It’s early in the morning, with the long night of New Year’s Eve looming. It’s cold out, a statement that seems redundant for the time of year until you consider how mild winters on Long Island have been recently. We have already had two substantial snowfalls (the gray and icy tatters of the last still cling to the shadows and hunker in piles where the plows pushed snow aside), a rarer occurrence than the chilly temperatures, and the season promises to be one that harkens back to the winters of my childhood. I love waking up with the trees covered with snow like a white shadow and looking out the window at a night brightened by the moonlight reflected on glistening drifts. The stillness of the world after a snowstorm, before the snarl of snowblowers and the scrapes of shovels, is so complete it is as if nature has been paused, the sounds of the world swallowed by the storm. It is a strangely comforting stillness, a warm blanket of silence draped across the frozen land.
In that silence, it is easy to contemplate what the year has brought me. As in any other, this year has been one of successes and failures, gains and losses. I like to focus on the positives; dwelling on what could have been, what went wrong, and what did not go my way only creates more obstacles for me to overcome. Not to say that I ignore those defeats, but I do not linger on them once I have learned whatever I can from them. My goals for each year come from these lessons; sometimes I scale back (like scrapping my social media goal for 2025) and sometimes I challenge myself. With that in mind, I want to reflect on my goals for the year that is hours away from ending.
1 – I want finish editing book one of my YA series to the point that I consider it good enough for publication (it probably won’t be, but I want to get it as far as I can take it). I continue to tinker with this story. I have a couple of spots I would like to tighten, and every read-through brings up more typos and mistakes that slipped by in other rounds. Still, I know this book is ready, so I will call this complete. Until an agent says yes, I will continue to pick this apart like George Lucas with a fresh print of Star Wars. Which leads me to . . .
2 – I want to begin querying agents to see if I can publish that book, and its sequels, traditionally. It has been a discouraging process, one that has forced me to rethink my approach to getting published. I knew this was a longshot going in, so even though rejection has been nibbling away at my confidence, I am undeterred. I have other avenues to pursue. But since I have sent out almost twenty queries and still have more planned, I will call this goal complete as well.
3 – I want to finish the first draft of book 2 in that series and go through at least 1 round of edits. This book has gotten much longer than I planned. It will come in around 130,000 words at the end of the first draft. I already have a list of changes I want to make, both additions and places to trim, so that number is in flux. Stephen King says you should be able to trim ten percent in the editing process, so I am going to aim for around 115,000. I still have a little bit of work to do on the climactic chapters, so this goal is not quite completed, but I have a lot of downhill momentum and feel like it will be done in the next few weeks.
4 – I want to have a completed outline for book 3 with an aim at starting the writing process this year as well. I did not get to complete a full outline the way I usually do. However, I do have much of the story mapped with only some connective tissue that needs to be worked out. So I will give myself partial credit on this one.
5 – I want to have two short stories accepted for publication this year. I cannot announce things here yet, so you will have to take my word for it: this goal is completed. I have two stories accepted for publication, both coming out in 2026, and one other I am waiting to hear back on. The announcement posts have already been written, so watch this space!
Looking over this list again, I feel good about what I managed to accomplish in 2025. While I only finished three of the five (with a sixth abandoned), I am content with the amount of work I put in this year. Reflecting on why I did not finish everything I set out to, I can see where I need to improve. I spent too much time in the thrall of my arch enemy, the evil backspace key. I let book two get away from me at times, so that it has grown longer than I wanted. There were stretches when I did not allow myself enough time to focus and write. And I let the rejections weigh me down too much.
The new year begins tomorrow. January is a long month in so many ways – dark and cold, a slog through the doldrums of winter – and I want to take advantage of the quietude that comes with the gloomy, gelid days.
Turning my attention to what I want to accomplish this year, I am taking a different approach. I am entering the year with immediate, internal deadlines, benchmarks along the long, twisting road of the future. My hope is that these focused, short-range targets will keep me motivated and aid me in completing all my larger goals for 2026. They are:
1 – Finish writing book 2 with at least two full rounds of edits. With the draft nearly finished, that should give me time to take the red pen to this story more than once. Plus I will have my trusty alpha reader – my incredible and insightful wife – as a second pair of eyes. I’ll be breaking the book into pieces so I don’t overwhelm her with it.
2 – Be at least halfway through writing book 3. With the bulk of the story mapped out, I should be able to start writing this book before the summer, after a short break from this universe to recharge.
3 – Have at least two short stories accepted for publication. My constant goal, with an aim at trying to find themes I like instead of finding homes for stories I have already written. That said, I have at least two that I desperately want to see in print, so I will be hunting for nice, comfortable homes for those as well.
4 – Expand my search for someone to publish these YA stories. I will continue to pursue traditional agents and publication, but I am expanding my search into independent and small publishers as well, those that do not require an agent.
5 – Average two additional blog posts a month outside of monthly updates and publication announcements. This one is aimed at helping me take a small step forward in online visibility. If I can get into a good groove with this, I may make it more intense. But we’ll see.
6 – Read 36 books. You are probably thinking something like, “Wait a second. Aren’t you a writer? What the heck is this?” Look, here’s the deal: I do read quite a bit, but I am a very slow reader. As a result, I don’t read nearly as much as I should. So I am setting a loose goal of 3 books a month to force me to get into a more consistent habit. I am also hopeful that writing a few blog posts about what I am reading will help me with goal #5.
That puts the bow on 2025 for me and begins what I hope will be a successful 2026. I hope you have had a joy-filled holiday season and a wonderful year to look back on. And I hope that by reading these posts, you’ve felt a little encouraged, smiled more than once, and learned a little about my strange journey. Thank you for your support and faith. Be well, best of luck, and I will see you again soon. James