If you’ve been hanging out here long with me, you’ll know that every year on my birthday, I’ve taken to writing a list of the corresponding number of “things” from the year I just completed that have really shaped me. Sometimes it’s silly products I discovered. Sometimes it’s things I love. Sometimes it’s things I hate. New habits. Discoveries. Achievements.

Most years, I start this list a month or two ahead of my birthday, because putting it together takes a lot of work, y’all. This year, I gave myself two whole weeks. Ahem. Let’s just say it’s been busy around here! But I love looking back over my last year, looking ahead into the year to come, and seeing what really stands out. So I hope you enjoy this little peek into the 43 things that have most shaped me this year too!

1. The End of Chemo!

My last chemo treatment was August 26, 2024, just 12 days after my birthday last year. And boy, was I happy to celebrate that milestone! I had what’s called a “total response” to the chemotherapy, which means that no cancer could be found when they went in for surgery. Big, big praise! I am SO grateful for this life-saving medicine…and also hated every minute of it, LOL. Chemo left me feeling sick for 3-4 months straight, so finishing it definitely deserved the chocolate cake I ate! 😉

2. Compression Socks

Go figure, it was AFTER I’d finished the last round of chemo that I began to retain water. Swollen ankles, painful legs…great fun. And of course, this hit right as I was scheduled to go to Kansas for a writing retreat with my best friend, Stephanie. So what’s a girl to do but buy some cute Pacas compression socks?

3. KC Writing Retreat

Three weeks after the end of chemo, I was in Kansas, having a writing retreat with my best friend, Stephanie! We weren’t sure at first if it would work out, but my oncologist told me, “Go!” So I went. And despite swollen legs and ankles, it was so great to get to spend a week with Stephanie, take walks, and focus on writing. I wrote A Likely Story for Guideposts while I was there, which just released!

4. SJC 20th Anniversary Homecoming!

I’m still not sure how it happened. Twenty years? Seriously? I’ve been out of college for twenty years? Apparently so, because as soon as I got home from Kansas, we were heading to Annapolis for Homecoming, celebrating those 20 years with some of our classmates and friends. It was pretty cool to get to be there for this while our daughter’s attending.

Unfortunately, I’d picked up a bug while traveling and was sick the whole weekend. =/ Low-grade fever, sore throat, basically feeling icky and miserable. On the bright side, the fever never got high enough for me to report to the ER (I still had orders to do so if I had a fever over 100.4), and it proved that my immune system was working, LOL.

5. Bilateral Mastectomy

It was a crazy couple weeks. I went from Kansas to Homecoming to surgery two weeks later, and I was very grateful that the bug I’d picked up had worked its way out so we didn’t have to postpone the big surgery.

I blogged at the time about why I was choosing a bilateral (double) mastectomy, and I’m glad I made the choices I did. Even so, it wasn’t what one would call easy. I had a lot of swelling and wasn’t allowed to unwrap my chest for a week. Had to deal with drains, sleep sitting up…several nights I ended up in our cushy leather chair rather than bed. I also discovered that I don’t do well with the meds they gave me. Made me itchy!

Recovery was officially 8 weeks, and though I was back to “normal” routine well before then, it was still uncomfortable at that point. Tissue expanders are not fun!

6. The Me I See

Having that mastectomy led me to muse on my self-image. Looking back on that post now, I can not only nod along but smile to realize that, months later, my self-image is still content. I am the me I chose to be. I am the me who is victorious over cancer. This me is a warrior, and I’ll wear my battle scars with pride.

7. Regrowing!

Hair. I missed my hair, I won’t lie, LOL. And I just wasn’t one of those people who went around in all my bald glory, because I was constantly cold if I did that. But as soon as the hair started regrowing, I was always HOT if I had anything on my head! I’ll be honest–it hasn’t grown as quickly as I’d like and as I’d hoped, LOL. But it came back thick and pretty much exactly like it was before, so yay! At this point, I’m just glad it looks like an intentional style. 😉

8. The Florida Keys

We didn’t get a family vacation last summer, so we decided to take one during Christmas break instead. Of course, we had to go pretty far south to guarantee warm weather in December…so we did. We went ALL the way south! It was our first trip to the Florida Keys, and while it’s not going to become an annual tradition (21 hours of driving), we’re so glad we went! We rented an oceanfront condo, and it was RIGHT on the beach. Such fun!

