Well, I had planned on this being a video update and coming out at the beginning of January rather than the end, but as I seldom find a quiet moment where I won’t wake the kids, a written one it shall be! I can’t remember the last time I did an update, but the long and short of my news are as follows: We moved to Oklahoma, baby #3 will be arriving in the Spring, and I am in the middle of two books.

There’s a lot that goes along with all of that. But for the first two, my time has become rather limited. I was hoping to have two books come out this year, but with my rapidly filling schedule between the move, the new baby, and school with my daughter, I’m swamped! I’ve also had to turn down some other writing projects. But I need to better prioritize my time. Or I might lose it! As it is, I’m forgetting all that I wanted to write with this update. Perhaps I should have gotten a cup of hot chocolate first? Ah! That reminds me: reading goals for the year. This is a topic I want to do a longer form video for, but for now, I’ll just say a few words on reading goals.

In the past, I have set some pretty high goals for my reading and usually met them for as long as I can remember. Until this past year. I made it a little past half the number of books I wanted to read, and honestly, I was pretty disappointed with myself. But as I mentioned above, it’s been a busy year, and it’s only going to get busier. So with that in mind, I’ve decided that instead of hitting a high number (I still want to read at least 12), I’m going to focus on the books that I’ve always wanted to read but haven’t because I’ve been trying to hit a high numerical goal. This year I’ll be focusing on some longer books I’ve pushed to the side for years which have been judging me from my shelves. But no more! I decided that it is more important to me to form the habits of a reader – to be a reader – than to pressure myself into reading a specific number of books. This will probably mean fewer reviews, but I’ll try to keep up with those and my poetry. And hopefully, I’ll have some other announcements along the way too!

Ahh, and what about those two books I mentioned? No, that is not just the two books I’m in the middle of reading (and I’m about to be in the middle of a third!). I have two books that I am working on. One is a creative nonfiction piece, and another is an illustrated children’s book. Sadly, I think I’ll have to put off the children’s book for one more year as I am still working on the illustrations and they won’t be done by the time I need them to be. But for the other, my current goal is to finish the creative nonfiction manuscript by the end of February so I can send it to my beta readers over the time I’ll be busy with my new baby. Assuming all goes to plan, I’ll be able to make a big announcement on what this Super Secret Project is then. I am pretty excited about it, and I hope you all will be too!

But until then, blessings to you and yours,

~Madelyn Rose Craig