Dreaming forward 2025
“Things that were, things that are, and some things... that have not yet come to pass.”
Well, we’re a week into the New Year…
And that means it’s time for my annual “Looking Back/Looking Forward” post, in which we look back at last year’s dreams and look forward to continuing or new dreams for this year!
First, let’s take a little trip down memory lane for a bit. Reminisce a bit about all the hopes and dreams that 2024 held, and see where God took me throughout the year.
2024’s Adventures
Writing
THE PLAN:
Publish Mantles of Oak and Iron
Publish Hearts of Stone and Steel
Work on editing The Prisoner and the Pirate
Work on editing Towers of Might and Memory
Finish rough draft of Jana of Sea and Summer
Well, I published Mantles of Oak and Iron and Hearts of Stone and Steel. I finished editing The Prisoner and the Pirate a couple of days before the year ended, so that’s a massive win. I did work on edits for Towers of Might and Memory, but I didn’t get as far as I had hoped because I had a teensy bit of a setback on that and had to start over.
No, my computer didn’t fry.
But I did send the first 30,000 words of my revisions over to my developmental editor and asking if he thought the new version was at all interesting and he told me…
“This is very interesting. It just needs to be written in a more interesting way.”
And while, yes, as an author that does take the wind out of your sails juuuuust a bit… he was right.
Also, I share this because, honestly, it’s very funny, and I hope it makes you laugh like it makes me laugh. This is the true dream, fellow authors. Having an editor who can bluntly tell you things like that and you being able to accept it… no tears, no defensiveness, just, “Yep, I thought there was something wrong with this and that’s why I sent it to you… because I knew it was off but I couldn’t figure out why…” THAT is worth more than diamonds or gold. I promise.
So, I scrapped what I had and went back to the drawing board. I think what I have now is much better, tighter, and hopefully written in a more interesting way.
I have about 70,000 words now written in Towers of Might and Memory, and if my estimate is correct, I probably have about 50,000-60,000 words left, so I’m a little over halfway through the new draft.
Jana of Sea and Summer… I DID work on this, but not nearly as much as I wanted to. I have words on this written that aren’t counted yet because I wrote them by hand in my Jana journal. The story is currently sitting at about halfway finished.
This wasn’t actually on my radar, but it swooped in twice last year and side-tracked me in the best possible way. I wrote a short superhero story for the DOSA Files anthology and it was such a blast. We ran a successful Kickstarter for it and the book was published in June, right on the heels of Hearts of Stone and Steel, so that was fun!
Then, in July, H.L. Burke opened up submissions for a second anthology, and one of her prompts just jumped out at me and I wrote a little sort of stand-alone sequel to my first story and that got accepted! It was really fun taking a break from my huge projects and writing a couple of shorter stories that are set in the modern day world… it was just kind of relaxing and fun. Keep an eye out for info on volume 2!
Stats:
Brand-new writing: 48,382 words
(up from only 17,561 new words written in 2023, so I’m actually pretty happy with that)
Editing: 1,000,699 words
So, a very editing-heavy year. And while these were not ALL my words… (I did edit a couple of short stories for some friends and I had 19 research papers to edit from my students) I’d say that at least 900,000 of them were my own.
Blogging/Social Media
I wanted to take a bit of a step back from all online stuff and focus my efforts into my actual writing and get back some margin in my life. I think I did this well with both the blog and social media. I deleted facebook off my phone so I can only do stuff there when I’m at my computer, and I put a timer on instagram so I can only spend 20 min on there a day. I extended that timer during the holidays a lot so I could look at family-and-friends’ pictures, but for the most part, I spent a lot less time there.
Taking a year to step back made me realize that while I miss the blog, I don’t miss facebook or instagram nearly as much.
Reading
I set a goal of reading 75 books last year and ended up reading 81. I wanted to make a dent in the paper books on my shelves, as well as some of the books I’ve had waiting on my kindle for literal years…. I did make a good foray into my kindle books, and I read at least 6 or 7 of the books that are on my physical bookshelves, so that’s cool.
Life
My goal was to simply be more present in each day with my family. Really just treasure my time with my kids and husband.
I think… I think I did that.
We took a lot of trips, we spent a lot of time with family, we spent a lot of time together as a family, we read stories, watched movies, listened to Adventures in Odyssey, played board games, did sports, and just generally spent time together.
I got to cross “VISIT IRELAND” off my bucket list (and I definitely want to go back!)
I also got to cross “Go to Whit’s End” off that list when the family went to Colorado Springs in August to attend the One Grand Party and celebrate the 1,000th episode of Adventures in Odyssey being released in 2024! So much fun.
I got to go back to Realm Makers for the second time (last time I got to go was in 2018) and I met some of my awesome online writer friends and hung out with fellow Christian creatives and just generally had a blast.
