Tyler Hillis

Hello! It’s been a while.

There have been some big life events that have kept me from updating this blog as regularly as I’d like. But I’ve found some time to jot down a few thoughts.

First, my wife and I are expecting our first child in July. As to be expected, we are excited, nervous, anxious, terrified, and beyond happy (with a few more emotions mixed in). Our amazing families have been a huge support so far and will continue to be throughout as we prepare for this huge next phase in life.

Work, which I don’t typically spend too much time talking about on here, has been stressful. If you follow video game and/or tech news at all, you’ll know this has been a rough year so far in terms of layoffs. My company—Bungie—had a series of layoffs back in November, where some close colleagues and even direct reports of mine were impacted. This was a major blow on the studio’s morale (my own very much included) as all of our jobs became less stable. In addition, the project I’m working on got pushed back, which in video game production terms means…an extended period of high-stress work. All this bundled with the fantastic news of welcoming a child into the world has been a lot.

And finally, on to updates about the book. There is promising news on that front! I’ve received a handful of rejection letters from agents—which is totally okay. Again, that is part of the process I’ve prepared myself for. But along with those, I also received a request for a full manuscript. Now, I’m trying not to let my excitement get the better of me and keep my expectations in check…but it was a very cool message to receive. It meant there was something engaging in the first ten pages that left the agent wanting to read more. So even if this one request ends up not working out, it has emboldened me to continue with the work.

I also received a small bit of feedback that will help me improve my query letters moving forward; use contemporary books as points of comparison to what you are pitching. In mine, I described pulling on the traditions of “The Dark Tower” by Stephen King and “The Blade Itself” by Joe Abercrombie—two fantastic books, but also forty and twenty years old respectively. At the request of the agent, I updated my comp books to include “A Master of Djinn” by P. Djèlí Clark, “The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemisin, and “The Expanse” series by James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). Moving forward, my query letters will be sure to add more recent books to compare.

I’ve also continued work on various side projects, including a few more short stories, one of which is turning into a full novel. So the writing never stops!

We’ll see how long it takes me to follow up this post with all that life is throwing at me. Until then, keep reading!