Another year of books, yarn, and rolling dice
Whew, what a year this has been! Make yourself a cup of tea, coffee, or another hot beverage, and settle in, because I have plenty to share.
Publishing
As far as work goes, this has been one of my busiest years. I have worked on 13 texts (novels, short stories, children’s books, a game reference book, etc.), and only one of them was an editing job, the other 12 were translations. This means I’ve read and worked on about 3,362 pages of text, so… quite a lot.
Now, I can’t talk about most of the work I’ve done yet, but some of it was already published or announced, so, here’s a list for you:
Translation
Hollólovagok by Christopher Buehlman is set to be published on 11 February 2025. Publisher: Agave Könyvek (Original title: The Daughters’ War.)
Kohómente by Robert Jackson Bennett. Publisher: Fumax. (Original title: Foundryside.)
Dungeons and Dragons – Drizzt legendája. Képes útmutató by Michael Witwer. Publisher: Kolibri Kiadó. (Original title: Dungeons and Dragons The Legend of Drizzt Visual Dictionary.)
Várakozó álláspont and A nyomtató ára by Philip K. Dick. Publisher: Agave Könyvek. (Original titles: The Chromium Fence and Pay for the Printer.)
Marvel Studios – Szereplők nagykönyve. Bővített kiadás by Adam Bray and Kelly Knox. Publisher: Kolibri Kiadó. (Original title: Marvel Studios Character Encyclopedia Updated Edition.)
A sötétségbe fojtott világ by Shelley Parker-Chan. Publisher: Agave Könyvek. (Original title: He Who Drowned the World.)
The prefaces and every Ars Arcanum in the 10th-anniversary edition of the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. Publisher: Delta Vision.
Editing
Sárkányőrző by Robin Hobb. Translator: Luca Gubó. (Original title: Dragon Keeper.)
Gears of War: Vérvonalak by Jason M. Hough. Translator: Zsolt Szántai. (Original title: Gears of War: Bloodlines.)
Antianyag blues by Edward Ashton. Translator: Norbert Horváth. (Original title: Antimatter Blues.)
Az Ezerszemű Úrnő by A. K. Larkwood. Translator: Gábor Tamás. (Original title: The Thousand Eyes.)
I am delighted and grateful to work with such amazing people–translators, editors, project managers, and everyone responsible for publishing a book. Thank you so much, and I hope we’ll collaborate on even more awesome books in 2025.
Knitting
Knitting was a huge part of my life in 2024. I’ve found myself knitting or reading about knitting almost every single day. I have had about 13 projects, and I finished 9 of them. It’s better than I expected, honestly.
Knitting was important this year because I started studying technical editing, specifically for knitting patterns. I toyed around with this idea for months before committing and starting The Tech Editor Hub’s course, which was a great introduction, with plenty of information and practice exercises.
Soon after I finished it, however, I started another: a certification course at the TKGA. It’s slow-going, and you have to work at it a lot since it has quite a few hands-on exercises you have to submit, and you can only go on to the next lesson when you successfully pass the previous one.
I especially like this course since it emphasizes the use of reliable resources, having them around, and knowing where to turn to when you have a question. It’s also more focused on the copy-editing aspects of tech editing, which is great. I am an editor, but currently, I only edit in my native language, Hungarian, so the TKGA’s course is helping me learn a lot about working in English, which is a whole different beast. Working on someone else’s writing is a huge responsibility, so I have to make sure I’m really up to the task.
Overall, I only edited one pattern this year, the My Secret BFF Socks by Gynka Knitwear, a really nice and fun children’s sock pattern. I aim to have much more of this kind of work in 2025.
So if you’re a designer, and need a tech editor, or know someone who needs one, then feel free to contact me. New clients get 25% off my hourly rate for their first two patterns. (This offer is subject to change.)
Knitting plans for 2025
2024 was the year of accessories for me. Since I mostly edit accessories, I wanted to knit as many of them as I possibly could—cowls, socks, hats, shawls, etc. (To be honest, since my day job involves months-long projects, I also needed shorter knitting projects to keep me sane.) I still haven’t knit mittens or a big lace shawl, and I’m still a bit weak on the brioche front, but these can be remedied. I already have the patterns picked out.
As for 2025, I want it to be the year of sweaters. So far I’ve knit two sweaters: a colour-work one that turned out too small, and a simple raglan sweater that turned out too big. (And it remains unfinished for now.) I’ve learned a lot from these projects, so they were not a complete waste of time.
Next year I want to knit at least two garments: a sweater and a cardigan. One of the reasons for this is that I want to be able to offer tech editing for garments, and learning the ins and outs of them takes quite a bit of time (knitting is the opposite of fast fashion). The other reason is that I love knitted garments, and I feel like I would get much more use out of them than from 5 different cowls and 4 different hats. I should also explore more designs and techniques in sock knitting—I always feel like I never have enough fun socks.
D&D and The Flightless Manticore
This year, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was a smaller part of my life than in 2023. Somehow, scheduling—the ultimate BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy)—got the better of our group, so we only played about half as much as last year. That's still about 40 hours and, on average, a session per month.
I finished a few fantasy maps during the latter third of the year and wrote a few blog posts about them. One of them is of the Arbiter Cliffs, a location in my homebrew world with a slightly sinister history. I recorded a timelapse video of the drawing process, feel free to check it out. The other is a map of Hibernia, the northernmost continent of my world where our adventuring group is currently traipsing around. (No timelapse video for this one, as it was such a huge undertaking that my computer was having none of it.)
I have a few D&D-related plans for next year, but I’ll keep them under wraps for now.
This year’s favourites
Hadestown: Live from London is a recent discovery for me. I know the musical has been around for quite a few years now, telling the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but somehow I didn’t connect with it until the West End production’s recording came out. The cast sings their hearts out on the album, and it’s beautiful. (I like this version better than the original one, it’s more raw and imperfect.)
Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson was published on December 6, and it’s the last book in the first arc of The Stormlight Archive. I haven’t read this volume yet (it’s on its way), but I’m the translator of the first four books, so I know them quite intimately. It might be silly to include a book I haven’t read yet in my favourites, but that’s the way it is with The Stormlight Archive.
Star Trek: Lower Decks, this wonderful animated series finished its last season only a few weeks ago. It’s so brilliant! Now that I’ve seen most Star Trek series (aside from the original), I appreciate the nuances and throwaway jokes of Lower Decks so much more! Why did it have to end? Kiteo, his eyes closed. #SaveLowerDecks
I loved each episode of The Supermassive Podcast from the Royal Astronomical Society.
What about you? What were your favourites this year? I’d love to know!
What’s next?
I have a few things I’d like to accomplish next year besides the things I already mentioned. But I’ll keep them to myself for now—I don’t want to jinx them or put undue pressure on myself. However, I will continue writing these newsletters, leaning more towards quality than quantity.
So that’s it for 2024. Thanks for being here, take care of yourselves, and have a happy New Year!