Go 49ers, I suppose. I’m happy for the Chiefs, I like Andy Reid and stuff, but the Patriots just finished their run and I don’t want to watch another dynasty unless it’s the Colts. Thus, on this go-round I hope Brock Purdy does the deed.
I was on vacation this week so I managed to finish up some projects.
WRITING
Over on the CrackerStack I posted the 26 riders in HOWLING WILDERNESS and their bios. I also posted some premium chapters from THE KORBADELL JOB so check those out and consider subscribing. In addition, I drafted a few pieces for Upstream.
This week I am mostly back on drawing, though I might draft some more video scripts.
READING
Since I was on vacation, I caught up on some print stuff for a change! This includes THE ELLIMIST CHRONICLES and a boat load of comics. Some will get videos, some will get posts. I also (finally) finished XENOS, a Warhammer novel.
This week I have another Reacher to read, as well as some new Audible pieces.
DRAWING
I didn’t draw as much as you might think. Being off work meant being off my schedule. I was awake alongside my kids a lot more, and that necessitated changes. I did finish a HW piece and started a new one.
Calico Hind takes his shot
This week I will finish that one and start another.
VIDEO
Jeez, I think I posted one video and went live once. Recording was about as difficult as drawing, and I wanted to spend time with the kids anyhow, so it is what it is.
I’m back on daily vids this week. Subscribe to the channel or public school kids will lose their love of reading.
FITNESS
Maintained my weight, hit the Ab Wheel twice, and fixed the pull up bar in the shop so I can spend some time out there.
Last week was shot from the word go. But I still got some stuff knocked out. On Monday we had a giant ice storm in Oklahoma City. I will spare you the details, suffice it to say that I started work 8 hours behind schedule and that cascaded across the next five days. I am exhausted.
WRITING
No new writing on HW. However, over at the CrackerStack I posted more chapters from the old manuscript. Check it out a subscribe for updates.
READING
I finished an urban fantasy, a book about Teddy Roosevelt, and the 4th Jack Reacher novel. This week I will read a Witcher book, along with another Alatriste installment. Most likely I will read Dungeon Crawler Carl #2. And I think tonight I will sit back and read a big piece of XENOS by Abnett (Warhammer/Eisenhorn.) It’s slow but very good.
DRAWING
I’m posting from my phone and the latest version of my WiP is on the computer. However I did finish the piece I was doing last week, because of the ice storm. So.
VIDEO
I did publish five low-edit videos on the channel, which is probably a new record. But you all know that because you are subscribed, yes?
FITNESS
Oh boy. I did 4 reps on the AbWheel, waited a day, and wanted to die. This week I will hit it twice. By the end of the year I will be able to blast out 25 rolls a day all week, and you’ll be begging to wash clothes on my shredded core. I will demean you with slurs. We will both smile.
Well gang, we survived. I won’t recap the entire year month-by-month, that is Dave Barry’s job, and he’s been at it for decades. In my more partisan days I would bristle at the jabs directed against My Side, but as I (hopefully) mature a little, I realize that Both Sides are dumb as dog $#!+ and nobody should be in charge of anything.
(Except for me. I have a secret plan. Make me president and I’ll fix it all.)
Anyway, here’s what I got up to in ’23, and what I’ll do in ’24 to build on it.
This year I’m on deck to read another 150. I don’t care, this is my life now. That said, a lot of this stuff will be content fuel for the channel, and that gets me paid, so it’s a replenishing habit. Lol.
My streak of at least one new publication per annum remains intact. Next year I will publish HOWLING WILDERNESS as well as the print edition (revised) of ANSWERABLE COURAGE.
Also, I’m going to get at least a first draft of CODE NAME RAZOR wrapped up. (Working title.)
Final cherry on top, not that it’s going to take a lot of my attention this year, but since 2026 is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the 10th anniversary of PATRIOT’S GAME, I’ll be releasing a hardcover omnibus of Engines of Libertycomplete with some minor revisions, some new material (a trilogy of novellas called Engines of Winter) and most important, improved artwork.
“But Graham, you said you weren’t going to do that!”
Yeah well, guess what? I do what I want. But in seriousness, I do want to release better art, and I’ll be in a position to make it. The old stuff will still appear in the back of the book, in an old gallery. The new stuff will be digital and better.
DRAWING
I illustrated SHERIFF PORTER and did some other doodles along the way.
In ’24 I will fully illustrate HOWLING WILDERNESS, fully illustrate ANSWERABLE COURAGE, and post at least one drawing per week to my Instagram account.
As part of my ongoing artistic development, I will also read at least three of the art books that I have in my library, that I have not yet read.
AUDIO
I finished Radcracker with over 300 episodes in 5 years.
Now the podcast is done. What replaces it? Keep reading.
VIDEO
The channel has grown significantly in ’23. I finally got monetized, I more than doubled my subscriber count, and I’m getting regular engagement on a handful of videos.
