Hello, all!
Welcome to my very first post of 2025…and my very first post since October 2024. The year got away from me, and since it hadn’t been a fantastic year with which to start, I decided to just let it go.
Not sure 2025 will prove to be any better (for a lot of reasons), but I guess we’ll see.
Anyway, my first post of a new year is traditionally where I take a look back at how I did during the previous year and reveal my exciting new goals for the brand-new year ahead. This is traditionally a long post because I ramble a lot about the goals and my thoughts on them. So, if you’re looking for the TL;DR version, you can just scroll through and look at the pretty, pretty graphics.
Otherwise…let’s get ready to ramble.
First up, here’s how 2024 looked:
My total word count for last year is pretty embarrassing, but it was strictly an editing/revising year, not a drafting year. It was also the first year in the last decade or so that I didn’t participate in a single NaNoWriMo session.
I crushed my reading goal, but only because I discovered and fell in love with the Heartstopper graphic novel series, and the companion novellas that take place in the same universe. Graphic novels have made up the bulk of my reading lists the past couple of years, but they’ve been a lot of fun to both read and explore.
And no, I didn’t look at the actual number of books I managed to sell last year (issues!), but I believe it was in the double digits. So, thank you, kind souls, whoever you are. If you should choose to read the book(s) in the future, I sincerely hope you enjoy them. And if not, I sincerely appreciate you making the effort.
And now for the moment I know you’ve all been waiting for, here are my goals for 2025. First up are the writing goals:
So apparently, the theme of 2025 is Go Insanely Big or Go Home because…what??? Why, oh why, did I put three releases on my goal list?? I mean, in the past, I’ve managed to put out one title every few (five) years, and now I somehow think (thought) I could do three in the same year?
I have no idea if I can do all of this. Or any of this, really. I mean, I’m pretty sure I can at least accomplish the first item on this list. Retail Rhapsody is well in hand already, so I think even I can’t screw that up. The other two releases, though…I’m not sure about that. We’ll definitely find out. All things considered, it’s doable. But, again, I am still me, and I am always the problem.
In between publishing projects, I would like to do some actual writing. I would really like to finish the first draft of Adventures In Babysitting, the companion novella to my fantasy series. It would be considered Book 3.5 in the series, and Book 3 is on the publishing list, so it’s time. If this WIP is going to happen, it needs to happen now. There are two other WIPs on the goal list, Book 4 of the fantasy series and Book 3 of the romance series. They’re stretch goals because…well, have you seen the rest of the list? I don’t anticipate getting to do all that much on either of these projects.
And then there’s the author event. I haven’t done an author event since 2019. I had a bad experience at my last event and haven’t wanted to do one since. Now, I’m like a skittish cat crammed in a tight spot under the bed or behind the dryer or something that you have to try to lure out with a can of tuna or a bag of treats. Which is sad and pathetic, I know, but it is what it is. Said event takes place in April, and every day I go back and forth about whether I actually want to do this. Again, we’ll have to wait to see if I can get my shit together enough long enough to get it done.
Here are the rest of my goals for 2025—reading, health & fitness, and personal:
I don’t think I have a lot to add to that list. It’s now…what? January 8th? I have managed to read one book, my daily mileage average is slightly below the mark, and based on the number of books I brought home from the library’s free book giveaway last week, I am only adding to the clutter instead of detracting from it, so it seems we’re off to a banner start.
And now that we have the year-long goals out of the way, here’s what’s on the agenda for the month of January:
And that’s going to do it for me and this monster post today.
What’s on your to-do list? Either today, this week, this month, or this year?
Thanks for stopping by. Be safe and well, all.
You crushed some of your goals.
Hopefully someone has a really good can of tuna to lure you out.
If it’s an actual can of tuna, I can tell you right now that won’t be enough. 🙂
Go big! I love it. You are inspiring.
Well…we’ll see how it goes. 🙂
You have good goals. I like that you included fitness. You inspired me to get back to my walking.
I always include a fitness goal. However, walking is the only one I ever manage to stick with. 🙂
You did great last lear, and I know you’ll do the same for 2025!
I totally think you should have a reward/treat planned for yourself after the book fair, something way better than a can of tuna. 🙂
I’ve been doing more walking, now that the weather is nicer, and I’ve gotten better with drinking more water, too. Not sure if you like flavored water? I find it tastes fake a lot of the time, but I do like the lime flavored Pur Aqua Belle Vie Sparkling Water from ALDI. Popping open the can reminds me of opening a can of soda. Sort of.
Well, if I actually make it to the book fair and actually manage to not run away and/or hide, I imagine there will be a nice bottle of whiskey waiting for me at home at the end of the day. At least there had better be…
I’ve never liked flavored water that much. I mean, I do drink water. I just need to make sure I’m drinking more water than soda every day. 🙂
Congratulations! That’s a lot of successes there. I didn’t do a year-in-review myself this time. I was too overwhelmed with life and family stuff at the turn of the year and I think I don’t want to get all reflective now. But I’m still hoping for a happy and successful 2025 for both of us! @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
Feel the fear and do it anyway? I hope you do manage to make the author event. They only get easier, but you have to do them. Practice makes better. Maybe think of it as a practice event? Or something?
Good luck with your goals. They could happen. I mean, after last year, this year can only get better. Right? Maybe?
Wow! You’ve got some big goals! I think you can do it. I went total opposite of you. Finish one darn book. That’s all I want this year.
Sounds like you have some very achievable goals for the new year. I wish you all the best in meeting them!
Go big or go home can make for interesting experiences. Good luck with everything.