9. Pelicans

Okay, so the ocean was WAY too calm, LOL. We’re used to Outer Banks of North Carolina waves, and this was like a mill pond! But one thing we LOVED was that we got to watch the pelicans all day. Here’s a video I took one morning (our Morning Prayer app is playing in the background, LOL). So crazy to be able to hear the flapping of their wings against the water!

10. Tropical Christmas

We were in Florida until Dec 21, so naturally, it was full-on Christmas down there. Which was…weird, LOL. To us, it felt like summer vacation. But there we were, in the last full week of Advent. Seeing all the tropical Christmas decorations. It was definitely something that made us smile and laugh!

11. Prayer Garden

At the church near where we stayed in the Keys, they had a gorgeous prayer garden, which was all lit up for Christmas. We went over one evening and enjoyed a beautiful, peaceful hour meandering through all the little alcoves and areas. Photos can never do justice to light displays, but it was quite a sight!

12. ECPA Double Time

Kinda random place to put this one, but not only did I make the ECPA Bestseller list with BOTH of my end-of-year releases, but they were on the list for the same month! That’s definitely a first for me! Both Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor and An Honorable Deception were bestsellers in November 2024!

13. Savannah

On the way home from Florida, we took two nights in Savannah. Though I’d written a book set there, I’d never been in real life, and I had no idea if I would actually like it or not–I’m not a big city person. But oh my gracious! We fell in love! From the gorgeous basilica where we got to celebrate the last Sunday of Advent to the beauty of Forsythe Park decked out for Christmas, we were hooked! We stayed in a historic house right downtown, and it was just delightful. Mostly. Except…

14. Pillow Topper

Worst. Bed. Ever. At the AirBnB in Savannah, I mean. I was about 8 weeks post-op at this point, and the bed was so firm that I literally woke up each night near tears, it hurt so badly. At which point I confessed that our own bed at home was also too firm for me these days, which inspired my darling husband to find a pillow topper while we were still in Savannah, which arrived home right as we did. That first night back in our own bed with that new topper was AMAZING. Best. Bed. Ever. LOL.

15. Books for Christmas

My wishlist was pretty much books. Just books. All books, LOL. So David decided to get them ALL for me. There’s also a box set that didn’t make it into that picture for some reason, but it ended up being 12 books plus that boxset. I’d love to say “a book a month!” but let’s be real here. I’ve already read most of them…and their sequels. Ahem. Because of course he mostly got me first in series, so… (And also pictured here are books I got HIM, hence the number not being what I just claimed. If you cared to count, LOL.) It was a very bookish Christmas! Totally appropriate, as I then launched into writing The Christmas Book Flood. =D

16. Monk Manual

Last year, I got David a planner called the Monk Manual, which he really liked. This year, they came out with a new version that includes calendar spreads, so we both got one. I’ve been using it all year, and though there are things I’d tweak, there is so much I LOVE about this beautiful planner! There are spreads for each month, then weekly planning pages, then weekly reflection pages. The idea behind it is intentionality, gratitude, and reflection. So it’s not just about writing down your to-do list, but also reflecting on how each week went, what you’d like to change or improve, what you’re grateful for…basicaly, incorporating devotional techniques into your planning.

17. Radiation

I needed 15 radiation therapy treatments, which began the day after Christmas and stretched into January, five days a week minus New Year’s Day. As courses of treatment go, this was pretty much bare minimum, and I didn’t have crazy side effects. A bit of a rash (which may have been itchy had it not been where I have no more nerves thanks to surgery, so hey, that worked out! LOL), what looked like a mild sunburn and some discomfort, and the tiredness hit about a week after I finished. Not too bad though! It definitely, however, made me aware of how difficult it often is for those who require more treatments. Mine stopped before things got too burned, but if I’d been one of the people with 30 treatments, it would have been a far different story.

