2025 was a not so fun year. I tried to stay on top of writing, reading, and blogging. I think my last post was in June. August was my birthday and then life got a little difficult.

The day after my birthday my mom had an aneurysm rupture on her brain. She spent September and October in the hospital and a week in November in a rehab facility. She was released and is now in an outpatient rehab to get her back to where she needs to be. She is doing fantastic! She is mobile and can do everything on her own. She is working on her short-term memory, and long-term memories are coming back. It was a scary few months and I thank God every day that my mom made it through.

With that being said…last year turned into a bit of a mess and I kind of want 2026 to be a much better year.

I have had issues with goals in the past, but I do have just a few goals for this year.

First goal is to read more. I have found that if I read every night before bed, I do sleep so much better. It really calms my mind and helps me get the rest I have desperately needed. Although, if the book is really good it keeps me up a little later than I need to be, but I don’t consider that a real problem.

My second goal is to read more horror books. I love them and I want to read more of them, but I have been influenced by the Tik-Tok world and have tried to keep up with what everyone else is reading. Unfortunately, that is a lot of fantasy and smut books. I have nothing against either of those, I just want more from my reading. I have my own issues with smut books now and fantasy has started to feel like the same story told over and over again.

My third goal is to write a children’s book. Or get started on the story at least. I have a story that I have been juggling around in my head for a few years now and I am ready to see where it can take me. It will be a children’s story that honors my dad and my wonderful dog Pixel that I lost in 2024.

My fourth goal is to learn to play the guitar. We shall see where that takes me. My dad played guitar and I have missed hearing him play. The only way to fix that is to play the guitar myself.

I feel like these are small goals that I can keep up with and work around. I want to do more writing than just working on a children’s book, but I am not setting it as a goal. I would like to read through my books that are on my bookshelf or get rid of them, but also not a goal, just something I am going to do.

I took several of my books on my shelf to the used bookstore in my town and traded them in for different books. I am collecting all of the Stephen King books and that is part of my horror goal. I want to read them all.

I am trying to find a balance in life. I am trying to find happiness and really figure out what in the world I want to do with my life. I feel like the time to play is over. I just turned 40 and my world was turned upside down on me. I am getting my ish together. I hope.