What a YEAR!

Reflections on 2025 and hopes for 2026

🧠 LEARNING 🧠

I read my books five million times before I hit the publish button.

Since publishing? I haven’t read any of them!

I’ve had to skim certain sections for consistency as I wrote later books in the series, but I’ve avoided actually rereading the earlier books because:

1. I will be self-critical

2. I’m going to find mistakes I can’t fix

3. I’m a little burnt out on them after the five million reads

But, as I work on draft 4 of When Death Is Shattered, the series finale, I decided it was time. I needed to reread ALL THREE. And I just finished!!!

Three takeaways:

1. This is an incredibly necessary step for a series author. If you are working on the final book in your series, make sure you do a full re-read of the earlier ones, because you will find so many little things to help you:

   1. Have consistency

   2. Tie a bow on loose threads

   3. Highlight important themes

   4. Show full-circle moments

2. I am prouder of my writing and storytelling than I expected. Sometimes I have a negative view of the first book in my series. I was such a baby writer when I first drafted it! But when I read it for the purpose of series cohesiveness rather than editing, I found that I was actually able to enjoy the journey :)

3. I’m thanking my past self for having a plan for my series finale since the beginning. I know some of my series writing friends are pantsers, and I am very impressed. But it truly feels good to look back at the first three books and see how seeds that I planted will lead well into the climax and conclusion I’ve had in mind for years. It’s worth the upfront work!

   

🎉 CELEBRATING 🎉

Rather than celebrations from just this month, I’m highlighting ALL the things I want to celebrate from 2025.

• Published my third book - When Death Is Hiding!

• Finished the first draft of my final book - When Death Is Shattered

• Finished the second draft of When Death Is Shattered

• Finished the third draft of When Death Is Shattered lol…

• Met my virtual writing group after two and a half years of writing together

• Discovered I have curly hair?!

• Got pregnant! YAY!

• Transitioned into a group practice for my therapy work

• Decided to start my own private practice after baby arrives!

• Began EMDR certification

• Became a CCTP-I (Certified Clinical Trauma Professional)

• Provided several de-escalation and polyvagal trainings in my community

• Started a writing group for the unhoused population in my community

• Hosted 4 challenges this year for Pathfinders Writing Collective

• Got into some new video games (FFVII Rebirth, Fields of Mistria, Tiny Bookshop)

• Read 88 books this year (so far!)

• Walked outside SO much more than I ever have before!

• Developed a good yoga practice

• Made progress in my own therapy for managing anxiety :)

After writing all that down, I recommend you try doing something like this. It feels good to celebrate the wins, especially if it feels like it’s been a tough year (which I think is the case for a lot of us)…

😫 STRUGGLING 😫

Here is what I wrote in my December 2024 newsletter:

My goal for 2025 is to be more gentle with myself. To rest more. To slowwwww down.

Well, it’s still been a struggle all year lol. It took getting pregnant to get a little better at this! So even though this is the “struggle” section, I’m still going to highlight the wins. Here are tangible things I’ve done this year to improve my balance:

• Calling Sundays “Pretend I’m Not An Author” day so I can enjoy other hobbies. I try my hardest to not to author-related things on Sundays, unless I feel a drive to write something that is solely creative - not for The Severed Fates or publishing! Some days I can’t make it happen, but the days that I do feel like a win. I’ve been able to read, make art, play video games, craft, and watch movies. It reminds me that I’m a human!!

• Better social media limits - In the past, I’ve gotten in the really annoying habit of checking the views of the reels I shared to see how they’re doing. It feels like a pointless activity and only makes me feel worse. This year, I’ve gotten a lot better at “posting & ghosting”! I do my normal social media routine (respond to messages, respond to comments, engage with friends) and then I share my reel. Some days the process only takes 15-20 minutes! Most days, it’s closer to 45. But I’m getting better at staying off the app after finishing those tasks. No more checking reel views. Because you know what????

  

• Boundaries around my to-do lists - the last change I’ve made this year to improve my rest is create better structure around my to-do lists. I get obsessive when it comes to my lists, to the point that I check them too often and struggle to rest when I have lots of looming tasks, even if they don’t need to be completed for months. I’ve implemented some changes to my to-do list system so that I only have a certain number of tasks to look at each day, and I’m NOT ALLOWED to look at my “big list” except for certain days of the week. There are some other little limits and rules that I’ve created for myself, which seems so silly… but it’s what I needed, and it’s helped a lot!

💫HOPING💫

Usually in this final part of the newsletter, I write about ways that I’m resting. I feel like I already talked about that a bit above, so I’m actually going to share my 2026 hopes!

• Have my baby in January, yay!!

• Launch my kickstarter for Book 4

• Have two rounds of beta readers

• Get Book 4 to my editor by November!

• Have a healthy life with my baby: go with the flow, enjoy bonding and cuddling, get outside, go to the library, establish SOME kind of routine, focus on what matters - giving him a secure attachment in those important early months!

• Maybe start a new writing project for fun?! Book 4 will be DONE!!! I CAN WRITE SOMETHING ELSE FINALLY YAY.

• Continue going to my writing group

• Submit everything to be EMDR Certified in January

• Have a smooth transition into my private practice

• Become a CCTP-II

• Find a way to still balance some hobbies, relaxation, and quality time with my husband!

I guess it’s a squirrel meme kind of day.

I’m not sure if I’ll write another newsletter before baby comes???!?!?! We’ll see how timing plays out - but if not, have a WONDERFUL start of 2026. See you when I have a child!!!!