I also added teaching a homeschool public speaking class to my resumé this past semester. I had 19 students (one of whom was my oldest daughter, Leiana) and it went really well! I enjoyed teaching one of my favorite classes again, and I look forward to doing it again in a couple of years for Nathalie and her friends.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the dreams I had for 2024 and which ones came true.
Adventuring into 2025
So what are my dreams for this new year?
Writing/Authoring
I plan to publish the final two books in the Turrim Archive series. The Prisoner and the Pirate will be releasing April 30, 2025, and right now I’m tentatively planning to get Towers of Might and Memory out in October. I don’t have a firm release date set yet, as this developmental edit is taking a lot longer than I thought it would. There’s a lot of pressure (all internal, of course) on this story because it is the (cue deep announcer’s voice) FINAL BOOOOK. And I think I’m making it a much bigger deal in my head than I need to. But it’s… I want it to be everything it should be. You know what I mean?
I also will have another short story in the next DOSA Files anthology! More on that when I know more details… plus a pretty epic surprise coming with that one… like, just a SUPER fun tidbit of excitement for me, sort of personally, that I can barely contain at the moment… but I am refraining until I can divulge more.
I’m definitely planning to work more on Jana of Sea and Summer, but it might not happen until after Towers is fully edited. I need to make the Turrim Archive my tippy-top priority this year.
I’d also like to see my “new words written” word count go up a bit this year. As you can clearly tell from the vast differences in my words written-vs-words edited counts from 2024 I’ve been stuck in editing purgatory mode for two years now and I really miss writing NEW stories. (Probably why the shiny short stories have been so appealing lately). Drafting is my happy place. Putting down words on a shiny new rough draft… that is what makes my heart sing and my soul come alive. And while I have learned to enjoy editing (or, at least, the finished product that editing yields) it’s not what makes me come alive. So… I’d love to put down shiny new words on some shiny new stories.
Blogging/Social Media
As I said, taking a step back was good. I missed blogging, though. So I’d like to continue stepping back from things like FB and IG, while putting more effort toward reviving the blog and continuing to enjoy time chatting and word-sprinting in various Discord servers.
My goal would be to have at least one blog post per month, maybe two…
If you like discussion-oriented social media, you are welcome to join my discord server!
Reading
I’ve set myself a 50-book goal this year when it comes to reading. I’d like to get caught up on some series that I started back when they only had 1 book in them, as well as get caught up reading some of my favorite authors.
I also really want to re-read the entire Anne of Green Gables series. I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I finished up my re-read of the Little Women series in 2023, and I think this is the year I begin.
Life
I liked my dream for last year of being present. I think it was a good goal, and it helped remind me not to get so busy, that it’s okay to say “no” to some things, and just to really savor each day and each moment as it comes.
So, I’m going to keep that dream for this year, as well.
However, a couple of more specific dreams I have for this year are:
make exercise a more regular part of my daily routine
compete in my first 5K and finish with a time under 30 minutes
attend Realm Makers again
read my Bible every day
A Word for 2025
Last year’s word was “Courage.”
Which was a good word. It carried me through more than 12 months, as many of you will remember I sort of needed that word a bit earlier than the New Year.
Thankfully, the Lord brought us through all our fears and cared so kindly for us through it all. There are still some unknowns, of course, hardships before us there are still some fears… there always will be.
But this year’s word… phrase, really, encompasses everything I want for the coming year.
ALL IN
Photo credit: Grantland Walker
I want to dive into this year fully embracing whatever God has for me. Whether it’s work, play, time with friends and family, starting a new adventure, exploring the woods, talking to strangers, writing new stories, exercising, baking, homeschooling my kids… whatever I’m doing, I want to be doing it “all in” - fully committed. I want to work at everything I do with diligence and discipline and dedication. I want to attack this year with more energy than I have. I want to set goals that cannot possibly happen without God’s intervention. I want to reach for the moon.
“Do not set small goals, for small goals do not stir the blood of a man’s soul.”
I don’t know who said it, and I can’t find it on the interwebs, but I saw it on a plaque once and wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it. Perhaps it’s a misquote from something else, but I like it worded this way.
I’ve been reading Allen Arnold’s daily devotions for creatives pretty much every weekday all throughout 2024, and those short little readings have been challenging me. If you want a little bit of refreshment in your inbox each morning, I highly recommend subscribing to them (they’re free!)
Whew… that was a bit more lengthy than I intended this post to be!
What are you dreaming of this year, dear Reader?
Do you pick a word for each year? What is yours?
What do you hope to accomplish this year?
How were your holidays?
Do you have any big plans this coming year?
Most importantly…. are you going to Realm Makers?