Prologue to 2025

Take time tonight to dream about what you’ll achieve—what you’ll look forward to—and the burdens I’m sure you’re ready to let go of.

As we gather to wait for the clock to strike chiming midnight, I am glad to wish my subscribers a happy New Year!

Every year, on the first of January, we’re given an opportunity to start anew. We can decide to resume our projects that have been on the back-burner. We can sip sparkling cider while recalling the good things that happened in 2024.

New Years Day brings with it a sense of deep reflection, as well as a particular… lightness. Those lights from the still-present Christmas tree might help—but that’s not what I mean by light.

The new year always makes everything feel golden. I have no other way of describing it: golden.

Like most people do at the start of a new year, I found myself considering my goals for 2025. It was not hard; in fact, one of them has been staring at me in the face for years. For some reason, I have not felt the motivation to take it on until now.

That resolution is…

1—Read the books I own.

Any book lover is aware that owning books and reading them are two different hobbies.

I have a towering pile of books I have not touched since buying them. This doesn’t mean that I’ll stop buying new books, but I’m going to make an active effort to tackle the visible TBR pile sitting on my desk, as well as the interesting eBooks in my Kindle that I’ve forgotten.

2—Practice music.

In 2024, I finally pursued my lifelong dream of learning the guitar. I’m teaching myself using books, YouTube, and sheer determination, as I am unable to get a teacher at this time.

For several months, I’ve set aside ‘music time’—half an hour of guitar, ukulele, or piano practice. The practice helps me relax before I crawl into bed.

For most of my life I have focused on the language of the written word; I am discovering that music can whisper beautiful secrets, as well, to a heart that’s ready to listen.

I hope to learn at least six songs in 2025. Just for fun. I’m not joining a band.

At least, not this year (you never know…)

3—Publish two books.

I meant to do this in 2024 and became sidetracked. Life does intervene, even when we think we’ve got things planned out.

The draft for book three of my Mermaid series is now complete, so I will begin revisions mid-January, hoping for a summer release. It will probably be called The Selkie, though titles are prone to change, just like stories change for pantser writers like me.

If you’ve been following my story The Graveyard House on Substack, you know I’ve also been working on releasing it as a second book.

While fourteen chapters of The Graveyard House are currently available on Substack (and will be available until the eBook is released), I’ve actually written 60,000 words of it and have yet to finish.

Once The Graveyard House is finished, I’ll start sharing a new fantasy novel on Substack which is (for now) called Davy Jones’ Daughter. It is the story of—you guessed it!—Keira, the daughter of Davy Jones. Due to superstitions about ‘women on ships being bad luck,’ she has been unable to follow her father on his adventures.

When a young man called Ewan washes up ashore with claims of having seen the Flying Dutchman, Keira wonders if this is her chance to finally begin a life of excitement.

4—Fill in journals.

Being a writer, this shouldn’t be something I’d need to add to this list; however, I only began journaling daily last spring.

Each night, I make sure to add at least a paragraph describing the high and low points of my day.

I do not practice the trendy colorful bullet journals, though I’ve tried. I wish that method worked for me, because it looks like such fun.

My journals are ‘old-fashioned’; they are simply words on pages, words which describe thoughts, memories, story ideas, and prayers.

5—Cultivate my newsletter.

Substack has been the greatest thing I’ve discovered for my writing life. My schedule here is about to change a bit.

While I’ve been publishing two historical pieces each week, I want to write some entries about myself and my life. I enjoy reading ‘journal’ posts when others write them; my heart asked me tentatively, why not make posts about your own life?

My personality is literature, the written word. You will probably see one historical post and one journal post each week, aside from my Monday fiction.

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There is more I would like to do in 2025, but my list is beginning to look daunting—and when a list looks daunting, it’s less likely to be carried out.

I don’t want to make my passions into homework; I want to open doors so that they can flourish.

I hope to read this post on the last day of 2025. I hope to see how I have grown, how my work has improved, and what I can do to ensure continued growth for the rest of my life.

A caveat…

Notice that I did not add lose weight to my list. While I do plan to eat healthier, I’ve struggled with the notion of weight loss.

In 2019 I lost a lot of weight, then regained it; in 2024 I again managed to lose weight (though not half as much) but reached a two-month plateau that killed my determination. It was no longer rewarding; it became a matter of I want to eat but I can’t eat that, but the healthy stuff is tasteless, but what if I get hungry later?

I could, and probably will, write a blog post about my struggles with weight. Instead of making my sixth resolution Lose weight, I’d word it Be healthy.

Health, in my mind, combines physical, spiritual, and mental health. There is no victory in ‘looking better’ (honestly, logic tells me I look fine) if I don’t ‘feel’ good.

I am, at this moment, mostly free from perpetual thoughts about food and what I shouldn’t be touching. I hope to stay that way.

As we begin 2025 together, I hope and pray you will ponder the words Be healthy. Be healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Don’t try to change yourself to the point where you no longer have time for other hobbies. We all look different.

Society has cruelly planted an idea in the minds of the public that a certain ‘look’ is the right one. While I do see progress in body positivity movements, I believe it will take more work to undo the damage that has been inflicted on women (and men!) for centuries.

I never thought that I would fall into the trap of you must look like this, but I did. I want to talk about it now. You might see posts about that, as well.

If enough of us spread the word that it’s okay to be okay with yourself, and there are many ways to be healthy, maybe we can hasten a positive mindset into our broken world.

2025 will be a year in which you’ll see posts from me that are more open; after all, when we gather for tea, we discuss all sorts of things. These things include our goals, our lives, and the challenges we have faced.

I am sure that, with courage and determination, we can make 2025 one of the best years of our lives.

It’s all about mindset, courage, and being gentle with oneself.

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If you’re joining us in our January group read of Sense and Sensibility, comment below! There is a Facebook group in which our small book club discusses our reads; you might make new friends there.

Take time tonight to dream about what you’ll achieve—what you’ll look forward to—and the burdens I’m sure you’re ready to let go of, even if it might be difficult. The freedom that’s felt after a burden is released—such freedom makes it worth the discomfort.

If you ever need to talk about something, shoot me a message. Let’s be friends.

What will your first read be for 2025?