2024: A Year In Review

Here we are at the Year In Review again! In attempt at consistency, I shall use last year's headers as a format.

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023

Blog Life

I haven't been maintaining the blog, despite some attempts. I also haven't been very consistent at blogging my reviews, so they've been a little haphazard. I don't know if this is a priority any longer, but it's just nice to have a little (permanent) space for longer pieces if I feel like it. 

The twelve-month stats DO show that people are still reading this little thing, though, so maybe I'll try to cross post reviews a little more often, and talk about my writing more.

I'm wondering about the July spike. WHAT did I do in July? HMM there was the AABA panel in KL on 29 June and I guess the PWW24 showcase on 6 July. OH I redid my overall website at the end of June and sent out an email about it, plus the Jurusihir links. I'm assuming that somehow sent traffic over, though I'm not sure how. Or why.

Top posts for the year aren't actually new posts, but old A to Z Challenge ones, which I guess goes to say that I should attempt A to Z again this year.

Hoookay. Digging further shows a strange number of hits from China, which probably means... that all that readership is suspect. lol. 

But at any rate, I only wrote 26 posts in 2024 (2023: 54) so I should try to be more consistent in 2025.

Reading Life

I read 57 books in 2024 (2023: 59), which means I did keep a relatively stable almost one book a week (not really, I just did several binges to catch up at various times during the year). Though I did 'cheat' and read a series of short stories that were each published as separate titles lol. I also tried transitioning to StoryGraph, so here's the Goodreads Year in Books vs the StoryGraph Reading Wrap Up.

Crossposting reviews to this blog is still easier via Goodreads but the stats from StoryGraph are more interesting, so I'll see if I can keep up this dual posting thing. 

I rated 17 books with 5 stars this year, but these are my top 5:

• Deplorable Conversations with Cats and other Distractions by Yeoh Jo-Ann
• The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
• Tune in Tomorrow by Randee Dawn
• Queen of Fury by Natania Barron
• To Weave the Wind by Sharon Rose

Really easy choices this year - the other 5 stars were good, but NOT AS GREAT.

The 2024 TBR goal was to DNF with prejudice, but I guess I got lucky and picked a bunch of books I actually liked so I only DNFed maybe 2 books? I do not have a TBR goal for this year yet, except maybe I'll target specific shelves/boxes to read so I can finally clear those spaces. 

Writing Life

I HAVE NOT BEEN WRITING. THIS IS ANNOYING. 2025 needs to be A Year of Writing because 2024 has not. 

Then again... I did write a whole novel (albeit a short one) in 1.5 months  that was published by Bookiut in May (omg those timelines were stupid, do not do this again) and we had a launch at the KL International Book Fair (!!) so I suppose I DID actually do something, even if half the time I forget that the book exists. I need to stop subconsciously meng-anak-tirikan this thing because it is actually the most commercially successful book I have written even if it's the weakest writing.

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Glasgow 2024 (Worldcon) was a nice writerly thing I attended - after which Jaymee and I had a writing retreat where I finished a bunch of rewrites and edits on the Tea Novel. I was on a few sessions at Flights of Foundry in September!

So now I have started on that long, slow route of querying for the Tea Novel, but I am also thinking of... rewriting it again. At any rate, the goal for 2025 is to write something new so I might move on to a next thing before coming back to this one. (The next thing is a nebulous idea called Paskah, but which doesn't have a plot, only vibes.)

Publishing Life

Last year I merged the publishing stuff with the writing stuff, but I think this deserves a slot of its own, only because I realised that I slowed on the writing end because of the publishing end. This includes my editorial work, and possibly MYWriters stuff. SO!! In PUBLISHING (and here I am relying heavily on Instagram and my invoices because obviously I do not keep a viable log)...

June:

CLAP was launched in June! There's still some backend docs to finish editing, but the main bulk of it is up and accessible. 

July:

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PWW24 had its showcase in July, which means a showcase zine! I do not know when the 2025 edition will be but it will... possibly be. 

August:

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Petaling Street: Traditions in Transition finally launched after many setbacks. This has cemented my conviction NOT to apply for government-related grants, no matter how nice that money sounds. 

Two short stories from Home Groan (2020) were selected for the STPM Literature in English component.

September:

I really loved editing Sins of the Fire, which was released in September! 

