The Year That Changed Everything

It can be argued that every year ends the same way, or similarly, at least for me: a hectic but fun couple of days with family and friends, cheese-filled liminal time that all blends together, and a New Year’s celebration that invites reflection and resolutions.

It’s a recipe that I enjoy and look forward to; comfort in the familiarity of the routines, the traditions, even the lazy days that are all different, but still the same in the ways that matter. And with the reflections of New Year’s Eve, I get to look back at the moments that shaped the year. Some more memorable than others—and, this year, some of the most memorable of my life.

As I retrace my steps of the last twelve months, it’s easy to follow the arc, to point to those moments that reshaped everything. But living inside it felt messier, slower, more impatient. It reminds me now of the blips of a heart monitor—some high, some stretched out, some low—but all vital to keeping the blood flowing, the arteries pumping.

In continuing with the metaphor, 2025 was the year my author dream fully came to life.

As you saw, January brought The Offer—the one that split my world into Before and After.

A book deal is supposed to feel loud. Fireworks. Champagne. Certainty. And it did! We really did celebrate (yes, there was champagne, and flowers, and—my favourite reward—validation). But then there were lulls as well. Contracts needed to be worked out, then written. Time passed. Do I tell people, do I not? Do I go out into the world and attend bookish events as “Kat Sloane”, or do I sit back and wait for it to be “real” (what does that even mean?)

With all these swirling thoughts came the ever-present fear that has been my steady partner in this life. Not quite a fear of failing (though the imposter syndrome always stays close by as well), but a fear of being seen. Of being taken seriously (or not). Of no longer being able to pretend this was just something I did on the side. Of having to own it.

If you want my epiphany here, my Every Given Sunday locker room speech, or the answer to this problem if you, too, feel The Fear, I have bad news: it doesn’t come. I still struggle with these thoughts and probably always will. To me, though, it’s more important to advocate for this story that I believe in than to hide in the shadows and allow it to flounder. So, she persists.

And she waits.

Lord, the waiting.

From the outside, the months that followed my (amazing! dream-come-true! mind boggling!) offer looked uneventful. No announcements. No visible proof. I was selective on who I even told out of my friends and family, in case it all got taken away from me somehow. So instead, I waited. Just a long stretch of waiting and learning how to sit with anticipation.

Internally though, slowly, the fear thawed a bit. Everything was warming up. I began approaching my work differently (because yes, the edits were still happening, the writing was still transforming) more intentionally, more honestly. There was a shift in how I held the story, knowing it would eventually belong to more than just me.

By the end of June, the contract was finalized. And signed. That felt extra special and precious—it’s in writing now! It’s real! It wasn’t just a figment of my imagination! Still, we had to plan a time for the announcement. So while I was able to confidently share with those around me, I had to sit on the news “publicly” for a little bit longer. I dropped hints here and there, but nothing concrete.

By August, the quiet could finally give way to something more public: the Publisher’s Marketplace announcement went live.

A single paragraph that somehow made the whole thing feel real in a way nothing else had yet. Seeing the deal in writing was grounding and dizzying all at once. It was the first time the story existed outside my private world, even without a cover attached. I definitely rode that wave for a good minute.

October was when the book stepped fully into the spotlight.

The cover reveal. Preorders opening. Watching it all take on a shape other people could recognize… something with a face and a future. Being able to shout-out my wonderful cover artist (hi, Georgie!) and revel in the pride we shared in our joint creation.

It feels like that was the moment when it stopped being only mine. Seeing readers respond—sharing the cover, adding it to their shelves, telling me they were excited about reading it, that it sounded like their kind of book—made everything tangible. And it gave me a jumping off point. Now I could create content, I could share ideas, I could do trope lists (and make use of my Canva Premium membership 😅—though I use the term “make use” loosely). It gave me freedom to share and to create.

Then, November came along and with it came the quiet work again: finalizing my developmental edits. That involved long conversations with Sarah, my editor. Rereading scenes I thought were finished and realizing they could be truer, softer, sharper. Adding a new chapter that suddenly made the whole story click into place. Connecting loose tethers I hadn’t even realized were still dangling.

Like I said in November’s newsletter, this part of the process doesn’t look dramatic, but it’s where the book becomes itself. Less about rewriting, more about refining; making sure every emotional beat earns its place, every choice feels intentional. It’s meticulous and invisible and satisfying and frustrating and messy and full of self doubt (but that seems to be the running theme here regardless).

Which brings us to December.

The story is whole. The big decisions have been made. I’m waiting for copy edits now, waiting to see the physical book for the first time. Waiting for the moment it stops being a file and becomes something I can actually hold. Waiting to hear about the audiobook narrator, start some preorder campaigns, and—gasp—finally start to see what people really think about this story that has been mine and mine alone for so long.

So really, the only thing that’s left is trust.

Trust the process. Trust that the work is enough. Trust that the waiting has purpose. Trust myself.

(Oof.)

So, to review: this was a year of milestones. Big, crashing waves of change. It was also a year of learning how to wait. How to endure slow processes. How to navigate a new normal. To let other people touch and change and breathe my work. To sit with uncertainty. To be vulnerable. To be loud. To be cringe.

