It’s a little early, I know, but I thought I’d try to think through some planning for 2026. A lot of this is, honestly, based on some hope that things do not go entirely insane in politics here in the US, but sometimes you just have to try to have some faith.

So, here we have my goals for 2026 with regards to my writing and creative plans.

Top Goals

1. Finish and publish Shadeborn. I’ve got most of it plotted, and some parts of it written, and I would really like to get this one out the door. The more books I have, the more visibility I have, and maybe, just maybe, the more I sell. Also, this is the first heist I wrote, and I’m pretty excited to get it working. (The planning for a heist is insane, and I keep poking at the heist plan to find new and interesting ways to break it.)
2. Get a new computer. This may sound a little “huh?” in relation to that first one, but the machine I’m using now is chugging along, barely, and I need something with a bit more modernity so I can get some of the things I want done. I’m hoping for a decent laptop, although some people do suggest something like a Surface Pro.
3. Honestly learn the new Affinity. This software is insanely good, and useful. Mostly complete replacements for Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator in a single app, and it’s free?  Sign me up! But there’s things I don’t know how to do with it, and I really should learn, so I can speed up my whole creative output without spending ten or twenty minutes learning a feature. That seems a lot more efficient than learning piecemeal.
4. Improve my drawing skills. If nothing else, it’ll help me with my mapmaking and internal illustrations. (See the heist planning above; I had to map out a vault. I may never be cover-art-worthy, but being able to draw the map of the Septagram (the most misnamed location in the Empire) without cringing at it would be nice.

These are the big ones, the really-want-to-do.

Secondary Goals

1. Get a new 3D printer. My old one suffered from a “this piece broke” and “the company stopped making it and replacement parts are extortionately expensive due to legal BS”, so I want to replace it. It might sound silly, but it would be nice to be able to make instead of buy things. (I have some S-hooks that I made on the old one that are very useful in the kitchen to hold up things, and bag clips for chips and frozen foods and stuff like that.)
2. Get a larger Cricut. I have a Cricut Joy, and it’s a lovely little machine, but “little” is kind of the operative word here.

   One of the problems is that Cricut took out a function from it a while back, that being “print then cut”. This is a function that let you print on a piece of paper, then cut it out with the Cricut. So, if you have sticker paper, you could set it up in the Cricut software, it will print on the paper, then you could put the paper through the Cricut and cut out your stickers. Easy peasy lemon-squeezy. right? Except now, with the Joy, you can’t, you need a larger – well, wider – machine.

   Why is this important? Getting to that.

3. Re-learn how to sew. I used to be into medieval recreation in a big way – a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism – but a lot of personal stuff happened, and it fell to the side.  And I’ve wanted to get into cosplay, too – I have something like three Humble Bundles worth of books on cosplay. It’s really time I damn well did something with them, you know?

   Yes, this is all going somewhere. And yes, I have some ideas I’m planning here.

4. Bookmaking. No, not that kind – I’m not going to take bets. I want to make some books.

   (I see some people nodding their heads as if they’re now seeing where all of this is going.)

   There are these two lovely Swedes out there, at a YouTube channel called NerdForge. And they have made books. They have also released a series of videos – formerly only for their Patreons, but now for the world – about how to make books. Leather-bound, embossed or raised covers, all that lovely stuff.

   I want to make leather-bound hardcover readable copies of my books. I would adore having them on my shelves, just to point and say, “I made that. That is what I made.”

The pie in the sky

What would be the sum total, the pièce de résistance, of this planning, is:

GETTING A TABLE AT A CONVENTION!

With:

• copies of my books for sale
• maybe in costume
• with some stickers or buttons I made to hand out
• with the leather-bound copies as eye-catchers
• some cards I made with the Cricut left on the flyer tables mentioning  the books and where I am if you want to buy it at the con

…and have that moment where I feel like maybe, just maybe, I’m an author. Not some bozo, but someone who’s written things and sold them, and has some people looking at their stuff.

I’m no Stephen King, or Seanan McGuire, or Chuck Tingle, but it’s a nice idea to maybe do it.

I’ll revisit this at the end of 2026, and see what happened, whatever way.