January 4

Next update January 18

Happy New Year! I’m back and ready to get 2012 started off right.

Last year ended strong for me. The Revan novel continues to sell well, and based on the e-mails I’m getting most readers are really enjoying it. And of course, Star Wars: The Old Republic was released on December 20 to resounding critical success. There’s been a lot of praise for the game, including being named Game of the Year by MSNBC, but my favorite reaction is from Gabe over at Penny Arcade.

So what’s on tap for 2012? Well, in addition to my typical New Year’s resolutions (lose 30 pounds, drop my golf handicap by 3 strokes), I’m also working hard on the next Old Republic novel. I still can’t talk about it, and it won’t hit shelves for many, many months, but I have started writing. However, this year I also want to try and get an agent/publisher for my own original fantasy series.

Don’t get me wrong, I love working with Star Wars and Mass Effect. But like most creative folks, I also want to put something out there that is 100% mine. For the past several years I’ve been working sporadically on a high fantasy/sword and socrecry style trilogy. I’ve briefly mentioned this project in the past, and I’m roughly 90% done… but that last 10% always takes longer than expected. Still, I’m hopeful that Children of Fire (the first book) will be on the shelves before the end of 2013. Who knows, maybe it’ll be the next Lord of the Rings/Wheel of Time/Game of Thrones. Or maybe it’ll crash and burn. Either way, this is the year I intend to find out.

On that note, enjoy the New Year and I’ll touch base again in two weeks.

Drew