I have added a second channel that I will build up in ’24. It’s called The Graham Hammer and it’s for all of the videos I want to do about things that aren’t book-related. That’s what the main channel is for. This is the outlet that will replace my podcasts, because Spotify has nuked the viability of that outlet by absorbing Anchor.
You can subscribe the channel here on YouTube. I’m still working on the Rumble side of things, but the plan is to have my videos post to both channels so I have a backup outlet. Building it up will be slow, but content will be regular, as I’m doing the exact same thing I did with Radcracker all these years.
FITNESS:
I hit my goal of 25,000 pushups. I missed my goal of weighing 200lbs. In 2024 I commit to doing a few things different.
First, I will renew my focus on intermittent fasting, which I have had success with in the past. This year I allowed poor discipline and excuse-making to creep in with regard to my half-graveyard shift, and I was more or less constantly eating. Even though I log ten miles a day at work on my feet I still didn’t lose weight so I have to change. My hard eating window will be 12 hours, and I will adjust it month-by-month in response to my actual work schedule.
Second, I will continue my habit of daily pushups but I don’t think I will do them at work any longer, like I did this year. I should knock those out at home with my children. Further, I’m not aiming for volume in ’24. I’m aiming at variants. I want to be able to do 10 handstand pushups, 10 one-armed pushups on each side, and 1-3 other difficult types, including diamonds. I’m still brainstorming on this one, but basically I want to do 5 different types of push-ups.
Third, I am going to master my Ab Wheel. I have been extremely sporadic with that thing and it’s time to go whole-hog. This will require me to focus more on core exercises, which is good. There was a time when I actually had six-pack abs (it was 21 years ago…) and I can do it again. I’m just sloppy.
These three things are within my reach. I will do other fitness-related things, this is simply the foundation I will lay beneath it all.
CONCLUSION
2024 will be just another year in a lot of ways. But so was 2023, with the caveat that I accomplished much of what I set out to do, so I will carry that momentum forward and get better in measurable ways.
Biggest news here: SHERIFF PORTER is in the final stages of production. Proof copy comes this week. I was going to start drafting SIC SEMPER TYRANNOSAURUS but didn’t get my butt in the writing chair. I shall repent of my creative fatness.
READING
I literally only finished one book this week. It was LIGHT BRINGER and I have been raking in the views on YouTube with my Red Rising content. Lol. The problem was that book infuriated me so much that I didn’t really get into anything else.
I did start a thriller that I haven’t finished but is so far pretty good. I spent a lot of this week listening to music. Alestorm, which is another Napalm Records band, is pirate-themed metal, and while I’ve tried their music before with poor results, I found some other tracks of theirs this week that were cool. I also came across Beast in Black and I really like their sound.
This week I’m back on the reading wagon. I’ll finish the thriller, then read SON OF THE BLACK SWORD, and start on INHERITANCE by Paolini. I don’t plan to read a ton of it this week. It’s a primer for MURTAUGH which comes out in November. Oh, and I guess I should read that new Sanderson that I didn’t get to last month.
DRAWING
Mostly finishing the SP cover for the paperback. Check it.
I did an introduction video for the channel, just to have one on the home page. The big video was my review of ISOM #2, which got a lot of interaction from Eric July’s fans. Very thrilled with how that one turned out.
FITNESS
I ain’t doing all this math, I’m just glad the average is ticking downward. I’ve more or less dropped 2 of the 6 pounds I gained in Texas, haha. I’ll have the damage undone by the end of August.
The bigger problem is, I’ve lost all motivation to do push-ups. #PectoCracker has stalled and the engine needs to start again. Thus it is that I’m allowing myself to go back to 20-rep sets because I know I can blast them out easy, and I’ll just aggregate until I get back into the mindset of doing sets of 30 or 40. And don’t even ask me about AbCracker, I just suck. I can blame the humidity, the bigger culprit is my sleep cycle has been all out of whack the last two weeks.
Our dog escaped on Friday and my wife woke me up mid-nap to go find her. So that was a bit of an emotional thing, and I didn’t go back to sleep until way late. Screwed up my Saturday and now I’m in recovery mode Sunday. I’ll get there, it’s just annoying. Glad we found our dog and made friends with a neighbor.
THE DRAGON AWARDS ARE OPEN FOR NOMINATING. I don’t have any books that released in the window necessary for nomination (July last year through June this year.) Unfortunate, but oh well. Go read this Upstream post to see what we recommend for nominations. The post does leave off ANDOR as a viable TV candidate, so I recommend putting that in for that category.
WRITING
Outside of a review at Upstream, nothing this week, due to poor schedule management plus exhaustion from a couple of bad days at work. Oklahoma humidity continues to be a revelation. From the low desert of Nevada to the high desert of Utah, I have a lifetime acclimation to dry heat, and I need to re-learn everything I know in order to thrive in this environment. Plus I’m almost 39. So.
