2025 was a crazy year for me. I started my current job of substitute teaching, and with it, gained a remarkable amount of free time at a computer. With that, I dedicated much of my time to working on some of my writing projects, none of which had made it too far or had much going for them. But it was work nonetheless.

Since I was technically still a student for the 24-25 school year (I did my student teaching in the fall), I applied for Central Washington University’s students publication journal, Manastash, and very excitedly was accepted for their 2025 edition, Invisible Worlds. At the launch in May, I was also chosen for the Undergraduate Creative Writing Award.

It was at this launch party and award ceremony that I was reminded how much I enjoyed the creative writing sphere. And how much I missed it. I left most of my circle of classmates and professors behind when I graduated. My main person to talk to was none other than Ava.

Just a few days later, I sent Ava the crazy message “Do you want to start a blog with me??” And even crazier was her simple response “Sure!”

Our blog launched just over six months ago! And it has done wonders for my productivity and accountability, which is exactly what I wanted from it. Having weekly articles means weekly writing, and weekly writing, even just blog posts, makes me want to write more. I like sharing my updates and work with you guys! I’m proud that I’ve never missed a week, even if they sometimes were a touch late.

In October I did a series of writing goals, which have helped a TON with visualizing and laying out goals for myself. I wrote 15k in October, over 20k in November, and am on my way to reaching 25k in December (maybe, holidays are hard). I’m going to keep upping my goal by 5k every time I’m able to pass it, until I find a good maximum to hold myself to. In November I made 8 submissions to various journals and publications, and 7 so far in December. The goal right now is ~10 a month.

I also read SO MUCH in 2025. 58 books, to be exact, with at least one more to finish before 2026. That’s the most I’ve read since I started keeping track in 2021. I don’t think I’ll try to raise my goal for 2026. 50 books as a baseline is good enough for me! I know I probably will pass it again, but I’d rather keep my expectations realistic.

One thing I do want to change is try to read at least one physical book per month. I think I only read TWO physical books in 2025. Part of this is because of the convenience of Libby and audiobooks, and part of it is because of my suffering attention span that NEEDS to be fixed. I really want to work through my physical TBR (such as several Sanderson books, some poetry collections, books I’ve been borrowing from people for forever, and a few TJ Klune’s Ava gave me forever ago). My baseline is one, but obviously reading more physical books than that would be great. One thing that is connected to this goal is using my local library more. I already use it plenty for Libby, but checking out new physical books is never a bad things (and I may even get books faster than I do with Libby!). One scary detail about this goal is that I may be tempted to purchase books. I’m somehow immune to buying tons and tons of books, but this may change if I can start wolfing down physical books. Fingers crossed that my current shelf and the library is enough.

For writing projects, I’ve hit some exciting benchmarks! Fae Marked is over 100 pages, and likely 1/3 finished. I want to try and have a first draft done by the end of 2026. My newest project, The Changeling Prince, is at 35k words so far, and potentially could also see a first draft done in 2026. Of Voyages and Virtues is still sitting, untouched, where I left it in 2024. Maybe I’ll work on it some more. My poetry collection, Internal Salvation, is being submitted around as a chapbook, so maybe I’ll have news on that soon. And a short story, Emma’s Temple, is also currently being submitted. I’d love to see both of these published in 2026.

In 2026, I want to keep working on the blog and my social media pages. I don’t have concrete goals for this, other than weekly posting. I’ve been having a lot of fun lately making Instagram posts, so follow me there if you don’t already!

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In 2026, I also want to do more outreach and events. Ava and I are discussing attending the Get Lit! Festival in Spokane in April, and will most likely attend the Dragonsteel Nexus again in 2026. I would love to go to AWP again, should it grace the west coast any time soon. But being just across the river from Portland, it would be a shame to not look into more events, small authors on tour, and see some bookstores down south. I’m so close to so much!

And I think that’s about it for me! I’ve been on a real upward trajectory lately and I intend to keep it up.

Thanks for tagging along and being a part of my journey this years. Here’s to 2026!

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