(Featuring: Doodle!)
It’s that time again, when I look forward to what I want to change and what I want to keep for the new year. This will take a some different forms, as I am finishing a couple books, promoting my books more, working on commissions, and still holding a teaching job.
Starting Block
For 2025 I started using a planner to keep up with my creative responsibilities, which morphed into needing something physical (the planner I had was only digital and I printed it out every month; I loved it. Unfortunately, they don’t ship physical planners to the States). My new one has already been marked across the year for consistency, which will be explained in Monthly.
I will work on a 24-hour day of writing, focusing on my graphic novel, Voices. I will plan out one of these days every three months or so to spur on my writing and allow myself to be creative in a different way.
Monthly Aims
I will take some time off in February from writing my normal novels and books. I’m not sure yet what that will look like, but I think it will be a good refresh.
Every other month, starting in February, I will publish a book in my Cat Chronicles series, which started with Alone and Afraid in 2025. I will also limit my art markets to a couple that have worked well for me, focusing on my books and art commissions.
Social media will also reflect this, since I have found even more ways to combine my artistic style with my books. Each month I will focus on extras and behind the scenes of my books and hopefully throw in favorite books I’ve read, too! My motto is Art + Books + Community, so I will continue weaving community opportunities this year, any chance I get.
Yearly Goals
My yearly goals will be 12 commissions, which is when someone approaches me or emails me for something specific that they would like to see done in a certain style: illustrations, a painting, tattoo. These are personalized and hand-drawn, and I work with each person from the beginning sketch to determine size, color palette, and intention for what they want done. I love peeking into other people’s worlds through artistic endeavors!
I will bundle several of my digital pieces midway and again at the end of the year, and find ways to promote my work online more. I limited on my pop-up studio reach, and having online access can grow my community quicker than I can.
In addition to writing, I will also be reading, with my goal still to meet: 200 books! I didn’t quite make it last year, yet I think it is still a very doable goal!
Begin Again
These are just the basics, but I’m eager to see how my creative journey goes this year. The newsletter for subscribers also will look a little different, including some digital freebies and creative tips. I’ll keep up the tried and true, as well as attempting a few new things with my art and books. Thank you for all of your support through my journey during the past couple of years!
Pushing forward,
Hannah Marie.