I’ve been running Track of Words for 10 years now (well, technically my 10 year anniversary is at the end of January, but who’s counting?!), and over that period I’ve constantly adjusted how much time and energy I’ve put into the site. In recent years I’ve cut down quite heavily, but over the course of the last few months I’ve come to an incontrovertible conclusion – I need to slow right down. I’m tired, basically. I need to step back a bit from what’s coming perilously close to feeling like a job, rather than a hobby, and I think 10 years marks a good time to draw a line under things. I’m not stopping entirely, but now’s the right time to change focus and try to remember what life was like before I started this website.
What’s happening?
What exactly is the plan then, you might ask? Well…good question. If I’ve learned anything from 10 years of blogging and reviewing it’s that I can set as many goals as I want, but life has a habit of steering things in unexpected directions. So rather than making any definitive plans for 2024 and onwards, I’m just going to step away from my usual routines and see what happens. I have a few ideas in mind of how I’d like to maintain at least some kind of presence though, and I’ll talk about those next to give a sense of what you can roughly expect to see from now on, but these may well change too.
A much lower output
In 2023 I averaged two posts per week. In 2021 it was about three per week, and back in 2018 I posted almost every day for a whole year (348 posts in total). Having a target of a certain number of posts per week has been helpful for a long time, but gradually I realised that it can also feel like a constraint. I’m scrapping that idea now, and for the first time in years I’m going to return to just writing when I specifically want to write something. That might mean more than one post per week if I have lots to talk about, or lots of guest content…or it might mean nothing for a few weeks at a time. Let’s call it an ad hoc schedule, I think!
Top-level post numbers over the last 10 years – you can see the gradual changes over time
Fewer reviews
I’ve written over 1,200 reviews in the last 10 years, and learned loads in the process, but to be honest I’m finding it hard these days. When I say I’m tired, what I mostly mean is that I’m tired of writing reviews – I’m proud of every one I’ve written, but I’m not really enjoying writing them any more. I’ve no doubt there will be times when I finish a book and simply have to write about it, and those are the books I’m looking forward to still reviewing, and sharing my enthusiasm for. But for the most part, expect to see far fewer reviews from me (although you can look out for at least one guest review from a fellow blogger). I’ll talk a bit more about the implications of this later on.
Interviews and guest content
Just because I’m not going to be writing many reviews, that doesn’t mean I won’t be posting anything – and what I am planning on posting is more in the way of interviews, excerpts, guest posts, and maybe guest reviews too. Like I said earlier, the plan is to keep things ad-hoc, but I love working with authors (and editors, publishers and publicists) on guest content, and if I’m honest I think that sort of content is often far more valuable than my own opinions in reviews. In particular, I’m becoming increasingly interested in talking to authors about the craft of writing and the editorial side of things, so I can see that becoming the direction of travel.
My latest author interview – this is the sort of thing I’ll be mostly doing from now on
What does this mean for…?
Like I said earlier, I’m not stopping Track of Words entirely (although I’ve seriously considered it). I don’t know how 2024 is going to shape up, and things may well change over the course of the year and beyond, but what I do know is that I really need to slow down, step away a bit, and reclaim some of my life!
In some respects it would maybe be easier (or at least clearer) if I said I was stopping completely, but I’m not ready to do that, hence why I’m being somewhat vague with all of this. To try and provide a little bit of clarity (for anyone who wants to know – if not, feel free to ignore the rest of this post), let’s take a look at what I think these changes are going to mean from various different perspectives.
For readers
If you read Track of Words primarily for the reviews, I’m sorry! Like I said, I’m sure I will still write some now and then, and there’s a back catalogue of over 1,200 if you’re ever on the lookout for something to read. If you like reading interviews and guest content though, please do let me know if there are writers/editors/publishers you’d like me to talk to and feature on the site.
For writers and publishers/publicists
Realistically, I’m going to be extra picky about accepting review copies, but that doesn’t mean it’s always going to be a no. By all means get in touch – even if I can’t review a book, if it sounds like something I’d like then there’s a good chance I’ll add it to my TBR list and buy it at some point! And while I’m slowing down on reviews I love doing author interviews, so if you’re happy for me to read an advance copy for the purpose of putting together a really interesting interview, definitely get in touch!
In general, I’m still keen to do what I can to support new releases, and promote authors and publishers as much as possible. I’m always open to guest posts, whether articles, listicles, guest reviews, or whatever works, and in particular I’d love to run more excerpts. I’ve had a lot of fun recently with ‘Behind The Scene’ excerpts, in which I ask an author to choose a scene for an excerpt and write a little bit about that scene – what they wanted to achieve, what went into the writing of it, that sort of thing. If that sounds interesting, please do let me know!
