Capricon 46

Another year, another Capricon, and another post-con coma (which seems to be stretching through the entire week this year - ugh). XD

Due to heightened anxiety issues the second half of 2025, I decided not to be a panelist this year. Thankfully that annoying anxiety stayed away for the con itself. However, I did help a writer friend with the party she hosts yearly. Which included having my books out for sale and signing. Both Friday and Saturday night turned out pretty awesome, especially since I sold some books!

This year, I took it a bit easy with most things, aside from the aforementioned parties. The panels I attended were: Loving Something When The Creator Is Toxic, Geek Out About Genshin Impact, Star Trek At 60, Geeky Gardening, and Non-U.S. Tropes. All fun!

Of course I spent a lot of time in the Game Room. I played Sushi Go, Trivial Pursuit, Twisted Cryptids, and Zombie Kittens. Hubbie and I participated in a couple scheduled games. Weirdwood Manor was the first, and let me tell you, what a challenging game! So I ordered a copy because... challenge accepted! We also played Flamecraft again. Amelia brought her adorable buddies Meat and Bread this year, and they watched over our playthrough. So cute!

Then of course the parties I helped with. All the books! Donna J. W. Munro (the best party host ever) threw a release party for her collection Dark Workings of Wild Women on Friday night.

Saturday night Deanna Sjolander joined the party, featuring the collaborative book she edited Blue Plate Special, the first in the Dark Reflections series.

And then I had my titles on display as well, along with some of my Speculative Stitches crochet. Honestly, the best part of Capricon this year was hanging out with Donna and Deanna. Always a blast to catch up with writer friends!

I'm planning to attend in 2027 as well, though I'll definitely have an adolescent in tow... Let's see how that shakes out - lol.

2026 - A Novel In A Year!

So... Let's see if I can write a novel from start to publication in one year! XD I really hope I'm not setting myself up to fall flat on my face, but seven days into 2026, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I've already written 3k words of Once Gorgon Bitten, Twice Shy (Magic Morsel, 2), so I'll ride the wave of optimism for now.

Last year was great for writing, and I intend to keep up the momentum. Plenty to do to get a novel drafted, revised, edited, and prepped for publication. But I also have a few other goals for 2026. Time to get into the nitty-gritty.

2026 Mantras

❦ Just Write.

❦ Trust My Instincts.

❦ Focus.

Same as the last couple of years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. =P

2026 Publications

❦ Hell Of An Unlife (Devil Made Me, 4) - Spring 2026

❦ Once Gorgon Bitten, Twice Shy (Magic Morsel, 2) - Fall 2026

Hey, at least Hell Of An Unlife is already revised. And it's the last title in the series! Consider grabbing the first three if you haven't already, starting with Hell Hath No Fury.

2026 Writing Goals

❦ One novel in a year!

❦ Edit & Publish Hell Of An Unlife.

❦ Draft, Revise, Edit, & Publish Once Gorgon Bitten, Twice Shy - It was really easy slipping back into the world of Morthmagica, and here's hoping it stays that way!

❦ Plan the third Magic Morsel novel (currently untitled) and/or plan Blood Stains the Soul (Trinity Torn, 3)

❦ Newsletters - 9 scheduled again.

❦ Born to Write - One post a month, with a break in August.

❦ Networking - Capricon again in February, but no readings or panels. I'll still have paperback copies of my books available, if you'd like to buy a signed copy!

❦ Social Media - More Instagram and Tiktok posts! Last year I kind of forgot about all that. Oops. Reminders set in Todoist now - lol.

❦ Marketing & Promo - Likely more Facebook and Amazon Ads, depending on how much I feel like gambling (because that's totally what it feels like to me when I run ads).

❦ SPFBO XI - Yes, back to Self-Publishing Blog-Off, and the eleventh year of the contest! Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned (Magic Morsel, 1) got through the lottery (I like to say it won the 50/50 because there were around 600 submissions this year), and has been assigned to Fantasy-Faction. Fingers crossed that the novel makes it to the semi-finals at least!

That's what I got for the year. The caffeine flowing through my system from my Chai is bolstering my optimism at the moment, but we'll see how I feel once my youngest, who has an upset stomach, gets home shortly. Heh.

If you have any writing goals for the year, please join us in the Writing Quest group, where we support each other in our progress (or commiserate when walls prevent that progress).

Happy 2026, all! And here's the obligatory bullet journal pic.

2025 - Smashed It!

Wow. That's the only word I have at the moment. Just, wow.

Okay, I guess since this is a blog post, I should attempt to elaborate. 2025 was crazy productive. Guess the Double Time worked? Maybe. Successfully tricking my brain could have been a fluke. I guess we'll see in 2026 when I shoot for the stars without the sneaky brain tricks. Lol.

But I need to focus on 2025 and all that I accomplished before revealing my goals for next year, huh? Yeah. Save all those new goals for another post.

If you'd like to check what my original plan was for this year, take a look at 2025 - Double Time? - I did veer off track, but definitely in a good way! I mention some of the planned changes in Writing Update - June 2025.

Let's see what I actually got done, though...

2025 Publications

❦ Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned (Magic Morsel, 1)

❦ Intricate Agony (Fortunes of Fate, 8)

❦ Hell's Bells (Devil Made Me, 3)

Yes, I published three titles this year - one more than originally planned. Smashed it!

2025 Writing Progress

❦ Revised, edited, and published Leave No Dragon Stone Unturned.

❦ Drafted, revised, edited, and published Intricate Agony.

❦ Drafted, revised, edited, and published Hell's Bells - the drafting was planned, the rest was not!

❦ Drafted and revised Hell Of An Unlife (Devil Made Me, 4) - not planned at all!

❦ Edited Hell Hath No Fury and Hell On Wheels (Devil Made Me, 1 & 2) - mentioned in my June update, and then it took longer than expected.

❦ Downward Spiral (Urban Unicorn, 1) - this draft is now on hold, and I'll be jumping into the next Magic Morsel draft instead come January.

2025 Writing Tasks

❦ Newsletters - 9 sent, as intended, though more new release and cover reveals than planned.

❦ Born To Write - 11 out of 12 months, but that works for me.

❦ Networking & Social Media - Capricon 45 was attended, including the excerpt reading, but I fell flat on my face with the social media.

❦ Marketing & Promo - Did some Facebook Ads, and I also ran Amazon Ads when Dragon Stone was in Kindle Unlimited.

❦ Yes Writing, Screw Cleaning - my house definitely shows I stuck to this goal in 2025 - heh.

2025 Numbers

Yay, I made it to my favorite part of the post! All the numbers!

❦ Words Drafted = 41,635

❦ Words Revised = 78,999

❦ Total Words Drafted & Revised = 120,634 (A good chunk of my 150k For Funsies goal!)

❦ Words Edited = 79,156

❦ Hours Spent Drafting, Revising, & Editing = 272.58

❦ Hours Spent On Cover Art, Formatting, & Publishing = 48.75

❦ Total Hours Spent On Writing & Writing Tasks = 425.25

Wow. I'm stuck on that single word again. My total hours are equitable to 2023 (not 2024 - ha), but I spent more time drafting and revising this year, plus I averaged more words per hour. Just, wow. It feels awesome to have accomplished so much. Here's hoping I keep up the momentum. The end of this year has been kind of meh, but I think I deserve a little downtime. XD

I hope everyone else is happy with their 2025 and looking forward to 2026!