Last year, I focused more on writing but not too much on the reading end. I was in a rut with reading. I completed my minimum goal of reading five books last year, but getting through them was hard. A few of them I enjoyed reading, but others were a struggle to finish, and when I did, it soiled my enjoyment of the next book I tried to read. It wasn’t my year, that’s all, and this year is starting well, as I’m enjoying The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan.

I’m used to fantasy books focusing on wars and battles happening, but I was taken by surprise when this has been more of a murder mystery style. I don’t really read the synopsis of books; mostly, I get my recommendation from others who would tell me if it’s good or not. The plus was that it was available at my local library, so I grabbed it while my wife and I were there last Saturday.

I also have this on my Kindle. Usually, I’ll grab a book that people have recommended if it goes on sale on the Kindle store, and this one I believe was discounted to about a dollar or two when I bought it. It did not break the bank, so it was worth grabbing, which has been helpful to read at night, thanks to its backlight.

I’m looking forward to finishing this one. I’ve enjoyed my time with it, so I hope the rest of the book stays the same.

Last year, for writing, I took the leap of faith and submitted work to a few contests. I have also published my work on the Flash Fiction Friday website. I want to keep this year the same but include more submissions. All of my submissions have been flash fiction, so for this year, I want to submit more short stories or longer formats. Have my work published elsewhere. That’s not to say I’m not grateful for Flash Fiction Friday; I would like to expand my work to other publishing sites. Last but not least, I want to finish the first draft of the novel I am working on. The draft is currently at 10k words, with no idea of the goal for length, but I would like it to be a finished draft by the end of this year.

They’re big goals for 2025, but that’s why we have them so that we can keep ourselves accountable and have goals to look forward to working on!