Plans for this Year 2026

It's common for people to start the year with a new year's resolution. I used to be one of those people. However, I usually ended up forgetting what it was. Eventually, I just gave up setting any resolutions at all. This year, while I do have some general goals, I don't intend to set any new year's resolutions. I know that might not make sense but hear me out. I feel like most new year's resolutions are something like this "I'm going to lose X pounds" or "I'm going to spend less time on social media" or "I'm going to go to bed at 9:00pm every night so I can make sure I'm getting enough sleep". The problem with these goals is that they don't account for life. Life happens. Life changes things. One year, I wanted to go running regularly. That February, I almost broke my ankle and ended up with a very bad sprain which set me back immensely and caused issues way longer than it should have. I was so discouraged and it took forever to heal. So, instead of making a goal, I am making a plan. I am setting "dates" with myself. In my "2025 What I've Learned this Year" post, I mentioned some of my goals. Here's a deeper break down of what I'm hoping for this year and my plan to achieve them so that I succeed and don't forget them or have them completely sidelined by life.

• Do more marketing by putting myself and my book out there more= Essentially, I need to improve my marketing. I have the skills, I just need better systems for how I go about it so that I can be more consistent.

  • Plan:

    • Create a system

    • Implement the system

    • Change and improve the system as needed

• Get a good publishing cycle well established (I'm starting to have one, but I want to refine it)= Essentially, I need to improve my publishing cycle. I also need to spread things out more so I ensure that I have plenty of time to get things done.

  • Plan:

    • Update publishing schedule

    • Refine publishing cycle (I plan on doing a video and/or blog post about my process some time this year)

• New laptop 💻 ✨️= My laptop is the one I got in graduate school in 2020 and it has had the unfortunate experience of being stepped on... twice... oops! It needs to retire very badly as I'm starting to have issues with it (e.g., the screen is cracked, the mouse pad doesn't work, it randomly crashes, and sometimes it does not detect the charging cord) I would also like a new tablet but I think the laptop takes priority between the two.

  • Plan:

    • My dad is very into tech and so I am going to set a date to go look at laptops with him so that I can get his input before I buy

• Publish Red Planet and 1 other book, finish posting Stories Have Power= This is my ideal publishing plan for this year. However, as of now, only Red Planet and Stories Have Power are the only two that I feel I can confidently say that I will get done.

  • Plan:

    • Publish Red Planet in February= I'm aiming for the beginning of February but I have progress reports due at the end of January and so I am not announcing the date until I have everything finalized. I predict that it will be closer to the middle/end of February.

    • Once Red Planet is published, I will shift gears and focus on finishing my posts for Stories Have Power while also working on editing and writing other books.

    • When Stories Have Power Origins is completely posted, I will review where I am at in editing the books that I have written. If I feel one is close enough to being ready for publishing, then I will proceed with the publishing process. If not, then I will focus attention on publishing the contemporary romance novel I plan on publishing in February 2027.

• Be more comfortable with putting myself out there or at least more comfortable with being uncomfortable= I have to admit that I am very uncomfortable knowing that my books are out there for anyone to read. I know that not everyone will like them, and I have a very bad habit of wanting to please everyone. This "goal" is, in my opinion, something that can't be guaranteed. I don't know if I can make myself more comfortable with putting myself out there or even being more comfortable being uncomfortable. That latter half feels very ironic and impossible. However, by continuing the blog, vlog, publishing my books, and posting to social media, I am putting myself out there and hopefully I will at least get used to it if anything.

  • Plan:

    • Continuing posting and publishing

If you're like me and you've always struggled to do a new year's resolution feel free to join me in making plans for 2026 instead. I encourage you to try setting "dates" with yourself to complete the plan like I am. For example, I'm going to schedule a "date" with just myself on a certain day this month to create a marketing system based on what I've learned so far. I'll go to the coffee shop or library and sit down and work on it. Then, after I've created it, I'll implement it and schedule a check-in date in a few weeks to see what needs to change because something always needs changed and no one ever gets it the first time. I'll scatter check-in dates with myself throughout the year so that I can improve my system and as a means of accountability. I can't work on improving it if I'm not using it. So, when I see that a check-in is coming up, I'll be paying more attention to the system and making sure that I'm following it.

Whatever it is that you want to do this year, I encourage you to start. It is better if it is started than never started. Sometimes just starting can be an accomplishment.