My Writing Plans for 2026

Every year, my intention is to write a post similar to this – share a look at what my plans and hopes are for writing in the new year. Given that it’s March 3rd, I’m clearly behind the eight-ball. But better late than never right?

2026 has truly been one of the roughest years in a long time, and we’re only 60-someodd days into it. My year started off with a transition at my day job that I did not ask for and did not want. January was spent exhausted from that, frantically trying to apply for any and every job I thought I could do because I wanted out.

Then the last week of January, we got news that I knew would come someday, but I wasn’t ready for. My grandfather was going into hospice. He passed away at 95 years-old on February 1st. With all the grief and sadness around that, somehow in the middle of it, I also picked up the flu and even now, in March, I still don’t feel 100% back to normal.

So I really haven’t done a lot of writing since October, when I was finishing up edits and rewrites for And She Runs. I miss it but I also know that life has just not given me the space, time or energy lately to write. I truly hope that the worst of the year is behind me and that I can turn my focus back to things that matter, like finding a new job, and getting back to writing. Before I know it, it’ll be pool season, too.

When And She Runs came out in November, my plan was to write the second book, And She Hunts, in November and December. But I hit some burnout and needed some time off. And then life happened and I’m still not totally comfortable with the plot that I have. So while my original hope to have the second book out this year, ideally in November.

That simply just isn’t going to happen this year. In fact, I probably won’t have a book out at all this year. I do want to get close to a release, but there’s only one scenario where I could possibly release a book this year.

As I thought about what my writing plans would be this year, there were two books I knew I wanted to come back to: And She Hunts, the second book in the series, and then Lost in the Canyon, a stand-alone I wrote a draft of in 2024.

Lost in the Canyon is a spring/summer book to me. The heat of the West Texas canyons, being dry, the plains, all of that just feels like summer to me. So I think I’m going to write a quick draft of this book for the next two months, and then I’ll tackle And She Hunts after. Since I already mostly know the story of Lost in the Canyon, I’m hoping a rewrite will get back into the practice of writing.

For March, my plan is to brainstorm and outline the book so well, that when April hits, I’ll be able to write my little heart out. April is traditionally Camp NaNoWriMo month, and while NaNoWriMo no longer exists, there are plenty of shoot-offs to participate in. That feels like a great way to get back into writing.

If there is a book that comes out this year, it’ll be Lost in the Canyon, but it could be early 2027 when that happens. After that, I’m hoping to have a quick turn around to have And She Hunts out.

When I started the process to rewrite the Cassie Morgan Series, I wanted to be quicker about it than the original series, one a year, and maybe two books the last year. And life has just not happened that way. I hope this year to have a weekend to just plot out all the big beats that will happen across that entire series, but I’m not letting myself focus on that right now.

Another goal as I have is to share more of the process here, so I’m hoping that there will be more posts this year. But for now, my first goal is to write a draft of a book, Lost in the Canyon, and hopefully have a draft done by end of April.

From there? Well, I guess we’ll see what life has in store for the rest of 2026.