Check-In > January

Monthly musings, memories & moments

Jan 31, 2025

I think I’m the only person who loves January…

Aside from September, it’s my favourite month of the year (and not just because it’s my birthday month).

January is a fresh slate full of possibilities and beginning energy. For me, that meant starting a new creative journal, planning for two new book projects (including the journey from middle-grade adventures to adult paranormal romance) and, after discovering my new favourite social platform, launching Chapters & Checklists here on Substack.

Musings

After much reflection (and many cups of coffee), I chose nourish as my word for 2025. It feels like exactly what I need this year—a gentle reminder to slow down and be more intentional with my energy. I wrote about why I’m Unsubscribing from Push Energy (my most viewed post this month, I guess so many of us feeling this right now).

Then in a follow up post about Creating With High Functioning Low Overwhelm, I realised how easily I was slipping back into my old emotional habits of pushing and forcing and the steps I’m taking as a result.

In writerly things, I shared a walkthrough of my free Authors Resource Hub, the messy thoughts-out-loud process of figuring out a character arc for my new book and a fireside escape for all our creative souls.

To help us all get more organised in our writing life (hands up if you’re an enneagram type one 🖐️) I posted a make-along video showing how to build a simple 2025 author planner in Notion (plus a free template to download in case you don’t want to 😊).

On a more bookish note, I read aloud the first nine chapters of Rescue Quest, for any little people out there and shared a short story about one woman's stand against stupidity.

(And can I just say that even with three published books it’s still flipping scary putting my work out there. Does it ever get easier I wonder?)

Moments

In my first podcast episode as a fiction author, Jed Doherty and I chatted about why I started writing the Rescue Quest series on the Reading With Your Kids Podcast (I’m on from 28:00)

I also made the decision to start a new podcast, Behind The Debut, which will be launching next month. I can’t tell you how excited I am to use this space to talk with debut authors who might not otherwise have a platform to share their journey and their books. *More on that soon*

On a more chilled note, I’ve spent lovely moments this month pootling about in my notebook—sketching, journaling about tarot readings, stickering, stencilling and allowing myself a creative hug with time to just be. IHTBH the guilt for not being ‘productive’ still creeps in but I’m learning to sit with it.