Happy new year everyone!

It’s been a MINUTE since I checked in with you and I want to say sorry about that. To be honest, I hit a wall in December right around Christmas.

I definitely took way too much on my plate last month and I’m paying the price now in the form of extreme emotional instability and executive dysfunction.

Related to that, one of my Christmas gifts from my mother-in-law was a set of 3 stickers that all say “Well well well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own executive dysfunction”, which made me laugh very hard and one is now sitting on my water bottle. (My MIL also has ADHD so she gets it. And we share a similar sense of humour.)

Anyway, I’m easing back into things now that the new year has been rung in with fireworks and Tolkien. (Husband and I did our re-watch of Lord of the Rings for the New Year–did Fellowship on Dec. 31st, Two Towers on the 1st, Return of the King on 2nd. And we got to do the EXTENDED editions for the first time in AGES!! Honestly, don’t know how we handled doing the theatrical for so long. The Extended Editions are so much richer.)

Which means it’s time for an update! Grab a snack and settle in; this is long. (are we surprised?)

2024 in Review

So actually 2024 was pretty good for us, overall. Or, well. It was not worse than the previous few years, which have been flaming trashfires for us personally. On the balance, things didn’t get worse, and some things even got better. So I think that maths out to a pretty good year, even if things are still really difficult.

One thing that was really excellent for me this year is that my husband and mom (the two family members who have the most claim on my time, energy, resources) both gave me extra space and time to focus on my writing. And, actually, they are continuing to do so, because it’s clear that I’ve hit my stride with what I’m working on and they want me to be able to focus on that more.

Because I was given that space and time I managed to write 550,766 words last year. My goal was 350K, which I hit by summer solstice. I also finished 5 drafts–3 novels, 1 novella, and 1 short story. And I released 2 books–Fate’s Promise and Midwintertide.

So far as my writing and authoring career is considered, 2024 was excellent. 

It was also hard at the end, because my other career–my little witch shop in my mom’s town, called Conspiracy Bazaar–is not doing well. We had a 70% reduction in sales in 2024 from the year before, and that’s not fully attributable to my reduced hours. (In 2023 I was open for 2 weeks in August and then all of October–December, last day being the 22nd. In 2024 I was open for 2 weeks in August and then from Samhain through December 22nd. The difference is only about 3 weeks, and not in the key sales times.)

As my season drew to a close, Mars went retrograde and it hit me HARD. I began to question this endeavour completely, and started feeling like maybe I should shut it down. One thing was absolutely clear: Conspiracy is splitting my focus from my writing, and it’s no longer bringing in enough for it to justify doing so. It’s now costing me more–not just in money but in time and energy and focus–to keep it open than not.

While I am lucky in that I don’t have to pay commercial rent for the space because it rests on my mom’s property, there are still costs, and we are still in debt from opening the thing in the first place. I currently can’t afford to bring in orders of new stock, and if you know retail you know that’s a death knell because keeping stock rotating through is what keeps people coming in.

However, I didn’t want to throw in the towel completely. I think Conspiracy is still a needed thing for our town, and because I am not trapped by a commercial rent situation I’m uniquely powered to keep it going despite everything. But clearly, something needs to change.

I ended up making the decision to switch my open season from the last quarter of the year to the summer. Usually the Christmas shopping season is what makes or breaks retail shops–many retail stores stay open based on the sales they make in the last four months of the year. But this shop is in a tiny town that, perhaps, does not have the population to support my shop. What it does have is a swelling of tourism in the summer months.

In 2023 when I was open for 2 weeks in August I did about double the business I do in the darker months of the year. 2024 wasn’t as good, but it was still fairly busy.

I’ve decided I’m just not going to worry about the thing between now and June. January–June I’m going to focus on my writing, then June–August I’ll run my shop while also writing. I don’t know yet whether I’ll open before Christmas, too–I might do a month. Depends on how the summer goes.

It was a hard decision but I think it was the right one, and I definitely feel a weight off my shoulders knowing I can just focus on writing/author stuff between now and summer. 

Also in 2024 were some minor health upsets for both me and Mr. Katje, which has reaffirmed that we need to do better about our health, as much as we can. But we’re still above ground, which is always a blessing.

2025 Goals

I have a lot on my plate this year, which probably signals I have learned nothing from past experience. Oh well. Onwards into the breach!

Health: I do want to focus on getting healthier this year, which for me looks like going to the gym, eating better/kicking the sugar addiction, losing weight (yes, I do need to; while extra weight hasn’t caused the issue with my spine it’s not making it any better and is actually aggravating it), lowering my inflammation, fixing my gut health, and many appointments with my naturopath, acupuncturist, and chiropractor.

I’ll also be attempting to fix my sleep some more, though that is…hard.

And I’ll be helping my husband with his health goals, which are similar to mine. We both need to get in better shape if we want to make reality our big life’s dream, which is parenthood. And time is ticking on that (in August this year I’ll be 39 and he’ll be 44), so we don’t have any choice but to make big changes.

I’m calling my health journey “Couch to Bellica” because while I love the idea of a Couch to 5K I have no desire to do a 5K. I do want to be stronger, however–strong as a bellica. While getting to Yarrow or Anala’s level might not be possible for me, it’s still an aspiration I find encouraging. 

Writing: My word count goal is 500,000, and I want to finish 6 drafts this year. I’m not being specific about which ones, because it tends to hinder me more than help. So long as I finish 6 drafts I’m happy.