18. Oh My SNOW!

The worst part about radiation in January? Driving through the mountains to get to the hospital! The 90-minute drive takes us through some high elevations known for their grueling winters, and oh my goodness, y’all. It got to the point where even when it said 0% chance of snow, this is what the roads looked like. And since my treatment was at 7 am, we had to leave home no later than 5:30, which meant driving in the DARK and the snow.

Yeah, so, we ended up at a hotel for the last week and several snowy days in the middle week, LOL. Definitely a wise choice. There was a morning in Morgantown where the roads were so bad we opted to walk to the hospital rather than drive it (our hotel was right across the street).

19. Co-Creating with Our Creator – Conference!

I’ve spoken at plenty of writers conferences before, and done visits to things like MomCo groups and historical societies, but in April, I had the joy of a first for me–to be the keynote speaker at a women’s conference in Kansas. One of my P&P ladies, Laura, suggested me to them, and I got to stay with her while I was there. It was a 1-day conference, and the theme was Co-Creating with Our Creator…which I LOVED!! It was such an awesome trip, hanging out with Laura and Julie (another P&P friend who flew in from Texas to join us), talking to these ladies all day about how God created us to be creative in His image, and how it’s worship to honor that. What a joy!

20. Goodbye Lilly =(

Two years ago, we had three cats. We lost Sammy to feline leukemia and Ivy to a tumor in her head within a month of each other, which broke our hearts. But we still had Lilly, who had been the alpha cat…and also the one with health issues that we’d always thought would make her the first to go. She held on, though, and was her usual dominant, happy self even after her human, Xoe, went to college. She adopted me as a replacement, LOL. Well, this spring Lilly was diagnosed with kidney failure. The vets said she could live a while with it, perhaps, but it wasn’t to be. Our precious kitty died on Palm Sunday, and though it was a loss that hit hard, the timing actually made my heart so tender during Holy Week that I could reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus in a whole new way, and for that, I’m eternally grateful. 

It’s strange to be a without a pet now, and David keeps threatening to come home with 17 kittens. For now, though, I’m just not ready for another.

21. Captivated

The ladies at WhiteCrown decided it would be fun to put an anthology of short stories together for National Princess Day in April. We all agreed that we’d write stories set in our WhiteCrown worlds, make them about 10,000 words, and give the anthology away for a month, then take it down and do whatever we liked with our stories.

Mine was Captivated, the story of Seidon’s parents (he’s the hero in Awakened). It was so much fun to explore the people who would have shaped him and put them in a little adventure. And when I put it up as its own thing, I had Xoe do the art for my cover! She was super excited to get to do some mermaid art, and I think she did an amazing job! =)

You can grab it for only 99¢ from my shop (not available anywhere else just now).

22. Another Senior!

At the end of school last year, I looked at the requirements for graduation and said to Rowyn, who’d just finished 10th grade, “You know, you could just graduate next year if you took two extra classes.”

To which he replied, “Why would I want to do that?”

Then, over the summer, he thought it over, apparently. Because as we were ready to begin our school year last August, he said, “I’m going to do it. I’m going to finish this year.” It required doing two English classes, two math classes, history, advanced biology, Italian, and a couple other electives, but the kid was determined. And not only did he finish, but he got the majority of it done by Thanksgiving! (Some of his online classes wouldn’t let him go that fast, LOL, so those he finished up second semester.)

This kid doesn’t like school. He doesn’t like to read. But he’s GOOD at it. So he put his nose to the grindstone, read a book a day, plowed through calculus, and did an amazing job. He doesn’t want to go on to college at the moment, so he’s going to take this year he just “bought” himself to see if he can make money with his video game building. I figure this is the perfect time for him to chase his dreams! He earned it!