November:

Launched two books for the Malaysian Writers Society.

NutMag is our flagship Penang zine, and this year's edition is special because it also includes the winners of GTLF's Muara Writing Prize! It's so hefty that I don't know if we should still call it a zine. It's like a proper book now. haha. 

Tapau is the Society's second reprint anthology! It's also wildly successful by our standards because we've already moved almost 200 copies in just one month (ie: I received 240 copies in Penang, I have like maybe 44 left)

I cannot think of anything else to add to this post, so I guess I'll end it here. In terms of goals, we already have Milestones in the works, so I'm considering pulling back on everything else to focus on actually writing new stuff. 

Maybe I'll actually blog more about Anna's Year of Writing, but I usually do one post and then forget, so no promises. At any rate, I'm slightly more active on BlueSky and Threads at this moment if you want to do the socmed thing. 

HAPPY 2025!

2023: A Year in Review

 I'm starting this at 4:22pm on 31 December 2023, let's see if I actually finish it before the new year. heh.

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022

Right so on to this year. I seem to change my format with each year, so I guess I'll just start with some random something and see if I'll go with it again next year.

Blog Life

I haven't posted about blog stats for a while, so here's a graph from off the stats page.

I... did not know I passed a million views. But then again, this place is over a decade old. Not entirely sure what I did in 2021, though the 2021 review post suggests it was Amok-launch related. 

Readership for 2023 itself isn't half bad, though I haven't been half as consistent at posting as I used to be. 

I have also apparently gained a Singaporean audience. *waves from over the Causeway*

My top 5 posts for the year are all Very Old Posts, which is weird, and which is also why I don't really trust stats. lol. (All-time top post is still my Malaysian Englishes post, which I guess makes a bit more sense.)

Reading life

I read a total of 59 books (2022: 46) this year! Goodreads has my year in books... or you can check it out myyearinbooks for a snazzy new version.

I gave 14 books 5 stars this year, but if I were to select my top 5 reads for the year, they would be:

• To Form A Passage by Sharon Rose
• Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng
• Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
• Song of the Mango and other New Myths by Vida Cruz-Borja
• Blind Date with a Supervillain by H.L. Burke

If you all remember, I tried to take part in the 2023 Booktempter's TBR Reduction Challenge. I started off pretty well, and then slacked off towards year end. It was a good challenge, though, and got me to pick up some books that have been on the shelf (whether physically or on the Kindle) for many, many  years!

My TBR goals for 2024 are going to be a bit more intense, because I have a few boxes of books I need to read/discard/etc. The limits for this challenge is to be mean enough to DNF any book that fails to really capture my interest by page 50, or by about 15% if it's an ebook. I may extend this limit because sometimes I try to be nice, but this is me giving me permission not to *have* to finish every single book.

Writing life

Actual writing has been slow this year, but I have finally, finally finished writing the Tea Novel. It's out with beta readers at this point, but once that's done and I do a final edit based on their feedback (probably by January), I'll be pitching this one to agents. 

But in writing-adjacent stuff (which includes publishing! and editing!), the highlight of the year would be A Spoonful of Malaysian Magic: An Anthology which launched at GTLF in November!

Oh, I also had launches for Absolution at Hikayat and Riwayat once the print book finally appeared in March.

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Amok made it to the finals of the Anugerah Buku Malaysia 2023 but lost out to I think Muhammad Haji Salleh. 

We re-started Readings in Penang this year in collaboration with Dabble Dabble Jer Collective, and renamed it Readings@Tanjong! Give us a follow for updates about when and where we are. We had like 6? Maybe 7? events this year but we are absolutely slowing down for 2024 and probably only having 4. lol.

It's only 5:34pm so I guess I made good time on this post. I have this vague feeling I've glossed over many things, and that I should maybe do a top 5 teas section or something but I think I'm good with this. Honestly, the best way to get consistent-ish updates right now is on my Instagram, which I think has taken over the random-post portions of this blog.

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2021: A Year in Review

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2020

What can I say about 2021?

"I survived." (What else can anyone say about 2021??)