My latest ‘Behind the Scene’ post – I’d love to do more like this
For reviewers and bloggers
Track of Words has always been a one-person site – I’ve encouraged authors to contribute a few guest posts, and hosted a handful of guest reviews, but ultimately it’s always just been me. That’s been fine, but it’s definitely a contributing factor to how tired I am, and after 10 years I feel more comfortable than ever before inviting other people onto the site.
While I’m not looking to make this a ‘team’ review site (although those are increasingly popular), I would be happy to work on an ad-hoc basis with reviewers who share similar interests and approach to me, and who are interested in contributing the odd guest review. To be frank, I’m quite picky about what goes up on Track of Words, so it would need to be a good fit, but I do like the idea of providing a platform for other reviewers. And when I say “good fit” I’m not talking about needing an established online profile or loads of experience writing, but rather fitting in with the overall tone and philosophy of the site. If you’re interested in contributing guest reviews, let me know and we can chat!
For me
I’m hoping that making these changes and spending less time working on Track of Words will give me an opportunity to relax, regroup, get some of my energy back and, eventually, maybe put that energy into something different. I don’t know what the impact will be though, and there are certainly some risks! If nothing else, I’ve realised over these last 10 years that I work best when I have a project on the go, so there’s a danger that without the focal point of Track of Words I might struggle for energy and motivation in general. Hopefully that won’t be the case, but you never know.
To be honest, one of the main reasons why I’m insisting on being somewhat vague in this article is that I’m hedging my bets. I don’t want to say “that’s it, I quit!” or anything super definitive like that, because I don’t have a new project to announce, and in time I might want to get back into the swing of things and carry on where I left off. Maybe I’ll transfer my enthusiasm for a project to something else. Maybe I’ll come back after a few months enthused and raring to go with reviewing again. Who knows?! All I do know is that I need some time without (most of) the self-imposed pressures of reviewing and blogging. And if I make any decisions that are worth talking about, I’ll write about those in due course!
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So there you go – that’s how I see 2024 (and onwards) going, on the Track of Words front. If you’ve got this far and you’re still with me, thanks for reading – I appreciate it!
As always, I’d love to hear what you think, so if you’ve got questions, suggestions, ideas or observations, please do let me know in the comments or get in touch on social media. In the meantime, thanks so much for reading Track of Words, and I hope you have a great 2024!
If you’d like to support Track of Words, you can leave me a tip over on my Ko-Fi page.
Happy anniversary! Thanks for the last 10 years, Michael. I have enjoyed your thoughts, reviews, interviews, and especially your recommendations of books that I would probably never have come across. You make them sound compelling reads. Your annual recommendations are always my favourite articles, a nice Christmas treat. And it was always great to meet up with you at weekenders. It’s a shame that the pandemic ended them, I would have liked to have bought you a beer, my friend!
I completely understand your sense of coming to a cross roads and waiting to see where you want to go. I’m at a similar point in my life too and I’m glad I’m there. It’s a moment of opportunity.
I am very much looking forward to one review from you, especially given your response to the first 2 volumes. This is The End and the Death. It’s a book that would have always been burdened with expectation. And there is the conflict between following the known story or adding new elements and whether they add to or detract from the original. I’ve enjoyed the books. However, reading your thoughts has made me think of the literary advice of ‘kill your darlings’. There is some truly excellent story telling that rises to the occasion, but which is mixed with some unnecessary plot that detracts from the scale and significance of the event, as well as some missed opportunities.
As I’ve mentioned, there is some excellent story telling. Malcador on the Golden Throne, trapped and dying whilst simultaneously afforded a god like view of events giving him a unique reflection on all that has transpired. The conceit of Horus’ fractured mind that alludes to the corruption of Chaos and his role as a pawn to the Dark Gods, which is an illusion that gives way to his true bitter, hateful nature that both makes him terrifying and pitiful. The meditative desert prison faced by Dorn, which reminds me of the hypnotic opening of The Exorcist. His mind is his true fortress and his mental strength worth more than any feat of arms. This, I think, has made me like Dorn more than Sanguinius. The stirrings of the grim dark with the end of days pilgrimage made by Keeler and Sigismund through a murdered landscape. And the desperate defence and fighting from Ravallion in the last command post to Zephon, Amit and Rann in the trenches. Also, I’ve loved the small and almost throw away instances of interaction between legionaries from different legions. It both helps define who they are and communicates how they view and cope with what is going on.
