Contrary to popular belief, 2025 isn’t over yet. We’re still in the Year of the Snake until Lunar New Year on February 17, 2026. So some of us are very much in the last throws of the snake’s shedding cycle and preparing for the Fire Horse ahead.
I shared more about this in my January newsletter, and I’m taking a break from preparing my daughter’s room for painting tomorrow (more fun shedding) because I was listening to podcasts about other author’s recaps of 2025 and thought, “Huh… I should do that.”
So here I am blogging about my past and present goals, because I want to be able to find them and celebrate them next January.
Past Goals
Last year I made a goal to publish Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay, write at least two blog posts a month, send out my monthly newsletter, attend two writer conferences (without shelling out $$$), nab a new award, add a new short story publication credit to my bio, publish my historical fiction novelette, publish bonus chapters to my existing fairy tale novels, finish drafting my Dragon Fairy Tale, and… I’m forgetting something. Let me check my notes. Found it! Collaborate once a quarter with other authors via my newsletter through interviews.
That’s quite a few goals. So let’s see what I accomplished.
Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay, which I started drafting in 2022 was published, even Kickstarted. It felt so good to finish this project. And I’m so very happy that at this time the Escape to Love Series is a duology. Not just one lonely book and maybe a note about how book two will be coming “soon.”
I was successful in sending out monthly newsletters in 2025. I also accomplished my goal of attending, as a VIP, two writing conferences, LTUE in February and RMFW in September. I participated on four panels at LTUE–and was asked before my Star Trek panel, where I was wearing a Voyager uniform, if I was a flight attendant. Good times. At RMFW I taught three workshops, my favorite being the one about the Art of the Apology.
In 2025 one of my fairy tales was nominated for a Once Upon a Pen Award, so I now get to share that I’m a Once Upon a Pen Award Semi-Finalist in my bio. Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay was also nominated for a Swoony Award.
My short story “Heirloom Alchemy” was published in The Fairy Tale Magazine.
I published Love, Lies, & Pirate Allies and it became a swoony little freebie on my newsletter. To this day I have no idea what anyone thinks of this story. Which is fine.
I collaborated with lots of authors and bookish pros this year: Shveta Thakrar, Casey Cline, Angela Anne, Emily Sanderson, and Eliza Prokopovits.
Surprises
2025 had a handful of surprises that make me no end of smiley.
I judged The Fairy Tale Magazine’s 2025 prose contest.
I successfully ran, funded, fulfilled my first Kickstarter campaign.
I wrote a new holiday Fairy Tale Novella, The Princess and the Shoemaker.
I became a #1 Amazon Best Seller.
I started production on my first audiobook, and I rejoined Instagram.
Fails
The bonus chapters of my fairy tale novels remain unpublished. Woof. My dragon fairy rale which I hope would be completed in draft–haha. I didn’t even get to it. My blog posting was very irregular. Even though I blogged more than 24 times last year, I published only once in the months of December and September. Oops. And I still owe everyone who attended my non-crude profanity workshop at RMFW a blog post. Yikes.
My first audiobook is trucking along, but I very much underestimated the amount of time it would take.
While I did land a short story at FTM, I failed to land others that I’ve written this year. And while I hoped to interview at least four authors, I interviewed only two authors and the co-president of Dragonsteel. So I didn’t quite land that goal either.
I also got disasterously burnt out and sad. I pushed hard in 2025 and hoped to reward myself with lots of self care and reading and told myself, “It’ll all be worth it.” No. I learned this is no way for me to sustainably pursue writing goals. It needs to work now, and if it doesn’t, I need to slow way the heck down because I cannot live off of cookies and walking to the fridge is not actual exercise.
So what am I thinking about in terms of the Year of the Fire Horse?
I’m committing to sending out my monthly newsletter–I really enjoy doing so. Recommitting to twice monthly blog posts. Recommitting to reading, specifically the books my family recommends.
I plan to finish the audiobook production of Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay. And to create a new cover for My Cosplay Escape. I have a bonus chapter of Turnabout that I’m revising for my newsletter. Ah revision…
And then its all about writing and publishing my dragon fairy tale that I am dedicating to my son. If there’s time leftover. I hope to finish drafting a contemporary middle grade book.
But unlike last year, this year I have a lot more personal goals–making my health a priority, connecting with my inner-child, finding/participating in community IRL, purge the detritus, embrace the joy, tie off the loose ends that cause me unending anxiety, make time to pet all the pretty ponies.