23. Graduation!

So of course, that means we had another graduation! I still can’t quite believe my homeschooling career is over. I’ve been doing this since 2009. But for the first time, my August is not being spent arranging and selecting curriculum, building schedules, or registering for classes. Instead, in May I got to watch my baby graduate with our homeschool group and celebrate with his best friends.

24. Book Bans

When I heard that the Naval Academy in Annapolis was told to remove 381 books from their collection this spring, I was horrified. Banning books isn’t cool, yo. I’d just written a whole novel about it. With The Collector of Burned Books fresh in my mind and heart, I shared about this ban on Facebook and Instagram and ended up talking about it in some of my writers’ groups as well.

Now, let’s be clear. I don’t talk politics. And in my mind, this isn’t about politics. This is about books. This is about freedom. This is about philosophy. And books–that’s my lane.

I’ll be honest though. It was a stressful week. Because while 98% of people agreed with my stance and thanked me for sharing and those posts soared to hits and share numbers I’ve never seen on anything else in my life of social media, the 2% of those who disagreed with me were not only vocal but went on the attack. Suddenly I was being called a Nazi for calling this out, and it would be my fault if violence ever comes, because I villainized the people doing the banning. What I did was point out that government-led bans is the first step toward a bad place, and we need to be careful. I stand by that.

So I lost a few readers. And I gained a few readers. I refined my stance. And I won’t apologize for it.

I’m the proud champion of books, even books I hate.

25. Our 2025 Writing Retreat in Arnold, MD

Though Stephanie and I just had our 2024 retreat in September, we wanted to get back on a spring schedule, so in May, we got to do it again! We stayed in Arnold, MD, which is super close to Annapolis (and an airport, LOL, which is why we went there, since it was Stephanie’s turn to fly to me). We got to have dinner with Xoe and one of her friends over the weekend, and after checking out, we learned that the owner of the AirBnB we’d stayed out is in fact a Johnnie (St. John’s alum) too, and the crew coach there now!

I worked on Aflame while I was there, which was a ton of fun. I had pretty much ZERO idea where the story was going, so it was in many ways the least organized I’ve ever been on retreat, discovery all the way. But I had a blast.

26. The BEAST of a Printer

Another totally random placement in list, but yeah. So, in September, we decided to invest in a commercial printer that would allow us to print book edges. I say “invest” because this thing cost more than my daughter’s car, LOL. We had to order it straight from China, and it was supposed to arrive in late October or early November.

It did not. It didn’t arrive until December, the day before we were leaving for Florida. And it is HUGE. The shipping crate it came in weighed hundreds of pounds. We shoved it in a shed while we were away, then came radiation, so it just sat there for a while. We finally got it over to the office…and had to take off the sliding glass door to get it inside. Only to discover it wouldn’t then fit through ANY interior door, so it gets to live in the kitchen of the house we use as our office.

It’s a monster. A beast. And more complicated than any piece of equipment we’ve ever owned. As in, David couldn’t figure it out on his own or just with the manual, because the manual didn’t actually match the software it came with. So the poor guy had to get on live with the team in China one night, starting at 9, and was on with them until they went to lunch at our midnight. By that point, he had a good enough handle that he could figure the rest out. He didn’t get home until 2 a.m.

But he did it! We were finally able to print book edges!

Of course, this beast can do more than that. We can print candles, mugs, totes, posters…you name it. =)

27. ALA

I have dreamed for years of someday attending the American Library Association’s annual convention. I mean, huge convention center filled with books and book lovers? YES, PLEASE! So When Tyndale invited me to come to Philly in June to sign The Collector of Burned Books, I was STOKED.

Naturally, I said to Xoe, “Should I buy a 1940s era dress and hat to wear??” And naturally, she said, “Well, DUH. YES!”

So I went (online) shopping and found two super cute dresses from the same brand. I had no idea what size I’d need, so I bought a small in one design and a medium in another (both used on Poshmark). The small arrived first and barely fit over my hips when unzipped, so I passed that one to 5’1″ size-0 Xoe, whom it fit like a glove. Then prayed the medium would work. And it fit me like a glove! 

