Saying Goodbye to 2025 Stuff While Also Planning (and Hoping) for 2026 Stuff

It’s that time of the year again! With the very last month of the year nearly upon us, it’s time to finish up the things I have been working on in 2025 so that I can start 2026 with the new stuff … as well as old stuff that I hope to complete

 

As far as reviewing books is concerned, I am putting a hold on accepting new books to review on my blog for this year. If an author doesn’t mind sending me a review copy of their book now and waiting until January for that review to be posted, that’s fine, but I won’t be posting reviews of any new books until then. I plan to finish reading and/or reviewing some other books in the queue, and all other new books in December will have to wait until January for me to pick up for reviews. My selection of books that I review for Reader Views, however, will remain the same. I plan the submission of my book reviews to them weeks in advance (as long as I meet the deadline), so there’s no change in books I select to review there.

 

Here are the things I plan to say goodbye to at the end of the year:

 

·   A manuscript I started work on earlier this year. This book was previously self-published as one of my “12 Books in 12 Months” project. I have since unpublished it because I want to revise and expand this book. I am still waiting for something to be emailed to me for this book and I am also going through a loooong list of content someone sent to me for the book so that I can decide what parts of it to include in the book (he is the author of this content and I have his permission to include his work). I really want to finish working on this book before January gets here!

 

·   A novel I started writing this month. I hope to finish writing it by the end of the year!

 

·   Revisions on the eighth GHOST Group story.

 

·   There’s another WIP I hope to finish writing before the year is over: A poetry book. It is a collection of poems about the current presidential administration. Some of the poems are about things that have happened during this time, my personal feelings and thoughts about these things, as well as responses to certain vitriol I have received from MAGA in response to my comments or things I have shared. At first, I was going to trunk this book, thinking no publisher would accept it and that I will be hated on by ALL of his supporters (I actually imagined such supporters burning the book!). I also figured that a book about these horrific times is the LAST THING that people would want to be reminded of with a book, so no one will read it. But now I am beginning to feel that this book is valid. This book needs to be published. There is too much deletion of history and too many lies being spread (and which will continue to spread long after he is gone) and all of this will result in people questioning what they remember about this period of history. Just as President Eisenhower instructed troops to take photographs of the atrocities done at the concentration camps so that this horrific period of history will not be forgotten or can be denied, nonfiction authors, poets, bloggers and journalists owe it to future generations to document and write TRUTHFULLY about the things our current president is doing so that these things, our own atrocities, cannot ever be forgotten or denied. And I hope to the gods that this book will serve as a reminder that we should never again allow that tyrant to take office in the White House after his term is over.

 

Here are the things that are planned for 2026:

 

·   Twisted Dreams Press will begin publishing shorter stories (anything under 10K words and up to 15K words) as standalone ebooks to purchase

 

·   Sadly, my co-author, Martha Jette, passed away this year. I was devastated by this news, as I had grown close to Martha. I was also still revising and editing our haunted houses book, as well as still doing research for and writing a book Martha had asked me to write for her. I have been communicating with her daughter and received her blessing to continue this work for Martha. Her name will still be on both books and I will still be able to include the content she provided for both books. I am very grateful for this and plan to get back to work on these books in the new year

 

·   My first erotic horror book, with the publication of my novella Love You Still (slated for a February 2026 release)

 

·   I am also looking forward to the publication of two short story collections in 2026 (well, three, if I ever finish revising another one! And if I can sweet talk my favorite publisher into adding it to the publication schedule). These two books were originally slated for publication this year but, with life being what it is, things happened, and so these books were bumped to next year. It will be nice to see them get published!

 

·  Writing a new nonfiction book! I recently got the idea for this book after thinking of an experiment to try next year. And since it is something that I’ll be doing all year, I thought, “Why not turn those 12 months into 12 chapters for a book?” After some thought in how to make those chapters doable, I decided that, yes! I will write this book about this particular experiment! (I’m not calling it a challenge because It’s something that I already do all year long, so it’s not really a challenge at all, but I thought of how to change things up with it a bit to make it more interesting and beneficial to the public. Plus, hopefully, it will promote a sense of altruism in more people.)

 

Now for the stuff I hope to see happen in 2026!

 

·   I’ll get my script written! This is something I have been tiptoeing around all year. I really never committed the time or energy to finishing work on it. But I really want to see this project completed in 2026. Hey, a girl can hope! Will it also be optioned next year? More hoping!

 

·   If I’m lucky, 2026 will also see the publication of a children’s book! If I’m VERY lucky, there will be two. (I submitted quite a few of them this year and there’s no response yet on if they were accepted.) There is one still scheduled to be published this year, but we will see if that will still happen.

 

·   The return of The GHOST Group! I am making it my mission to FINISH revising the eighth story in this series. Once that is done, my editor will have the stories she needs to publish the next ebook in this series. Stories 1-4 were published both as ebooks as well as in one print volume, and with the e-release of stories seven and eight, she’ll have all the stories needed for the next print volume, which will include stories 5-8. Yay! (Stories 5 and 6 were already published in one ebook.) Let’s hope this will all happen! Well, at least, I hope so! I would LOVE to get all 12 stories in this series published soonish. It is long overdue.

 

·   Another thing I hope will come back in 2026? My return to songwriting! I have had a couple of song lyrics I wrote put to music, but unfortunately, I lost those tapes after they were made (GAH!) and nothing ever happened with them. I was talking about how I wanted to get back to this on Facebook and, after I said I couldn’t create the music for these lyrics myself, a friend suggested, “Find your Elton.” Well, guess what? I have found my Elton! After I learned that another friend literally came from a family of musicians and even plays instruments, I asked him if he was willing to create music for my lyrics. He said yes and to send him some of them. I sent him 10 songs I wrote and, well, he has been working on putting music to some of them since then. I hope that next year will see one of those songs being released to the world!

 

·   And, finally, I have a TON of stories, collections, books and other assorted writings that I still need to edit and revise. Will I get it all done next year? Time will tell!

 

After writing about all of that, one thing is for certain: No matter what does and doesn’t happen next year, it’s definitely going to be a busy one!