As usual, let me offer everyone my New Year's greetings a little early. Happy New Year, everyone, and may you strike it rich in the year ahead.
Last year, or rather, the lunar year that is about to end, was destined to be an extraordinary one. In this year, we all lived through many major events worthy of the history books, and I suppose I could share some personal reflections too. But in fact, unlike my habit of expressing my feelings on social media, I don't want to dwell too much on my personal impressions here, because this is a place for writing books, for reading, and for relaxing.
The pure joy of reading is what this place ought to give everyone.
But to be honest, I've never been particularly good at that, especially last year... Over this year, I grew another year older, my occupational ailments got worse and worse, and I also started a family, beginning a brand-new chapter of my life. Of course, that was a wonderful thing for me personally, but it also meant having to work hard to balance life and writing.
Exorcising the Dragon went behind the paywall around the time just after last New Year, so if you look closely, what I call the past year really amounted to this book.
In terms of word count, I managed 1.75 million Chinese characters, barely averaging just under 5,000 a day. Those numbers can't compare with the tentacled monsters out there, and my updates weren't consistent either. Fortunately, though, the book's performance remained steady, with fourteen to fifteen thousand readers buying each new chapter within twenty-four hours.
All I can say is that I'm endlessly grateful for my readers' generosity, and I hope to bring everyone the best possible reading experience next year.
As for