I was on YouTube watching author Lindsay Puckett’s video about leveling up her author life in 2026…and while I’ve alluded to goals on here for 2026, I never came right out and said what they were beyond writing The Darkening Gate Trilogy.

Lindsay’s video features all sorts of goals and plans for herself in the new year, going from reading to public appearances to publishing and her manuscripts, and I thought I’d do something similar here on the blog.

Reading Goals

My Goodreads goal is to read 100 books this year. Last year I read 92 with a goal of 80. I have no idea how this year is going to pan out–2025’s reading year disappointed me greatly after reading 100-200 books in previous years–so I’m keeping my goal only a smidgen larger than last year’s.

So far, of the 100, I’ve read 22 books, which is a tremendous start. This is largely due to the graphic novels and manga I’ve been reviewing for NetGalley. I’ve tried to zip through them where I can, especially since the new semester started and I’ve gone back to teaching. I don’t think I can sustain this output much longer, especially when we get into the nitty gritty of the term. But thanks to reviewing, my numbers are impressive thus far.

I want to read more Black horror and fantasy, and more Asian fantasy this year. I will continue to read my obsessive amounts of BL, but hopefully round that out with some unique fantasy and horror manga/graphic novels/comics.

Lastly, I want to read books that I’ve bought but haven’t read yet. I keep falling for beautiful books or shiny new eBooks, and I load up, but then only read the BL. So I would like to go back and actually read what I’ve bought. I believe this is what’s meant by tackling the never-ending TBR.

Writing goals

As I’ve shouted on this blog to the high heavens, I’m working on a trilogy, my very first! The Darkening Gate is a fantasy with romance and dark elements featuring a young friends-to-lovers couple fighting against demons, deadly curses, and death itself.

The first book, The Name and the Key, has its cover and release date (which I will share tomorrow!) and is off to interior formatting as we speak. It’s up for preorder, too!

The second book, The Step and the Walk, is currently being written with my goal of finishing it March 2026 to send to the publisher by April 2026. I have 35% of the word count completed but it already contains 80% of my plot…this is a big issue. And I don’t have a lot of time to fix it. I think what I’ll do is finish what I’ve got, then go back and add more. Because right now, the book is looking thoroughly anemic.

The third book, The Fear and the Flame, is a vague outline in my head. I’ve got some cool ideas for it, but nothing entirely plotted yet. I want to finish this sooner rather than later, before my contract due date. I want to do faster releases for this trilogy to keep reader momentum up, but that’s only going to happen if I keep my writer momentum up!

Beyond that, I don’t have anything in my brain to write, and that scares me. I would like to come up with an idea notebook or idea file and just put concepts in there, which I will go back to later to build a new story out of.

Publishing goals

Well, the good news is that my trilogy is definitely being published, so I don’t have to worry about that. I guess this is more like the business side of writing in terms of goals I have. I want to do the following:

• Secure editorial reviews before The Name and the Key goes live. I’ve picked a couple affordable places I can go to, plus one more expensive one, but nothing crazy like Kirkus or BookLife…I can’t afford editorial reviews from them. I know they might move the dial more given their prestige, but right now, I’m hunting for blurbs.
  
• Enter the American Writing Awards again. I didn’t expect Son of the Siren to be a finalist; maybe something good like that will happen for The Name and the Key, too.
  
• Be more commercially successful than Son of the Siren. My numbers for my first book aren’t where they should be. I think The Name and the Key is a more commercially viable book, and I don’t have an overt taboo in the story like I did with Son of the Siren. That was a risky endeavor, and readers let me know how much they disliked it, despite overall positive reviews.
  
• Do more work with MTMC Tours. I’ll have to save money for this, but I want to go out a little bigger than I did with Son of the Siren‘s launch. I feel much more confident about The Name and the Key‘s potential.
  
• Order more copies of Son of the Siren and get them into my local library and independent bookstores, since Barnes and Noble confirmed they will not stock the book. I got AWA Finalist badge stickers to put on the book to help sell them.
  
• I don’t think I’ll do a preorder campaign again (I’m not sure), but I am doing character postcards and chibi stickers for promotion for The Name and the Key this time. Book reviewers like swag. I’m just not going to go crazy and order as much stock as I did for Son of the Siren.
  
• Art commissions – this is going to be so expensive, but I want chibi art of Lily and Andresh; and artistic/fully rendered portraits of Lily, Andresh, Isabelle, and Aineiron. I have artists already picked out that I want to work with. Some of the art will be for social media promotion, and other art will be for reviewer swag.
  
• It’s nigh impossible but I’m still going to try to obtain a grant of some kind. What I want to do (art, book tours, purchasing books to stock) costs money!
  
• I’m going to try to find a way to put myself out there more, in terms of podcasts or interviews, or maybe even doing a creative writing activity at the library (or something)! I don’t know if I’ll ever be comfortable enough to film myself for my YouTube Channel or TikTok, but if I’m a guest on someone else’s channel, I might feel better about it. I just need to get over myself when it comes to my self-consciousness about my appearance.

There you have it, my gigantic dreams for 2026! It’s a lot to do, especially in terms of writing and publishing, but as I wrote earlier in the month, I have a ridiculous, almost dangerous amount of confidence and optimism for the year. I hope that fuels me through all of the stuff I hope to do.

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Readers, what are your goals for 2026? How do you plan to level up?