Goodbye 2025, Hello 2026!
My review of last year, plus my hopes and goals for the next twelve months
Happy New Year dear readers, and welcome to 2026. Or, in Welsh: Blwyddyn Newydd Dda, a croeso i 2026!
This last year went so fast. Somehow quicker than 2024, which already felt like it was approaching Formula 1 speeds.
It’s fair to say that 2025 was significant for many reasons, the biggest being that I signed a publishing contract. I’m still walking on cloud nine as a result of that, even though I’m already busier than I thought possible editing one book, writing a second and planning what comes next.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself, so here’s my round-up of 2025 and what I’m looking forward to in 2026…
A Review of 2025
At the start of the year, I had three goals for 2025. These were:
Re-establish a healthy, nourishing personal routine - IN PROGRESS
Re-establish a regular, productive writing routine - DONE
Submit Anna 1 to publishers and decide what to write next - DONE
I’m beyond delighted that I achieved my goal of getting a publishing deal for Anna 1. While I still can’t say much about it, it really set the tone for the rest of the year. I’ve also recently agreed which book to write next, so I can’t wait to start second drafting that in a few days.
The good news also gave me the impetus to get back into a consistent writing routine — regularly starting at 8am, four days per week — and, even with a reflective period in November, I made excellent progress on my novel and kept up with my Substack blogs.
The only downside of my commitment to writing is that I often chose it over doing things in my personal life, which led to a bit of a work/life imbalance. This did improve after the summer, but not enough for me to take an actual holiday this year. Something that, in retrospective, was a very bad idea. It’s likely that not taking any real decent breaks this year contributed to a downturn in my mental health. But let’s not dwell on that.
Here’s my highlights from the year:
Novels: I finished the structural/line edits for Anna 1 in December, but during the year I also replanned my Anna series (up to book five), zero drafted multiple book 2 candidates, and first drafted Anna 2. I also planned two new standalone thrillers.
Substack: I published 22 blogs (including six in my Path to Publication series), celebrated my 2 year Substack anniversary, and had over 100 reads of my ‘Being on Submission’ blog.
Branding: I completed my personal branding, re-branded my blog and got my professional headshots done.
Reading: I read less in 2025 than previous years — about half as many books— but still finished 68 novels and six short stories / novellas. Some of my favourite reads1 were: This Is Not A Game by Kelly Mullen, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, and Quantum of Menace by Vaseem Khan. I also started listening to audiobooks in earnest, my favourite of which was Ice Town, written by Will Dean and performed by Maya Lindh.
My favourite reads of 2025 Gardening: I grew raspberries for the first time, made elderflower cordial and elderberry cordial (I didn’t like the latter) and tried a new flapjack recipe incorporating fresh blackberries that I’ll definitely make again.
Health & Fitness: After a leisurely start to the year, I started rowing again, and doing more yoga, after the summer. Focussing on my health in the last quarter resulted in a 8kg weight loss. More importantly, I feel a lot better too.
Lego: I built a lot of Lego this year, including a giant T-Rex skeleton, Gizmo (from Gremlins) and The Goonies pirate ship. I dread to think what sets 2026 will bring, because at this rate I’ll need to write a lot more books to sustain my Lego habit!
But I also want to learn from 2025 so that 2026 is even better:
What went well:
Strong focus on writing, especially now I’m writing to contract.
My physical health has improved and I’ve lost some weight.
I engaged in lots of solo hobbies.
What didn’t:
I started the year writing goals for each month, but that only lasted for a few months before I forgot about it.
I didn’t spend enough time socialising or taking breaks.
My mental health isn’t great, not helped by another bereavement.
What I’ll do differently in 2026:
Get out more: walks, holidays, and cultural events.
Revisit a shelved book and see if it’s time to work on it again.
Continue to improve my physical and mental health.
With all that in mind, let’s move on to the year ahead.
My Plan for 2026
With so much achieved in 2025, much of 2026 is already planned out.
As far as Anna 1 is concerned, this year will focus on copy editing, proof reading, and marketing/publicity activities. I’m hugely excited about it all. I’ll also be writing Anna 2, so as far as my work is concerned, I just need to follow the process. That said, I still have writing-related goals:
Improve my online presence and engagement (W1)
Get Anna 1 ready for publication (W2)
Write Anna 2 and draft a standalone novel (W3)
On a personal note, I really want to make my world a bit bigger as I make myself a bit smaller:
Lose more weight (P1)
Meet new people IRL (P2)
Take regular breaks (P3)
As an ex-project manager, my goals are only as good as my quarterly plans to achieve them, so here’s what I hope to do in Q1 (Jan to Mar):
January:
Learn how to make better use of Instagram (supports the W1 goal)
Join a book club (P2)
Complete at least half of the Yoga With Adriene ‘Return’ programme (P1)
February:
Finish the second draft of Anna 2 (W3)
Create a marketing and publicity plan for 2026/27 (W1 / W2)
March:
Complete copy editing of Anna 1 (W2)
Go on holiday — it’s already booked! (P3)
Launch my website2 (W1)
After that, I’ll take each quarter as it comes!
So, there we go. With any luck, by the time I write this substack again in twelve months, I’ll have a lot more to tell you and some fantastic things to show you too.
But until then, here’s what’s coming up soon on Arsenic & Cold Case:
15 Jan — 2026: The National Year of Reading
1 Feb — Path to Publication 11: Structural Editing
I wish you all health and happiness in 2026!
For my full top 10 of 2025 reads, take a look at my social media: @helenjauthor on Insta, X/Twitter, BSky and Facebook.
Hopefully this will happen on time, but if not, it’ll be in Quarter 2!