January Books: 1/5 (Rose/House)
Now that we’ve got last year’s reading stats out of the way, we can talk about 2026 and goals and whatnot.
As you guys know if you were here over the last year, 2025 was rough, from a writing standpoint. Part of that was a bunch of life stuff and volunteer requirements (and I’m already running into some volunteer issues this year) so really I should give myself some grace, though that’s hard.
(Thus far, a week into 2026, I have finished a short story, gotten two query rejections, and did not get into the two mentorship programs I applied to in November. A mixed bag.)
I also have my normal yearly goals: reading 50 books (going to retry the 1 off my TBR and 1 I own requirements this year. I read a lot more of my own books than normal last year, and I hope I can continue that trend), working through my Steam games (though I bought 3 more last week…but I have started all three of those), and attempting some art periodically (still about a year behind on my sketch journal, which makes me think I should perhaps try something else as that’s not working how I wanted it to). I’d also like to start up archery. My family bought me supplies for my birthday two years ago and I haven’t even put the arrows together yet.
On the writing front, I talked briefly last week about how I was having difficulty finding cohesive writing goals for the year, and I can’t say I ever did. I’m going to focus on a single project at a time and let them take the time they need, and then move on to a new one based on the circumstances that exist at that time, rather than a prescribed list I’ve made at the beginning of the year. So we’ll see how that goes.
For my first project, I’m going to work on the interconnected short stories set in my Trilogy universe, which I believe I talked about briefly in October. As part of that, I’m going to make a SkillShare class based on how to write interconnected short stories, so hopefully effectively killing two birds with one stone (which is an awful metaphor, if you think about it).
So, wish me luck.
Have any interesting plans of your own for the new year, squiders?