Writing-Related Things

Amok is out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was variously called Berserker or The Weight of Strength on this blog, depending on which draft/version it was. But Amok is the final published title. It's currently available on most online retailers (in ebook & print), Black Dragon Books (UK/International Shipping), Teaspoon Publishing (Malaysia - now with GrabPay!), and Shopee (Malaysia). If you are Amazon-averse and based in the US, you should be able to request it at your local bookstore or library if they are supplied by IngramSpark or have Overdrive. :) 

I was going to publish The Tale of the Hostage Prince (sometimes called The Weight of Secrets) this year as well until there were editing snafus, so that's tentatively coming out March 2022, with Absolution (previously pitched and griped about as The Weight of Sin) now slated for November 2022. I suppose I will get round to adding them on GoodReads sooner rather than later... or when I stop being a potato. 

Here's this year's edition of our annual zine. My own story didn't get in because it was decidedly weird and not quite fitting the theme, but I was attempting something less pandemicy. Alas, everyone else was super pandemicy so it was hard to make it fit. Anyways, you can get NutMag 5: Lost on Shopee and on Google Play.

On not-my-writing (but stuff I worked on), my client is in The Malaysia Book of Records lol. Get her book here.

We made MYWritersFest2021 happen virtually! Jaymee and I did a thing!

I was on a GTLF session with Deric Ee talking about anthologies! You should be able to watch the replay on their Facebook page.

I can't remember anything else. I suppose if you remember on my behalf, you can leave a comment. haha.

Reading-Related Stuff

Here's my Year in Books. It's a drop from last year, but I was busy publishing a book and organising a festival and being very stressed.

I'm looking at my 5-star reviews for the year, but none of them jump out at me as strongly as they did in 2020. I guess I'd put these as my top 5, in no particular order:

• The Long, Long Afternoon by Inga Vesper
• Toyols'R'Us by Terence Toh
• Strength (The Legacy Chronicles 2) by Lauren Salisbury
• Mist Bound: How to Glue Back Grandpa by Daryl Kho
• Future Perfect by Felicia Yap

I'll probably also give The Windward King by KT Ivanrest a mention because I just read it and I really loved it but I do not have the energy to write a review at this point in time so maybe I don't love it enough?? But it was a very, very good read!!! 

Blog-Related Stats

Views - all-time

Look at that weird bump. Which is yay, I suppose, even though I haven't been as consistent at posting this year. Unless they're bots. Maybe they're bots. Oh wait, the spike is June - July, which was when I did the Amok launch & blog tour, so maybe that makes sense. Or maybe not, because the actual days are off. And another spike in November, a few days after I posted Lay Heong's thing. idk.

Top locations -  last 12 months

I suddenly have an audience in Indonesia! Not sure why! 

Top 5 posts - last 12 months

And my top 5 posts are mostly A to Z posts from 2014, except for my review of Toyols'R'Us, which you should totally read. 

I cannot recall anything else of note that happened this year. So I'll sign off now at 18 minutes into 2022. 

Happy New Year!

2020: A Year in Review

I suppose, in keeping with the Joneses, or whoever it is who lives near me (Lees? Oois? Lims? Yims?), I should do a year-end review. I used to do one every year until I got lazy. 

2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016

But since I can't seem to concentrate on getting anything done, I suppose I should have one last hurrah on this year-end thing, then go and read in bed (currently reading: A River Called Time) until the new year dawns. 

Things I Have Accomplished This Year

Writing-related

• Finished final edits for The Weight of Strength, variously known as Berserker and maybe now Amok? Since I decided to localise the term. 
• Also finished two-ish rounds of edits on The Weight of Secrets, also known as Hostage, which I should probably get round to sending off to beta readers.
• Finally rewrote The Weight of Sin, also known as Absolution, during my residency at Rimbun Dahan. 
• Reprinted (!!) Coexist and Dongeng, and distributed them for sale via MPH.
• Edited and published Home Groan: A NutMag Anthology.

(Keep in mind that I haven't actually published anything this year, other than that one short story in the Home Groan anthology. But this also means that I *may* have multiple things to publish next year, funds permitting.)

Reading-related

Here's My Year in Books! I credit the high number to several rounds of binge-reading during MCO.

I suppose my top 5 reads this year would be:

• The Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri
• The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, Zen Cho
• The Last Mystic, Susan Kaye Quinn
• The Skylark's Sacrifice, JM Frey
• ehhh I suppose the last is a tie between Strange Ways, Gray Williams and The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune. 