I bought a 40s style felt hat from Amazon…which showed up not looking like the image AT ALL. Instead of flat flower petals, it had these “flowers” sticking straight out. So I took the liberty of pulling them off and then redesigning it myself to have the silhouete I preferred. 😉 And I love how it turned out!

I felt tres chic walking through the convention, but not like I was in costume. I got SO MANY compliments, someone saying I was the most fabulously dressed person there, so that made my day. And of course, the whole point was to draw attention to the book. My signing was supposed to start at 11, but there were some people who couldn’t come then and asked if I’d sign books for them early. That was fine with me and the team manning the booth, so I signed a couple copies…and then people just started lining up. So I kept signing. And signing. And signing. We ran out of books. Then we ran out of the ARCs they’d brought “just in case.” 

It was such fun!! The signing, the chatting with librarians, the exploring of the convention center. I’d go back in a heartbeat!

28. Hoopla Collab

Not long before ALA, Hoopla (the library app) invited me to do a collaboration, in which I make a video plugging The Collector of Burned Books and how it’s available on Hoopla for their social media accounts. This sounded super fun, so I filmed it in front of my Paris wall. I also got to meet with Hoopla at ALA, and they told me about their book features too.

A week or so after the book released, a friend of mine reached out to say my book had been front and center in her Hoopla app that morning, so she grabbed it to listen to on vacation. =) It’s just always fun when things work as they should, LOL.

29. Press Run of Awakened

So if you’re not in the publishing world, here’s a crash course in printing. Big publishers like Harvest House, Bethany House, Tyndale, and Guideposts (my publishers) do what’s called press runs. They send a book to a press, that does runs of hundreds to thousands at a time. Printing the books in bulk means the price per book is low.

Our company, however, uses print on demand technology, which prints books one at a time. It allows us to order a case instead of a pallet, which is awesome. Means we don’t have to warehouse our books.

But for Awakened, we knew we were going to do a special edition with printed edges, and we decided a press run would make more sense for it. So we ordered one. And the books turned out BEAUTIFULLY! We were able to add a subtle spot-gloss on the Awakening mark and title on the cover, and the colors just popped so much better than in the print-on-demand version (which we got as a proof from our usual printer too).

But it’s a lot of books, LOL. Hopefully they’ll fly off the shelves, though, when people see…

30. Printed Edges!

As hinted at in the printer one, these took FOREVER (and a day) to figure out fully, but once David had it figured out…WOW! I hope everyone thinks they were worth the wait, because these babies turned out to be so fantastic!!

 31. Read Dangerously

I decided that I would sign The Collector of Burned Books with the challenge of “Read dangerously.” So naturally, I thought that would make a fun design to sell too. 😉 I spent waaaaaay too long designing that bookshelf with actual banned book titles, but I LOVE how it turned out! I’ve been wearing my T-shirt and drinking from my insulated tumbler and just love it!

32. Pact Organic Dresses

Okay, so I’m totally a sucker for Facebook ads. And I frequently get clothes ones, because I’m also a sucker for dresses. 😉 Well, one of these ads led me to Pact, which is all organic cotton. I really liked the style of their dresses, and they all have POCKETS, but they’re also kinda pricey, so…I hemmed and hawed. Eventually they were running a sale, so I splurged and bought one of their A-line midi dresses.

Best. Dress. Ever. It was so comfortable. It had POCKETS. It was cute and fit like a dream.

Not long after I got that first one, I got a new book contract, and celebrating with another new dress seemed totally appropriate. Then more contracts came in, so…yeah. I now have quite a few of these and have been wearing them nearly every day. No regrets!!

33. Coming to the STAGE!

I was super excited when Fidele Youth Dance Company adapted one of our WhiteCrown books by Hannah Currie, Bring Her Home, for the stage a couple years ago. So when Mimi of Fidele reached out to see if I’d be willing to let them do the same for Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor, I was beyond thrilled. My story, as a ballet? My Nutcracker-inspired story as a ballet? Cue all the excited squeals!

