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Happy new year to all of you! How was your 2025? What are your plans for 2026?
2025 was a landmark year for me: I turned 40 and my divorce was finalized. Between both, there have been a lot of emotions, mostly good ones. Turning the big four-oh hasn't been a scary thing for me, far from it. I actually have embraced it with all my heart. And the divorce, although sad, has allowed me to move on with my life.
Let's get into the rest of it!
Writing and Publishing
I republished Cookie Dough and Mistletoe on its own after its run in the Winter Wishes and Holiday Kisses Anthology. I added an epilogue to the story as a bonus. While I didn't publish anything else, I've been outlining and planning out future books throughout the year.
My plans for 2026 are to publish 2 books: Somebody to Adore and another holiday novella. Somebody to Adore is the second book in the Star Struck series (first book being Somebody to Treasure). I've been working diligently on outlining this book because my aim is to have it published this summer. The holiday novella will be part of the Holiday Love series (which started with Cookie Dough and Mistletoe). I have a rough idea of the story, but I'm still working out all the details. I do have the title, which I won't reveal until I've finished writing it. The goal is to have this holiday story published next fall/winter.
Otherwise
My Goodreads Challenge for the year was again originally 27 books. I didn't quite make it, but I got closer to it than I did in 2024 with reading 20 books! Most of my reads were audiobooks, which has become my go-to when it comes to reading these days. I like to listen to books when I'm commuting to work as well as at work. For 2026, I definitely want to hit the 27 book goal, which I feel will be easier to do this year.
Another goal of mine is regarding movies and music. There are a lot of movies I've never had the chance to watch yet, and a lot of albums I haven't listened to in their entirety. My goal is to watch 50 new movies and listen to 50 new albums. This amounts to almost 1 per week, which is definitely doable.
Something else is to have a healthier lifestyle. It hasn't been easy to do this while working a third shift job 4 days a week where I generally only eat snacks on break. I'm considering looking for a new job, one that I could hopefully work remotely to allow for myself to eat consistent good-for-me meals. I also want to be more diligent about taking walks and riding my bike once the weather is better. I gained a lot of weight that I've kept on for the last 10 years, so I would like to lose at least 30 pounds by the end of the year. I currently have some medical conditions that would benefit from the weight loss, as well as reduce the stress on my aging body.
Word of the Year
Last year's word of the year was actually FOUR words: REFRESH, RECONNECT, RECLAIM, REIGNITE. As I said in my 2025 post: "I want to REFRESH my space, RECONNECT with myself, RECLAIM what I've lost, and REIGNITE my passions."
As far as whether I've managed to embody these words, I feel as though in a few ways I absolutely did. I was able to refresh my space by getting more of my apartment set up (even though I still have some stuff to do). I did reconnect with myself and reclaim parts of myself that I thought were once lost. And I've spent time reigniting my passions with pursuing creative things more often.
For 2026, I've selected FIVE words:
AUTHENTICITY * BECOMING * CONNECTION * FLOURISHING * POSSIBILITY
Thanks for reading!