And, really, to fully embrace all the things—good, bad, and neutral—that this newness has to offer. It’s cool, ultimately. Very cool. And yes, also scary and nerve-wracking and stressful and all those things. But there’s no point in doing something if you don’t go all in.

2025 was the year I had to commit.

Before I officially close out the year (yes, I know it’s January 8th, please bear with me) I want to end things off in a way that means a lot to me—and that’s as a reader.

Here are six books I’m excited for in 2026, the ones that I know will remind me why I fell in love with this genre in the first place:

1. LEAVE AND COME BACK by Lavanya Lakshmi
   Why I’m excited: Because it promises joyful chaos on the surface and real emotional reckoning underneath. This debut from Lakshmi seems like the kind of rom-com that will allow humour and grief to exist in the same space, with love as the binding force. Plus, as someone who is also from a…culturally expressive background (🇬🇷🏺🏛️), big, opinionated family dynamics feel deeply familiar in a way that truly resonates.

2. AND NOW, BACK TO YOU by B.K. Borison
   Why I’m excited: Because B.K. Borison excels at turning friction into feeling, and the promise of sharp banter, forced proximity, and a partnership that softens into something deeper feels perfectly calibrated for an e-x-t-reeemely satisfying emotional payoff. 😌

3. THE OPEN ERA by Edward Schmit
   Why I’m excited: Like anyone else coming off the high of Heated Rivalry, men in sports and also in love is just doing it for me right now. This story promises high-stakes competition on the surface and a deeply emotional, slow burn love story underneath. Which basically checks all the “wants” on my to-read list.

4. OUR PERFECT STORM by Carley Fortune
   Why I’m excited: Carley Fortune is an auto-buy for me at this stage and owns my heart. I’m also a sucker for second chances, nostalgia, and those moments that change everything. I already know this is going to wreck me in the best way.

5. THE SLOW BURN by Ali Rosen
   Why I’m excited: I’m always drawn to romances that earn their feelings, and this sounds like a relationship built through proximity, restraint, and emotional honesty rather than insta-lust shortcuts. I also love real world problems, like falling for a local on a short-lived getaway (anyone else??). Lastly, pasta and the Italian countryside??? *chef’s kiss* Sign me up.

6. LAST FIRST KISS by Julian Winters

   Why I’m excited: Winters has a way with wit and words, and this one promises a second-chance romance full of wedding chaos, unresolved history, and that delicious tension that comes from running straight into the person who once broke your heart. I also love stories that show how growth isn’t always linear, especially when the person who knows you best is still right there (cough, cough The Matchmaker’s Cottage, cough).

Honourable mentions: A Latte like Love by Michelle Harris, This Shattered Tempest (Hurricane Wars #3) by Thea Guanzon, People Pleasing by Hannah Bonam Young, If Only You Knew by Ellie K Wilde, Tropesick by Lauren Okie, The Missed Connection by Tia Williams, By the Bootstraps by Alexa Martin, Bromantasy by Maire Roche, The Book Tour by Emily Ohanjanians, Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm, The Younger Gods by Katie Shepard, Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood, and Solar Eclipse of the Heart (aka the best title ever) by Kate Robb.

There are actually so many more than these that I would love to shout about, which is why it’s extremely difficult to narrow it down, but I’m hoping to gather my spoons to make a larger list in the near future that I can share on Instagram and/or maybe even here on my Substack. So stay tuned for that. And if you have a favourite upcoming release I should know about, I’d love to hear about it as well!

Lol @ “Closing” the “Year”—again, it’s almost mid-January now. I did say in an Instagram post that I was giving myself grace to do things at my own pace, so here we are. My December newsletter is a bit less December-y. But it still exists, in some form. We did it!

As always, thank you for being here, for reading these silly words of mine, and for cheering alongside me for all those milestones. It’s appreciated more than you know!

In closing, I’m going to share one of my most recent “milestone moments”: somehow securing a spot on Indigo’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026 list!

The crazy thing is I used to work at Indigo (back when it was still called “Chapters” 👵) in my university days—it was my favourite part-time job and one that I still look back on very fondly. Who would have known that one day I would have a book on those same shelves? It definitely wasn’t on my radar back then, even as I took every English course known to man and worked in a literal bookstore, but now it’s just another one of those things that I get to sit back and watch unfold in amazement.

So! If you’re a Canadian reader and you’d like to pre-order at a discounted rate, feel free to:

✨ Find me on the Indigo website

I know Amazon.ca also price matches at the discounted rate, if you:

✨ Prefer a different retail giant

And, as always, there is a plethora of:

✨ Independent Canadian bookstores you can preorder from (just click “Shop Local” and enter your postal code!)

Lastly, for my non-Canadian readers, lots of options (likely not discounted at the moment, sadly) can be found ✨ HERE ✨

Stay tuned as well for preorder campaigns, giveaways, ARC releases, and fun incentives in the upcoming weeks, hopefully in collaboration with some cool artists and bookstores, if you’re interested in that sort of thing!

I think now is my chance to wrap things up, so that’s what I’m going to do (finally—I’ve been writing this newsletter since December 27th 🥴 )

Thanks again for being here and HAPPY NEW YEAR (it’s not too late, right?)

Talk soon. 😉