new challenge for me, since I’ve never done anything like this before, but fortunately I have Toni Weisskopf as a publisher/editor, so if I have a question it’ll get answered.
I’m not going to tempt fate and say that 2021 will be my year (I’m thinking 2022 will be, though). I have faith and confidence that the coming year will only be as good as we let it be, and vice versa.
Jason Córdova 
I can’t like a post where you admit you had a migraine that was so bad you couldn’t stand up for three days.
Mind, I liked all the book news. 🙂
As far as the migraine goes, though…this is the rule of thumb my migraine specialist has given me. If the migraine lasts more than two days (48 hours), you get your butt into the ER. The reason you need to do that is, an uncontrolled migraine can easily progress into something you definitely don’t want (like a stroke).
I have only had to go into the ER three times in my life with a migraine. But I am aware this is a necessity if the migraine will not clear in 48 hours.
Please keep this in mind for future reference. (I say this openly ’cause you said you’re off social media. Plus, other folks may read, may have migraines, and may not know this. I sure as Hell didn’t when I turned eighteen.)