What do you want from me + 2025 intentions

Greetings, Humans.

My god, there’s nothing like reaching 2025 to make you feel like you’re an old ass bitch resentfully living in a future you definitely imagined differently… but I digress.

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I secretly love the new year. I love a fresh start, I love setting intentions, I love the possibility of all that may come… Call me a pollyanna, I don’t care!

I used to set insane writing goals for myself back when I was a young gal with way more energy. But, we get older, we get wiser, we get more tired. I still make goals—but now they’re more about enjoying the ride of writing rather than hitting a numerical output.

So this year’s writing goals are:

Fall back in love with reading books. Reading, real immersive, deep reading, is so important to good writing, and I sadly really let myself get swept away in the doomscroll in the last several years. I spent more time reading on my phone, reading news and reactions, and yeah, still reading some great, hard-hitting journalism. But in exchange for that, I really left books behind—so I want them back. This year, I commit to re-prioritizing my book reading. I will shoot for one a week, not necessarily hewing to any list. And I’ll report on my what I’m reading here, because why not?
Finish a draft of Book 3. I’m currently in that lovely state where everything is new and I can just settle in to a new story with new characters. This book is shaping up to be a big, vast, far-reaching one too, so my plan is to enjoy this new ride before everything gets all confusing and frustrating.
Focus on landing writing assignments that take me places. I loved being able to travel back to Texas to write commissioned assignments on subjects I adored. I want more of that this year, and onward. So this year I’ll be putting my energies into forging new relationships with new editors at new publications and shooting for the moon in my pitches.

What are your writing intentions for this year? I’d love to know!

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The Librarian Is In!

A Big New Book for a Big New Year

The first book I’m reading this year is THIS STRANGE, EVENTFUL HISTORY by Claire Messud.

I picked this one because I’m a sucker for a big ol’ book that makes you want to curl up and dive in. This thing got me through the doldrums of January and was a perfect complement to our recent snow days. (And I’m glad I picked it up too because it’s going to be a great comp for my new project.)

Messud traces the decades-long story of a family “born on the wrong side of history.” They are French colonizers living in Algeria during World War II and are then exiled from their home after the war of Algerian independence. The book then follows the family members in their disparate exile as they marry, have children, and watch those children grow into a new world.

I cannot tell you how many lines I’ve underlined or noted in this book. There are so many times when I feel like Messud is talking directly to me, we, just two old friends going on about the frustrations of the world. It is such a uniquely human, uniquely layered book—it’s truly an incredible read that requires a presence of mind.

I’m not finished with it yet, as of this writing. And frankly, I don’t want it to end. If this start to my 2025 reading year holds up, I’m in for a banger of a year.

What was your first book of the year?

Lastly…

Parting Shot:
It Snowed!

Happy Snowy New Year from Me to You.

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So long, farewell!