Happy New Year!

It’s hard to believe that 2025 is over already. The year just blew by as fast as ever; it was here and then it was gone. Like many I’ve talked to, this just wasn’t the year for motivation. I wrote…but not nearly as much as I would have liked or honestly should have. I focused mainly on some longer projects (a novella and my current WIP) and didn’t do much short fiction writing. Therefore, my submissions this year were few and far between. I only got two pieces sent out–both of which were accepted. Only one new release happened: my short Returning to Nature in Shacklebound Books’ Short Fantasy Stories. I certainly won’t take it as a loss, though. Even though my motivation wasn’t at its peak, I still had a fantastic year with a lot of firsts, a lot of accomplishments, and a lot of enjoyment.

Accomplishments & Highlights of 2025:

• Sold a total of 3,253 copies of my books. Though small in the grand scheme of things, it was a great year for me!
• Had 20,505 page reads on KU.
• Attended events and signed books in three states I hadn’t yet: Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Illinois.
• Visited three new states to mark off my travel list: Wisconsin, Alabama, and Kentucky.
• Moderated by first ever panels (Grief Horror and Writing Short Fiction) at Scares That Care’s AuthorCon.
• Nominated for three awards: Local Author (Chronogrammies Readers’ Choice Awards), Best Horror (Indie Author Awards), and Best Novella (Indie Author Awards).
• Attended lots of concerts: Martin Barre, Bullet for My Valentine & Trivium, Shinedown, Ice Nine Kills, My Chemical Romance, and Yellowcard & A Day to Remember.
• Attended my first ever Sonic Temple Music Festival in Columbus, OH with my brother. We saw so many of our favorite bands…though I swear I’m still hurting from that 4-day-weekend!
• Got engaged to my best friend Teresa.
• Went camping for the very first time!
• Met RL Stine! This was definitely the highlight of my year. I owe so much to the Goosebumps series for getting me into reading and writing and loving all things dark and eerie.
• Interviewed on three podcasts to talk about my work, as well as spoke at a local library.
• Released my novelette White Tranquility Q4!

Looking forward to in 2026…

• Submitting more short fiction to literary mags and journals. Like I said, I didn’t do much of that this past year, so I’m planning on getting back into my submission calendar for this year.
• Finishing the first draft of my PNW Coming-of-Age WIP.
• Releasing a new novelette I worked on this past year Q2.
• Teresa and my wedding in October!
• Signing books at events in states I haven’t signed in yet. I’ve got some West Coast events this year, so I’m looking forward to them!
• Selling at least 1,000 copies of books this year.
• Getting more active and working on a better diet and exercise regime to get a bit healthier this year.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year. Hopefully this year is much more productive for many of us who struggled, and that it’s full of good health and positivity. I plan to be much more “active” with blogs this year, so expect to hear more from me soon. Until then, wishing you the best in 2026!