I’m sure this will make my list next year too, after I actually go and see the show. But for now, the anticipation itself makes the list! And if you’re in the Colorado Springs area, it would be awesome to meet you there!

34. Frøya Organics Skincare

After chemo and radiation, I looked in the mirror and just saw someone who’d been sick for months. I felt like I’d aged years in the last six months. My skin was dry and lusterless, and I just decided I wanted to pamper my face a bit. So I invested in some skin care from Froya Organics (that I’d also seen ads for on social media, LOL) that is all Nordic balms.

I got their anti-aging set, as well as their acne treatment and joint balm. And I will say this. My skin feels nourished now. I’ve always been prone to (fairly mild but always there) acne, and while it hasn’t eliminated it, it’s made it so that they’re small and last a day rather than a week, which I count as a win. They smell great, they feel great on, and though they claim that the little jars are a 60-day supply, mine have lasted far longer than that (because I don’t honestly remember to use them all every day, LOL). Is it the miracle working stuff they claim? I wouldn’t go that far. But I love it, and I love how my skin feels now.

35. MidJourney VIDEOS!

Last year I was super excited to begin using MidJourney’s AI images, which can help me streamline my design work a ton. I especially loved it for character images…especially for my fantasy world. Because these are things I just DO NOT HAVE without AI. As in, at all. But now I do. Well, recently MidJourney launched their video creation! You start with an image and then give instructions on how to animate it. I’ve done a ton for my fantasy worlds but also for The Collector of Burned Books. So fun!! You can see more of the ones I created on the Fantasy page and the posts and pages linked from there. =D

36. Just…ALL THE BOOKS

So last year was an “easy” year. Moving from Bethany House to Tyndale meant only one full length historical romance instead of 2, and with cancer treatments, that worked out perfectly. I think I turned in four books in 2024. This year, however…ahem. Since my last birthday, I have turned in SEVEN books. And in 2025, it’ll be EIGHT. That’s just…insane. Utter madness. I still have two more due this year, and I have a “bonus” novel halfway done too. What can I say? I love my job, LOL.

37. The END of Cancer Treatments!

So after chemo, I was still getting treatments every three weeks of two of the drugs that had been in the chemo cocktail, but which aren’t chemo. They’re the ones targeted specifically at my type of protein-fed cancer, meant to block it from coming back. I started these during an IV bag shortage after a hurricane last fall, so I was approved to get them as injections instead of infusions. That meant 5 minutes instead of an hour, so suited me fine!

These treatments are designed to take you through one year of treatments, meaning I had eleven of them after the end of chemo. They were pretty much no big deal, aside from taking the trip to Morgantown. I finished up the last of them in May, a week after my one-year anniversary of my first chemo treatment. And that meant that cancer treatments were finally 100% DONE!!!

WOOT!

38. Reconstruction

But of course, reconstruction wasn’t. 😉 I had to wait six months after the completion of radiation for my final surgery, to give my skin and tissue and blood vessels time to heal. I just had that final surgery on July 22. I was SO excited to get those tissue expanders out (not. comfy.), and the surgery itself was easy and the aftermath SO much easier than the mastectomy.

Except that surgery triggered a migraine. It’s been several years since I’ve had one of these, and I didn’t have a prescription for it. Honestly, it took me days to even realize that the incessant headache + incessant nausea was a migraine. I ended up vomiting from it quite a few times (a first for me. Yay.) and it lingered for a week and a half. Not fun, guys. Not fun. I had to back out of an online conference I was supposed to be teaching at, reschedule a Facebook live to celebrate The Collector of Burned Books…yeah.

But I’m SO glad to have this surgery behind me!

39. Hearthlight Crate!

A couple months ago, a lovely young woman reached out to me about a new book box she wanted to create, featuring God-honoring romantasies. There are SO MANY romantasy/fantasy book boxes out there that are gorgeous and fun…but they’re also usually spicy. Hearthlight will be closed door romantasy. She was considering Awakened for her first selection, and I was obviously thrilled about this. Well, she did end up choosing my story for their debut box!