How did I choose these? Well, I went back to see my 5-star ratings in Goodreads this year. The top 3 were obvious choices. Then I discounted those that I liked enough to give 5-stars but wasn't bothered enough about to actually write a review. Then I whittled it down from there. 

Blog-related

These are the top 5 posts for the year, that I'm too lazy to link to. 

And here's my all-time most popular post: Why Your England So Bad?

Other Miscellaneous

• Became the President of the Malaysian Writers Society in November (2020-2022)
• Assumed an editorial role at Penang Art District also in November
• Had a taste of my first residency at Rimbun Dahan in August to September (apply for the 2021 session)

I can't think of anything else to, I guess I'll end it here. 

Have a great 2021, or at least a not-so-awful one. 

#fridayflash: Regrets (excerpt) from #homegroan: A #nutmag anthology

Catherine Chong stood in the middle of the road on Puncak Bukit Mutiara and stared at the house in front of her. It was a squat, blocky thing that didn’t look like much from the outside—standing at road level, it appeared to be a very small single-storey house with a tiny front porch.

She frowned at it, then checked the address again.

It was the right house…

But it wasn’t what she’d expected to see, not with the vague memories she still held of this place. It was supposed to be huge, palatial. Three-storeys high, a wonderland she and Julia had roamed, going from room to ever larger room, conquering balconies that overlooked the sea, snuggling in the white wicker swing.

Maybe it’s bigger on the inside. Catherine snorted as she stepped off the road and approached carefully. It’s not a Tardis.

Walls spread out on both sides, blocking the rest of the house and its grounds from sight. That, at least, felt right. 

She knocked on the door. A minute later, Catherine slapped her forehead. Obviously, no one was going to answer because no one was currently living there. She had the keys in her pocket. Still, her school friends had once told her it was courtesy to knock anyway, to let any spirits living in there know you were entering. Catherine wasn’t sure if she believed in spirits, or if that rule applied to anything other than hotel rooms. She dug in her pockets and pulled out the keys.

A soft “hello” still slipped off her tongue as the door creaked open to a mid-sized room with sagging racks and shelves. For a moment, she was transported back into the past, a seven-year-old clinging to her mother’s hand as she visited a new school friend for the first time. Julia had been sitting in the wicker swing, her twin, James, perched somehow on its rounded back, both staring with identical large, brown eyes.

She blinked.

The swing now lay on the floor, the sad, rusty chain dangling from the ceiling.

Catherine stepped in without taking off her shoes or closing the door. Despite the still-bright daylight, the interior of the house was rather dark. She fumbled along the wall until she found the light switch. There was a faint fizzle and then nothing. With a sigh, she pulled out her phone from her pocket and turned on the torch.

The room didn’t open out to a bigger living room; it led instead to a circular stairway heading downwards.

Of course, you dummy.

She’d remembered the three floors right, just not the direction. The house went downwards, not up.

Catherine hesitated at the top of the stairs, looking down into the dark hole that gaped before her. She glanced at her phone. It was already six in the evening. If the house was already this dark now, she didn’t want to be inside when the sun set without a proper torch, or working lights. She made her way back out of the house, turned off the phone torch, then locked up.

“I’ll be back,” she said aloud, though she wasn’t sure who she was speaking to—herself or the house. Maybe both.

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Check out our NutMag blog tomorrow for another excerpt!

Want to get your hands on a copy? PREORDER NOW for special rates and packages! 

How many fronts can you have? Of having too many things to update you about

I've been surprisingly productive for a Monday evening, so I thought I'd keep the momentum going by actually blogging something.

On the writing front, I've gotten feedback from my editor for chapters 1 - 6 of my fairy tale (I really should think of a title!) and so I've been doing more edits. I was really afraid she'd hate it, but she likes it so far and most of her comments are in the line of - YOU NEED TO EXPAND THIS/BE MORE DESCRIPTIVE HERE. (I mean, besides fixing my awkward sentences.) I'm just waiting until she gets to the last few chapters and goes "eh, what? End like that one arr?" hahahaha.
Today's the deadline for submissions for the SEA Steampunk thing as well as KL Noir: Yellow and I haven't written anything. Also, I missed the deadline for S+S Penang scripts and probably S+S KL scripts. Meh. Guess it's just not meant to be.

