Halfway Through 2025

I love a good calendar. There’s something about office supplies in general that really gets me excited (probably the misplaced hope that one more pack of highlighters or sticky notes is going to finally help me organize my life.) But calendars are god tier — all those beautiful images and the neatly ordered boxes! All that empty promise that can be pencilled in as dreams become plans!

Today, June 30, feels extra-special to me because we’re now officially halfway through the year. And what a year it’s been!

I escaped the constant bad news of the world with a deep dive into fiction and somehow managed to read 200 books in six months — if you’re doing the math, that’s a little over a book a day! I discovered some new favorite authors (Tia Williams, Alexis Hall, Carley Fortune, Myah Ariel, India Holton, Kennedy Ryan, Angelina M. Lopez) and read new books by old favorites (Ashley Poston, Sarah Adams, Katherine Center, Danielle Allen, Rachel Lynn-Solomon, Sarah Hogle, Ali Hazelwood, Sarah Adler.) Dissociating sure feels better with a book.

I struggled to find my focus in this first half of the year, and my productivity went way down. I submitted a short story for the Hearts Through History anthology, but while I had all the angst locked in for the first half, I felt it dragged too much and the ending was rushed. Luckily, that’s what editing is for! The story went through three rounds of blind critiques, then another critique circle, and now is off to editing… and I think it’s finally turning into the story I wanted to tell. Phew!

That lack of focus also extended to my contemporary romance trilogy. I wrote so much for this trilogy in 2024 and knew I would need to polish it all this year, but I spent months just mulling over the stories. I wasn’t satisfied with the ending to Book 1 — I wanted something that would inspire big emotions in readers, but it all felt a little too easy, a little too contrived.

It wasn’t until the start of June that I realized actually, this book would be better if I wrote it in single first person POV, rather than dual third person POV! Changing this means I’m essentially re-writing the first book in my series, but it’s already unlocked so many of my blocks. I feel like I can actually hear Valerie’s voice, her Tennessee twang and the way she hides her insecurities under humor (relatable much?) And while I’m sad that I don’t get to see first-hand how Bert copes with all of his issues, it’s actually allowing the two MCs to spend so much more time on the page together. I’m now super hopeful that I’ll be able to get this book finished, with a brand-new ending, and sent off for editing by the end of the summer.

So I’m ending the first half of 2025 with more enthusiasm for my writing than I’ve had all year. I’m going to try to read LESS in the second half of the year and write MORE, and I’m going to try to keep you all updated on how editing and revising is going. Keep your fingers crossed for me that 2025 ends better than it began!