2024 – A Year in Review

If you are reading this, I want to thank you for being on my website and for being a supporter of mine. This is a crazy world I have decided to make myself a part of, but it sure is fun and it is even better because of you, so thank you. 2024 has been a hell of a year. Not just for me, but for our country, and for the world. There have been good times and bad, successes and failures, but through it all we continue to walk on.

For me personally, it was a tremendous year. I released my first book in quite some time, Their Last Spring Break, which I believe to be my greatest work yet. Shameless plug here, if you missed it on the welcome page, you can actually get a free copy of that by signing up for my email list! The book has been a great success, and I am thrilled that so many people have loved it. I have finished writing and am currently editing an entirely separate book currently titled We Never Told that I aim to have out early next year, and I am at the finishing stages of a third that has a working title of Hidden Among Us.

Outside of writing I received a significant promotion at my day job which means more responsibility within a company that I absolutely love. My wife and I also welcomed our second child in October. A baby boy who is named Monte Walker Porter after my dad. We are adjusting well to being a family of four and his big sister Brinley, who turned two this year, is the most wonderful helper/protector. She absolutely loves her new role as big sissy and even our fur babies are loving him. We are feeling as though our little family is finally complete.

2025 – Plans for the Future

As I think we all do, I have some BIG goals for the coming year, both personally and professionally. I am currently on a fitness journey that has been thirty years in the making. I have always been overweight, that’s just the cold hard truth. Even as a child, I was the chubby kid. It is something that I have battled on and off for most of my life. Back when Kelsey and I first met, I had just come off a dieting program where I shaved off fifty pounds. Since then, as happens to so many of us in life, I have put that back on plus quite a bit more.

That being said, I am now on my way back down and it has finally clicked inside my head. I know exactly what I want to achieve physically, and I know exactly how to achieve it. A big difference for me these days is mindset. I used to think in terms of days, sometimes even hours. Now I think in terms of years and even decades. There is a famous quote that says, “You overestimate what you can accomplish in a year and vastly underestimate what you can accomplish in a decade.” I am finding this to be true and I am to a place where I am okay if it takes a long time.

I am settling into a routine and a way of eating/exercising that I truly enjoy and that is the secret sauce. By this time next year, I will be a minimum of 100 pounds lighter and in the best physical condition of my life. It is not purely for aesthetic purposes. Yes, it will feel good to be able to confidently wear certain clothes again, not be embarrassed to take my shirt off at the beach, look better for my wifey, etc. but it is more so about my general health and setting a great example for my children. I want and NEED to be around for them for a long, long time to come and that means it is well past time to get my shit together. I am off to a great start, and I am really looking forward to this new challenge.

On to my writing goals, which are also very lofty. I am going to obtain a traditional publishing deal next year. I have enjoyed being on the independent publishing side of things, but I want to know how the other side lives. I want to know what it is like to have cover design, editing, and formatting handled by others. I want to know how it feels to collaborate with a company and how it differs from being a one-man army. Besides those things, it is a goal I have had for quite some time to be a traditionally published author.

I don’t believe it is necessary any longer to achieve this in order to be considered a “real author”, but I do believe that being able to speak on both ends of the spectrum is a good thing as I continue to work toward mastery in my art. Regardless of this goal, I will aim to write ten novels next year. The best I have done in a single year is five and that was in 2020 when we were all locked inside with nothing to do, so to do double that in normal times with normal obligations and responsibilities is a massive mountain to climb.

Of those ten, I plan to release at least five to my readers next year. Some will go through the querying process where they will be submitted to literary agents for evaluation. The hope is that one or several will earn representation which would mean the next step is submitting polished manuscripts to publishing houses for potential sales. Which novels are submitted to this process and which ones I will choose to independently publish is completely dependent on a number of factors including timing, marketplace demand, popular tropes, genre, etc. Either way you can plan to have five new stories from me next year at a minimum.

I am also diving into a habit of writing short stories with the goal being to write and publish one per week on my website. Now, do not quote me on that because it is not the highest thing on my priority list, but it is something I enjoy and want to dabble in more. Even if it does not end up being one per week, you can rest assured that there will be many more free short stories coming from yours truly.

I will also be trying my hand at a children’s book next year. This is something completely new to me and so it is going to be an interesting ride, but I am feeling called to give it a shot. In all likelihood, it is my own children that have created this desire in me. They LOVE books and my oldest loves to read them and have them read to her, but as she and my son get older, I find it very important to expose them to stories that are not only entertaining but that also teach some of life’s most important lessons. I have several ideas that I am mauling over, but before the end of 2025 there will be a children’s book added to my portfolio.

Some other administrative updates, my website has seen a massive overhaul, hopefully you will enjoy the new layout. The next step is implementing functionality to allow for sales directly on my site. I have had many orders for signed copies by way of the Contact Us page, but I need a way for readers to purchase them right on the site without having to go through Amazon. So that is coming soon. I also have plans to relaunch my Patreon for anyone who is interested in supporting me in that regard. More to come on what exactly that will look like, but I am looking forward to providing some TREMENDOUS value to anyone who is interested.

There you have it, a quick look back at the year we are coming out of and a sneak preview of what I have in store for next year. I will leave you with this; dream big. Have MASSIVE goals. Shoot for the fucking stars. So many people move the goalposts or adjust the finish line. Don’t. Dream big and do everything you can do to make them a reality. It may not happen as quickly as you want, you may not ultimately even get there, but if you do everything in your power to do it, I can promise you will end up much further than you would have if you’d kept it “realistic”. You have a lot to offer the world, don’t be afraid to go out and make things happen!

Talk soon.

Tyler