Happy New Year from the Netherlands, where we have actual snow if you can believe it!
A fresh start
New Year’s resolutions. They used to be this Big Thing, back when I was still in school. You’d compile a huge list of all the Great Things you were going to achieve that year, and then…
Well, one week in (two at the most) you’d have forgotten all about your plans and you’d carry on as usual. So I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. They’re useless.
That said, I definitely have some changes I want to make this year.
Internet reliance
One big change I already started implementing in December, is this: I’m trying to be less dependent on online resources and going back to good old-fashioned pen and paper. This is harder on me, physically, but I think the peace of mind it provides is worth it.
I don’t need Google to look over my shoulder and know all my schedules and appointments. And I certainly don’t wish to pay for Google to keep a backup of all my files. That’s what external hard drives are for.
Will this have an impact on my author life?
I’m sure it will. How exactly I’m not sure yet. That will depend on how much I’ll actually be able to write by hand. I’m drafting this newsletter in Google Docs, for example, so there’s still that.
My author plans
Honestly, I don’t have any solid plans yet.
What’s more, I won’t be making them any time soon. The last couple of years have been rough. Both mentally and physically, so I’m going to give myself some grace and just take things as they come.
I’ll write when I write. And I’ll rest when I need to.
On my reading table
This month, I’m finally reading Katarina’s Dark Shadow, by MJ Krause-Chivers. It’s a book I’d been wanting to read for a couple of years now, and so far the only regret I have is not having read it sooner.
Other books on my TBR… too many to mention, I’m afraid. I’ve got at least ten physical books waiting to be read (some of them partly finished), 53 unread books on my Kindle, and 36 audiobooks on my Spotify Books Playlist. I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to finish them all this year, but we’ll see how far I come.
👉 What’s on your 2026 TBR?
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Words don’t write themselves—though I sometimes wish they did…
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I got more books (that I asked for) for Christmas... but there are enough books to read for free from my library app that my TBR list quickly outpaces my read list.