As we box up 2025...

Are you sorry to see 2025 end? I’m not. For many reasons, I’m excited to box up 2025 and open the door to 2026 with fresh enthusiasm! Here’s some of the monkey business I’m looking forward to.

• Getting to know a new cohort of Your Novel Year writers and their stories! To be in the presence of someone who is willing to let you watch their creative spirit spread its wings—even if over the Internet—is a beautiful thing, and I am so lucky to be able to do this work. The class begins June 16 and I still have an open spot—if you’d like guidance while writing or revising a novel in 2026, or know a writer who is struggling to write without a supportive group, please check out this link to learn more!

• Marketing my guide for writers, Crafting Story Movement. While I took the necessary time this year to ensure the book could come out in October as planned, I’ve been playing catch-up with editing work ever since, and truly haven’t been able to put my shoulder behind marketing it. While “marketing” is a term that makes many creatives cringe, I wrote this book to inspire writers, and I’m excited to find ways to put it into the hands of those who can make use of it.

• Writing fiction again. For three years, Crafting Story Movement has been dangling before me like a carrot on a string: as soon as I finished the craft guide, I told myself, I’d get back to working on the novel I’d started. I’ve taken a lot of notes throughout those years, so it’s time to type them all up and see what I’ve got. With any luck, 2026 will be a novel year for me, as well.

• Getting out on the lake again. As many of you know, I have a summer home on a lake in Northern NY State. But since 2023, my favorite lake activities—long distance swimming, kayaking, and paddle boarding—have been abandoned due to inflammation having its way with my joints. With two knee surgeries this last summer and physical therapy to address it, and the ongoing care of both a rheumatologist and a nutritionist, I plan to be restored to these activities by summer (Hear that, body? You can do it!)

What are you looking forward to? Oh—could it be that you’d like to learn who won the book giveaway?

Congratulations Nancey Brackett! I look forward to hearing which book you’d like to receive.

But truly, let me know in the comments what 2026 endeavors you are enthused about. A new project? Travel? A growing family? Volunteer work? Enthusiasm is contagious—let’s use our combined energy to give each other a boost!

Happy New Year! 🥂

Kathryn