Then there are plot points that I don’t think need to be there. They either seemed out of place, were a distraction or seemed to be a check box exercise to allude to future known events. Basilio Fo seems like a superhero or Saturday morning cartoon villain. He may be in a sci-fi story, but his actions and abilities seem completely unbelievable. The eldar prologue reminded me of the shaggy-dog story arcs littered in the series and I hope they don’t turn up again. The Dark Angels plot feels like a separate book, with the characters seemingly invested in a completely different agenda to those of the loyalists or traitors. And to me this agenda is made obsolete with current events in the 40k timeline. Sindermann and the Chosen seemed unnecessary other than to set up the future Inquisition. And I sense that none of the Heresy writers really knew what to do with the Alpha Legion, or poor old trooper Katsuhiro and that baby. And all of this reminded me of what director Peter Jackson said about the process of making the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. There were a lot of things the creators could include in the films from the books, but what they realised was important was to focus on the story of Frodo and the ring, and then later on the story of Aragorn becoming king. All else was irrelevant. To me the story and characters should only have been focussed on either killing the Emperor, protecting him or buying time until Guilliman arrives. Anything else is irrelevant and doesn’t add to the story.
And then there are some plot points that I feel weren’t quite pulled off or missed opportunities. The Inevitable City was a clever device to demonstrate and use the warp as a character, but it resulted in the loss of a sense of place. This removed the desperateness of the situation I felt when reading of the loyalists losing their grip on the defences and the collapse of the Palace, which had been established in Echoes of Eternity and Volume I. And I sense the Inevitable City was used to orchestrate the meeting between Oll Persson and the Emperor. If so, the Inevitable City wasn’t worth losing the sense of hopeless collapse of the Palace or the desperate gamble of striking against the overwhelming Vengeful Spirit. As a reader I can easily separate those places in my mind and have an emotional response to them. I can’t easily do that with a limitless cityscape that has no reference points. However, I did enjoy the meeting between Persson and the Emperor but wanted more. Using chaos to fight chaos is a fantastic conflict, but I wanted to see more internal struggle and more of Persson putting the Emperor on trial. I wanted to see more of a man rage at God and human failing.
Which leads onto Sanguinius versus Horus. What was written, I believe, was excellent. The insight of Horus’ mind portrayed him as the monster we know him to be. How he regards the ninth Primarch does make Sanguinius appear angelic. And I felt I was witnessing an actual murder. It is uncomfortably intimate and personal. The sense of relish Horus has in inflicting physical violence. The contempt Horus shows in letting Sanguinius know he is about to be murdered: casting him to the floor in front of another brother’s murdered remains; dragging his broken body out to be executed; prolonging the suffering. But I so wished we could have had more of a verbal confrontation between the two brothers or heard the last moments of Sanguinius’ thoughts. However, we may hear Sanguinius’ final thoughts when his sons experience his death, and there will most likely be a verbal confrontation between Horus and the Emperor in Volume III.
Some unrelated side points.
– I did enjoy the literary references Dan dropped throughout. They were rather satisfying.
– I really don’t like Erebus. I can’t stand him. Not because he’s a bad character, but because he is a badly written character. Essentially a bad guy version of a Mary Sue. Whoever writes him, he just turns up and fulfils his aims. As Trey Parker would say, if the words ‘and then’ belong between the beats of a plot you’ve got a boring story. You need therefore and but.
– And a last side note, Erda was a waste. The concept of the ‘Empress’ is great. Use her sparingly and have her disappear into the history and mystery of 40k. But instead she is shamelessly murdered. What was the point?
My thoughts are that Saturnine is the Siege novel that Dan was free to write for himself, but the End and the Death is the Siege novel he had to write for the occasion. I think you make an interesting point about the short chapter structure, pace and momentum. On the one hand it allows the opportunity to witness multiple characters perform on a huge stage, which is fitting for the Siege of Terra. But on the other hand it seems constricting when compared to the creative freedom of Saturnine. I think so far the End and the Death and the Heresy as a whole could have done with a case of ‘kill your darlings’. There are too many plot demands on the last book. If I was the editor I would have risked the wrath of the fanbase and cut the likes of Basilio Fo; Eldrad; the Dark Angels (although kept the Astronomicon plot); most of the Chosen; the Alpha Legion; Sinderman’s plot so far; the Prefectus; Barthusa Narek; Erebus; Ahriman; and the Inevitable City. If needed, these could be explored in books in which the Heresy is a setting, which you’ve mentioned before. The End and the Death just needed to focus on ‘kill the Emperor’, ‘protect the Emperor’ or ‘buy time for Guilliman to arrive’. And I think when you look at those aspects of the book, Dan has been successful.
But as you’ve said, we still have to wait for the whole book to be released. And on the subject of releases, Volume III Limited Edition was a huge disappointment. Forget about chaos, what about bots! Abominable intelligence.
Anyway, all the best for the future, Michael. Stay strong!
Tom