On the editing front, I agreed sometime back to help edit the Charis Hospice 10th year anniversary magazine and I haven't gotten round to it yet. *halp!* I think it's due in August, so I better get my butt in gear, especially seeing that I am such a loyal citizen of Procrasti. =D

On the drama front, we just had a great workshop over the weekend with Shakespeare Demystified. Observation from these drama teachers: when working with Malay actors you have to work hard to get them to cut back; when working with Chinese actors, the main problem is getting them to express more. Hmm... Anyway, this workshop was for those shortlisted for the Hamlet production by USM that's coming up in October ;) Actual roles will apparently only be assigned in August, I think, so we'll see how that goes.
The funny thing about my brain is that when I'm pretty free, it goes into hibernating mode and refuses to think. And now that I'm busy with a lot of work, it decides to wake up and go hey you need to start planning things NOW! So anyway, I kicked my butt into gear this morning and talked to Alvin Looi about the possibility of him running a workshop for our church team this November. So something is starting to move! *little jig*
Ha, random observation while driving this morning: I figure God is just shaking his head at me and heaving huge sighs of frustration because I keep panicking and saying "I don't know what to do/where to go/how to do it" at the same time that I have all these ideas of things to do, but never get round to doing it because I'm uncertain/unsure/afraid/confused/not sure if these people even remember who I am. And it's kind of like *facepalm* where do you think you're getting these ideas from? Why do you think you even know these people in the first place?
Ah, so yes. One step taken today, more to come. And the way to stop the procrastination is really to NOT READ ALL THE BOOKS.

Which leads to the reviewing front, where some lovely random people have contacted me via my facebook page, website and email to give me free books for review! (Also including the awesome Dan Rix who has been letting me gorge on lovely sci-fi/time travel stuff.) *sighs with satisfaction*
That being said, cos I sometimes have a spotty memory, if any of you feel that you've sent me something for review and I never got back to you, please send me an email to bump it to the top of my erratic, neverending TBR list! I know I'm just horrible sometimes and I don't want to feel guilty for taking a free book from you and then forgetting about it.

And finally, on the music front, a song for the week:

You are more thanMy words could ever sayYou are Lord over allOver all of my daysI will see this season throughI will fix my eyes on YouOnly YouOnly You

The God is Able album happened to be one of those that just didn't cut it, for me at least. The songs are exceptionally underwhelming, but for some reason, one line of this song just struck me and has stuck with me all week: I will see this season through. (Partly because I am too lazy to change the CD in my car player so it has been looping in there for quite a while)

In a dual way, it speaks to me of seeing this current season through, of how it feels like it's time to really work at building the creative arts (or as Alvin says it, the performing arts) in the church, but it also somehow speaks of seeing the end of a season, because something has to end before something new can arise. And I've semi-made up my mind after struggling for at least a year (as you can tell it takes forever to move me - I'm coming to understand my pattern) but something has shifted, just as it shifted when I decided to move on from FGA previously. I'm still waiting though - waiting until I am removed from the situation (at least by physical proximity) enough to see if my thoughts clarify further. But as it goes, I think I'm pretty sure. But no, I'm not saying anything now until I am very very sure.

And to conclude, on the travelling front, I will be going to San Jose again in mid-July! It's a business trip to the HQ (which will be just like, meh, boring, hahaha) but I'm looking forward to a couple of things.
First, reconnecting with my cell group over at Ignite/ROLCC, and secondly, the Writer's Digest Novel Writing Conference! Woohoo!! This will be my maiden writing conference and I'M SO EXCITED. Hahahaha. I am also so noob, I don't know what to expect or prepare. I've registered for the conference and booked my hotel, but I have yet to get my flight tickets from San Jose to Los Angeles!
(Anyone else going?? Anyone have any advice to share?)

Okay. I think that's all the updates I have.

I have an editor!

Okay, I probably shouldn't be so excited since I'm the one hiring an editor. It's not as if I found an agent (do we actually have any in Malaysia?) or signed a book deal (long way more to go).
But well, I realised a while back that an old college friend of mine has struck out on her own as a freelance writer, editor and translator and it took me about... a month (or more... yes I am that indecisive and slow and lazy) to decide that YES, I want to do this. I'm going to hire someone to make sure my words are all sparkly and pretty!

Meet the awesome Chin Pei Ling from Word Espress!