(Though I definitely have some I’d LIKE to finish this year, and that includes Cave of Endless Stars, Star of Ixchel, Forest’s Flame and Forsaken Water or Open Air. But I have to let things happen organically or it won’t happen. So just going to cross my fingers!)

Publishing: I’m going to release 4 books this year, somehow. I definitely want to release Stolen Fire and re-launch Chosen of Kore this year; I have an idea as to what the other 2 will be but not far enough along to say for sure yet!

Stolen Fire is going to go into KU, which means it will be coming down from the Wild Circle. I will give plenty of warning before that happens, don’t worry. (And the paperback will be available wide, of course.)

BTW, I have a release date…which, gods, I really hope I can make. It’s March 13th, 2025.

And I’m going to do ARCs for it, so I’ll have a form to sign up for ARCs at some point…very soon.

Chosen of Kore will be wide–that is, available on all retailers, just as it was when I first published it under the title Bellica back in 2011.

Why the difference? There are a lot of factors and if I tried to explain my full thought process, it would be a full essay (and this update is long enough). Probably best to sum it up by saying “It was a business decision.”

HOWEVER. I am trying something. A bit of an experiment. 

While Stolen Fire will be in KU once it releases, prior to its release date I am going to open up direct sales very briefly. A week, tops. And this week of direct sales will only be available to my newsletter list and to you, the Wild Circle. 

Think of it like an early premiere of a show for VIPs before it’s in theatres for the public. I’m pretty excited to try it out and see how it goes!

Reading/media: I’m a mood reader so I don’t usually do TBR lists, but there are a few books I’d like to tackle this year.

1, I want to reread Lord of the Rings. It’s been over 20 years since I read the trilogy, as I only read them before the movies so I would know the story before seeing the films in theatres–and with Return of the King I might have skipped a big chunk because I was running out of time and it was dragging.

I never really got into the books like some of my peers, though I ADORE the films. (Even with the character assassination of my boy Faramir.) There were aspects of the books I really loved, but overall it was difficult for me to enjoy them.

I’m wondering if that will be different now–I’m not a teen anymore, I’m pushing 40 (jesus h roosevelt christ that is rough for me to say), and my brain is different and I’m no longer in high school being run ragged by a too-full extracurricular plate. Maybe I’ll get more out of the books now.

2, I want to read more of the currently popular books in the genres I write, and especially romantasy. I’m about halfway through A Court of Thorns and Roses right now, which a couple friends of mine adore so much they have matching Night Court tattoos (I think, at any rate; I know the tattoos are based off something in the series).

I will say the online fandom of this series has…turned me off it quite a bit. BUT, I am still reading it, and I’m enjoying it even if so much of it was spoiled already for me my enjoyment is rather dimmed from what it would have been had I gone in with no spoilers. And I’m still not seeing what the excessive hype is about. Maybe I will later in the series.

3, I want to try to read more of Laurell K Hamilton’s Merry Gentry and Anita Blake series. I’ve read book 1 in each & book 2 in Merry Gentry.

4, The Outlander series! I’ve read the first book, AGES ago, and never really felt the need to read more of it. Mom and I have watched the show (we’re not fully caught up yet so please no spoilers!) and we adore it, so it’s kind of making me feel I should try to read the series again. So that’s on my hopeful list.

Now we’ll see if my moods align with my goals. HAH.

As for non-book media, I think this year I’d like to continue to fill in the gaps in my pop cultural knowledge by watching movies and TV shows that I probably should have seen by now, given my genre-preferences. I was raised mostly without TV so it wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I started watching a bunch of TV shows thanks to Netflix and other streaming services.

I don’t have a specific list; I’ll be figuring it out as I go.

And for video games…I just want to play more in general. I make so little time for it these days but I just finished playing Spiritfarer this week (10/10, do recommend, probably supplants Journey as my all-time fave game but too early to tell for sure at this point) and it was so enjoyable. Plus, playing video games regularly helps my mood because it gives me a shot of dopamine.

Anyway, there’s a ton of books and media for me to get to this year, so it’s going to be busy. (Are we surprised? No.)

Email: my inbox is absolutely out of control. I am currently sitting at 27K unread. I’m hoping to get to 14K by the end of the year. That’s dealing with 35 emails a day–actually, more, because more come IN every day. So I’m going to aim to deal with 50 emails a day and see where that takes me in the next couple of months. I may end up needing to set aside a couple of weeks where I’m just focusing on getting that inbox number down.

I will probably never be an Inbox Zero person but I do need that number to be smaller before it drives me insane.

Anyway if you ever message me and I don’t respond? That number is why.

Crochet/knitting: I want to destash my yarn a bit this year (stop gasping in shock; I really do have too much, some of which I will never use probably), finish the projects on my hooks/needles or frog them, and engage in these hobbies more often. I don’t do enough of it and I think it’s really important to my mental health that I make time for it regularly.

Finally, there’s one thing I didn’t mention because…it’s a secret. A top secret project that I’ve started work on. (What, another project!!!! I can hear you say.) A top secret project that I want to write and release VERY SOON. (Ok so I sort of did mention it; I want it to be one of the 4 books I release this year.)

I have no idea if I can even do this, because I often need percolation time in the middle of a draft in order for things to coalesce, and I am usually slow on the publishing side of things. But maybe I can! So I’m going to try.

And I’m going to tell you more about it very soon. So far all I will reveal is that it is within an established universe, but will be the start of new series. 

And on that note…I’m off to my lair to work on my top secret project.

I hope you had a great new year’s and I’ll see you again soon. Going to try to update the Wild Circle at least 2x a month this year! Wish me luck, haha.

<3

Katje