Hearthlight Crate is using the phrase “noblebright book box,” which I love. Gabrielle has an amazing vision and true determination to bring it to life. The box will include a special edition hardcover version of Awakened with a new jacket design with foil accents, endpaper art, probably edge art, maybe a ribbon bookmark…it’s going to be EPIC, guys!! And then fun tie-in objects too, like candles, luxury book marks, maybe resin figures or other art…those details haven’t been finalized. But I am sooooo excited!

Of course, this all depends on the box being funded. Gabrielle has a Kickstarter page built, which isn’t live yet, but you can sign up to be notified when the funding is in process! This is such a cool vision, I plan to donate so I can get ALL the boxes too. =D

Check out Hearthlight Crate on Kickstarter!

40.The Collector of Burned Books

And…The Collector of Burned Books released!!!! Guys, I am so, so excited about this book. It’s a theme I’m passionate about–the link between books, freedom of thought, and freedom. It was in many ways a love letter to my education at St. John’s. It was an exploration of why the freedom to chose our own reading material is so crucial to society. Yet also a look into why people ban or burn books. It’s a romance that I loved diving deep into. But it’s also one of the only books I’ve written that has an appeal way outside my usual “Christian Historical Romance” crowd. I was interviewed about its themes for Psychology Today. At ALA, I had librarians coming up and saying, “Oh, I’ve been seeing this book talked about everywhere!” And it turned out to be far more timely than I expected, given the book banning going on these days by folks on BOTH sides of the political aisle.

Will it be hugely successful? No clue. Obviously I hope and pray so, as I always do. But even if not, writing it changed me. Writing it opened doors. Writing it made me a better person. And I pray that God uses this book however He wills.

41. Fantasy-fantasy-fantasy

So in addition to writing Captivated and Aflame this year, I’ve also spent a lot of my “free” time working on a bonus story for the world, a prequel about the evil First Sea King, Foretold. I’ve gotten a start on the official third book in the series, Aflame. I’ve planned out other shorts and bonus stories, two of which I can’t even talk about yet because they would give away things from the main books, LOL. These books are like vacation for my brain, and I can get lost in my fantasy world for hours on end. I really, really hope readers like this world as much as I do! You can check out most of what I have planned and explore the world on my Fantasy page!

42. The Island …Shop books!

Last year right around my birthday, I turned in The Island Bookshop to Guideposts. It’s a first for me–a contemporary romance with a historical thread, set at one of my favorite places in the world–Avon, NC, in the Outer Banks. Well, The Island Bookshop released this spring/summer (staggered release), and I’m so excited to see the enthusiastic response to this story that’s in some ways a lot lighter than my historicals, but also full of family drama and hard choices. And this spring, I was super excited to sign the contract for the sequel! The Island Bakeshop will release next year. I haven’t written it yet (it’s due in October), but I LOVE the story I came up with for it. If all goes to plan, there will be a third book called The Island Bikeshop too. =)

43. Up to 55 Contracted Books!

I’ve been at this writing thing (professionally) for about 15 years. At first, I was happy to put out a book a year. Then two. But those numbers keep climbing, and when I look at my book list now, I realize that I have 55 books either out or under contract! That’s a lot of books! It is so humbling and exhilarating both to realize that I get to do this thing I love for a living. That it can support our family. That I get to use my words to share what God has taught me and what He keeps on teaching me through the stories He puts on my heart.

I’m so excited to keep working on these stories, and so grateful to YOU for supporting me and speaking life and encouragement into me with your support! Your emails, comments, and notes always make my day!

In summary, 42 was a year of cancer treatmeants…and END of treatments. It was a year of story. It was a year of travel and new experiences. It was a year of risk-taking and learning how to bring new visions to life. It was a year of surgeries and new self-image.

It was a year of blessing. Of renewal. Of celebration.

I have a few ideas of what 43 will include, if things go to plan. And of course, lots of room for surprises and unexpected twists and turns (because when does life NOT include those?). And I am so, so excited to walk forward into it and see what my good, good Father has in store for me next!