Anyway, this week my plan is to take a night and write the outline for SIC SEMPER TYRANNOSAURUS, a Silas Proctor adventure.
READING
I finished THE CROSSING, NINE PRINCES IN AMBER, and IRON GOLD (second reading.) The 6th Red Rising book comes out in 2 weeks so I’m going to burn through DARK AGE just because I effing hate that book and I want it in the rear view.
This week I’m reading JOHNNY TREMAIN, YUMI AND THE NIGHTMARE PAINTER, ANIMORPHS: THE MUTATION, and DARK AGE. I will not finish DARK AGE this week. Oh well.
DRAWING
Lots of thumbnail work for HOWLING WILDERNESS, I’m very pleased. This week I will finish the thumbnails. After that I’m taking a break before jumping in on the digital drawings, because the funds for SHERIFF PORTER came in, and I need to work on fulfillment for the campaign.
AUDIO
New Radcracker, available on the usual spots. I talked about THE CROSSING and Pacific Rim. Subscribe on Apple, Google, or Spotify.
VIDEO
Other than a short one on Independence Day, I didn’t get a video together this week. But the channel did hit 1200 subs for the first time, and 3k watch hours. Thank you guys!
FITNESS
Only managed 750 pushups. The humidity and the 5-day schedule really swept the leg on me and it’s all adding up. The total on PectoCracker is 14,850. I really wanted to get it to 15k last week. Alas.
Also, AbCracker didn’t quite pan out. I’m not as psychologically dialed in on that, so I’ll recommit this week and see what happens. I really need to cut back on the sugar, this has been a junk food summer for sure.
There’s a reason they call it the pectoralis major.
Writing
As promised, I finished draft 2 of HOWLING WILDERNESS. I need to make a final sweep of it just to make sure it’s formatted correctly for the betas. Once that’s finished I’m gonna do some edits on SHERIFF PORTER, that will be my next paperback release. I might not get to it this week though.
Reading
I finished HELL AND BACK, TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA, AN HONEST PRESIDENT, and THE MAGNIFICENT NINE. That’s a Longmire book, a Sanderson Kickstarter book (which I’ll review on Upstream), a presidential bio I covered over on the CrackerStack, and a Firefly novel which will be up there shortly.
This week I’m rereading LOST PLANET HOMICIDE by Correia, so I can read its sequel GHOSTS OF ZENITH. Both are audio shorts. After that I have THE QUICK AND THE DEAD by L’Amour, and then I’m tackling a Conan collection by Robert E. Howard.
I was reading the ebook edition of a Lady Mechanika book but honestly I’m just done with that series. Vol6 was really lousy and vol7 is not an improvement. Fond memories, time to move on.
I’m still working my way through AMERICAN MUCKRAKER when I have time.
Drawing
Nothing super groundbreaking. Here’s a sketch I did a few weeks ago, which I am now digitizing. It’s just for fun and not from a current project.
Nothing here. I’m thinking of doing a few videos based on THE LAW OF SUPERHEROES, just for fun.
Fitness
I did another 500 pushups last week to bring me to 1,000 on the year. The goal is 25k but I’m adding 500 every month. Right now, for example, I do 5×20, but in February I’ll start doing 5×25. And so on and so on. By December I’ll be at 75 per set. It’s gonna be brutal.
One problem I’m having right now is I only do 1 PE session in my shop per week, and I need to do two. So I’m committing to that here. I’m also going to get up early on my days off and exercise out there.
It pleases me to announce that I will finish draft 2 of HOWLING WILDERNESS this week. Once it is done I will contact beta readers for feedback, and I won’t touch it for six weeks.
While it is down, I will publish at least one paperback edition of an old project.
This week I have HELL AND BACK, TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA, and AN HONEST PRESIDENT on deck. If I blast them all out, MAGNIFICENT NINE will probably happen too.
That’s a Longmire book, a Sanderson KickstarterX4 book, a bio of Grover Cleveland, and a Firefly novel.
Drawing
Toying with new Radcracker art.
Audio
The GI Joe thing is fun and cool, but I think there is still something weird going on with Radcracker. My most recent episode hit 5100 plays in 3 days. Then it stopped. The episode right before that was just about as fast. I’m entering a beta phase with Anchor on ads, so I’m not making any money off the listens. I’ll have to find another way to earn money off it.
Video
Channel link here. Didn’t do one last week. I’d like to this week, I just don’t know what about. Then again it’s about as simple as grabbing a book off my shelf, sitting down in the shop, and flapping my lips about it. Y’all know I can do that for a solid twenty minutes.
Fitness
I did 500 pushups at work, which is less than it sounds because it was 100 per day, in sets of 20. It was cool though. Follow on Twitter, hashtag #PectoCracker
This week I want to do a few more iso sessions in Fortress Fatphobia. I only did one, I’m aiming for three now.
DreadPennies: The Mind of Graham Bradley 