It’s been a very fruitful month, largely because I have spent most of January indoors hiding from the cold. This has meant I’ve had plenty of time to work on stories and I am now caught up, having not quite achieved the goals I set for myself for the end of 2024.

I have submitted two stories for anthologies this month after some extensive editing. My beta readers provided some excellent feedback and the stories are much stronger as a result. One of the stories is nearly 18,000 words long, which is more than double the longest thing I have ever written. I found it good practice as I work my way towards writing a novel, not least ensuring the plot was consistent.

Following on from the quick short story I published in late December, I have written two more featuring Stanah and Max. I was quite surprised by how popular these characters were, with a few readers asking me to write further stories. I was hoping to publish them on SoFurry this month, but the original version of the site has been down for two weeks and has only just come back. I’ll look into publish these soon, probably in four week intervals. My plan is to have a series of stories detailing their developing relationship so expect more Stanah and Max stories throughout the year.

It has been a very tough few weeks for the LGBTQ+ community in the US, with most of the main social media companies amplifying discriminatory voices and silencing our own by changing their terms of service. This is likely to continue throughout the next four years of this wretched presidency. The first week has been bad enough and I dread to think what the forthcoming weeks and months will bring. The importance of solidarity and community has never been clearer, but I do fear what it could mean for the fandom.

With this and SoFurry being down, it is clear that setting up this website was a good idea. I also think I’ll need to look at other avenues to get my writing out to a wider audience. I am probably over-reliant on SoFurry and its continuing absence has put things into sharp focus. The same is probably true with Bluesky. Regarding the website, I am hoping the design overhaul will be completed in the next few weeks so I have something much stronger to showcase.

I am in the UK for the first half of February, so I am unsure how much writing I’ll be able to do. I am aiming to write for four anthologies between now and the end of May, with one story largely completed and another with the plot fully mapped out as it stands. As I’ll only have my work laptop, I am not sure whether I will risk writing these, but both are SFW so I might just do it anyway. If not, I am hoping to use the next few weeks to read some more furry fiction, while I’ll also be attending the writing panels at Scotiacon. If you’re going and want to chat, feel free to drop me a message.

Finally, a friendly reminder you can still buy Work “Fur” Hire, the furry-themed job hunting guide in which three of my stories feature. It’s a strong collection of short stories and practical advice, which is quite unique in furry publishing. It’s a great read, really quick, and is full of top tips to get ahead in the job market.