Here’s to 2025! Did you celebrate the new year with sparkle and flash, or did you choose a quiet, cozy transition? I spent the evening with friends–cozy, but with dressed in lots of sparkle. You’d think someone living in Las Vegas would bling it up often, but you’ll usually find me in jeans or yoga pants. 😂 I do love to glitter and shine on New Year’s Eve, though.

I like this trend of picking a focus word or two, rather than a list of New Year’s resolutions. My focus words for 2025 are CONNECT and RESIST.

In these turbulent times (overused phrase, I know, but it’s the only polite one I can think of at the moment), I find connection to friends, family, and community more important than ever. Like many (most?) authors, I’m on the introverted side, but we need each other to pull us through tough times, to celebrate victories, to build a community that embodies our values.

It’s easy to “blah, blah, blah” about my values on social media, but tough times call for living our values out loud, so I’m volunteering time with the Assistance League of Las Vegas, an all-volunteer nonprofit that provides new clothes and school supplies to underprivileged kids, along with many other communtiy-support projects. I’d love to hear how you’re connecting with your community.

And “Resist”? Darling reader, I’m especially worried about the rights of my daughter, DIL, nieces, and granddaughter (and yours), and I’m a raging mama bear when anyone tries to make their lives smaller and less free.

I’d love to hear about your intentions for the New Year. Do you have a focus word? A resolution? Or do you avoid those altogether and just take each day as it comes? Please let me know in the comments.

2024 was a busy year, but with only three book releases to show for it: Kieran’s Light (in the Heroes, Holidays and Hope Anthology), The One You Can’t Keep, and Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens. However, I did spend time reworking my Book Nirvana series, ready for re-release in 2025. Watch this space for release dates!

Highlights of my professional year include two big author signing events: Hot & Steamy in Portland in May, and Readers & Writers Seattle in July, plus a wonderful writers’ retreat in Westport, WA, where I was inspired by some brilliant and generous authors.

My 2025 publishing schedule will be a doozy!

Besides the shined-up Book Nirvana trilogy, I’ll add two novellas and two novels to the Trappers Cove series. For those who read Love, Legacy, and Little Green Aliens (and if you didn’t, go get it!), next up is bookstore owner Daphne and her grumpy, reclusive boyfriend-to-be, followed by bakery owner Garrett and his burnt-out chef ladylove.

I’m also releasing the Bangers Tavern series as a discounted box set. More info on that coming soon.

It’s going to be a fun year! And having something to look forward to helps me resist the urge to doom scroll.

Do you have any big plans for 2025? I’d love to hear about them.

Cheers!