Pei Ling has been writing for as long as she can remember. The SMS was never made for her, because her text messages to friends are always long. Mostly because she has too much to say (and she has a strange liking of typing every word fully). From overwriting in her school essays to graduating with a Journalism Diploma and B.A. in English, with over six years of experience in journalism and publishing, you can say that she's where she's always wanted to be. And you can enrich her journey even more.

*wiggles*

Okay. Back to making sure my manuscript does not SUCK SO BAD before she sets her eyes on it. :)

Guest post: Get Off The Writing Merry-Go-Round And Try Something New

Today Nikolas from Grammarly is guest posting on my blog! :)

Get Off The Writing Merry-Go-Round And Try Something New

Just keep going and going and going…

Ever feel like you’ve been doing the same thing repetitively? Feel like you’re stuck in a rut? No new ideas coming in and your creativity is at an all time low? Why do we do this to ourselves, writers? We keep trucking along, trying to finish our manuscript, when our writing is suffering. Stop riding the same horse and try something new. Your writing will thank you.

When you get stuck in a rut where you write forever and know that even though the keys are punched fast, the quality of the writing is terrible, you need to stop and do something else. No matter how many words you write, they’re not good words. You may have met your five-page minimum for the day, you may have written from 2-7 p.m. just like you planned, and submitted that draft to your editor, but at what cost?

 Give Your Brain a Break

You’re writing crap because your brain feels like crap. You’re tired or annoyed or frustrated or burnt out. There’s not enough time to feel sorry for yourself so you just keep working; turning out pages like rain drops. Why not give yourself a break? Take a yoga class, read a new book, talk to a new writer, find a new client, teach yourself something new about writing. Even the most experienced writers are always learning. The English language is constantly evolving, adding new words like “bootylicious” every day, so writers need to stay up on trends and information.

Take some time out to stop writing. Yes, stop writing. Just like plants need water, soil, and food to live, so do you. You can’t just place a writer at a desk, water them, and poof out comes greatness. They need to be fed and praised with sunshine compliments and take a nap every so often. Writing constantly, although it has shown to improve skills, burns you out and leaves you with a quality of work that is far less than what you’re capable of.

 Try a New Fountain of Knowledge

When I’m tired of writing, I like to move to editing or writing prompts. They help me clean my head and look at my work in a different light. I can see that there are fresh ideas on the page when I free write and I can tell that my work is improving by just changing the topic. Likewise, when I sit down to edit, I can see my work’s flaws a lot better and see where the links in the chain aren’t matching up.

Proofreading can become a difficult task when you’re brain is fried, however. That’s why I like to turn my work over to the online source Grammarly for a fresh pair of eyes and perspective.

Grammarly identifies errors in my writing that I miss, teaches me how to avoid my most common errors, and gives me a chance to unlearn and relearn grammar and punctuation through it’s teaching tools. It adapts to my style and even suggests context-optimized synonyms that improve my work. It’s a tool that really wants you to take advantage of it and drives you towards better writing. When I proofread with Grammarly, I know the work is error-free and better than what I could have done myself. I know that I’ll learn more about writing but also have the opportunity to reach out to other writers for help through the question and answer boards. Grammarly is a different style and type of tool that truly encompasses all the particles that make up a manuscript.

 Give Up Your Season Pass

That’s right. Get off the merry-go-round and let your brain have a rest. Even if you work tirelessly for hours or days or months, eventually a crash will come. Do yourself, and probably your friend and family, favor and go out to lunch or paint a picture or go for a walk to give your brain a break. Taking into account the other parts of the writing process, such as proofreading and contacting agents or publishers, can help you see the big picture rather than just focusing on the small pieces of your manuscript that have been driving you crazy. You’re a hardworking writer; enjoy the view every so often.            

By Nikolas Baron

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Bio:

Nikolas discovered his love for the written word in Elementary School, where he started spending his afternoons sprawled across the living room floor devouring one Marc Brown children’s novel after the other and writing short stories about daring pirate adventures. After acquiring some experience in various marketing, business development, and hiring roles at internet startups in a few different countries, he decided to re-unite his professional life with his childhood passions by joining Grammarly’s marketing team in San Francisco. He has the pleasure of being tasked with talking to writers, bloggers, teachers, and others about how they use Grammarly’s online proofreading application to improve their writing. His free time is spent biking, traveling, and reading.