2025 Wrap-Up

As 2025 comes to a close and wrap-ups start popping up everywhere on my feeds, I wanted to take a moment to sit down and reflect on my own year, to gain some perspective and really see how far I’ve come.

2025 was the year I finally committed to writing full time. I’d been sitting on a neglected writing dream my whole life, occasionally dipping in and out of it when motivation struck, but never giving it the solid, sustained effort I knew it would take to make that dream a reality. This year, I decided it was time to change that.

My very first writing goal was set in April 2025. It was pretty vague and would undergo multiple revisions throughout the year, but it served as my starting point, as a sort of declaration of intent:

Establish myself as a full-time writer with income by the end of December 2025.

And so with that original goal in mind, I began planning and outlining a novel titled Echoes. I established characters, built the world and plot, and gathered story seeds and random scenes I felt the urge to write. For the next few weeks, I worked on this story exclusively while researching writing platforms.

MY MEDIUM JOURNEY

Toward the end of April, I set up an account on Medium and wrote my first article. I wrote quite a bit on Medium in 2025, discovering a love of writing personal essays that I never knew I had.

In many ways, Medium was what truly propelled my writing career forward and instilled in me the confidence to share my words with the world. The most important thing I learned from writing on this platform is that I have a voice that people actually want to hear, and that I am worth listening to.

I cannot fully explain what Medium has done for my confidence and self-worth, but I’ll be forever grateful for it.

2025 Medium Stats:

• Published 52 stories

• Gained 573 followers, 338 subscribers

• Total income: $686.91

  
  

SERIAL SAGA

While researching writing platforms and refining my writing goals, I discovered serial fiction. The idea excited me enough that I put Echoes aside to try my hand at writing a serial story. I joined Radish in early May.

I began writing and publishing on Radish with my fantasy romance, The Constructor. I also added a completed novella (one that would find a new home later in the year).

Unfortunately, on July 3rd, 2025, Radish announced that their platform would be closing in December. That sent me back into research mode as I searched for a new serial platform.

I did attempt several:

• Mofic: A new Korean platform launching for U.S. readers and writers. It has a lot of promise, but they removed their monetization options while I was actively working toward qualifying for them.

• My Fiction/KISS: Great monetization, but it seemed like it might be difficult for me to keep up with the expected frequency of updates. From an outside perspective, and after observing the practices of some of their acquisition editors, it seemed to me they valued quantity over quality. I did apply with a story, but ultimately pulled out before publishing anything with them.

• WeInk: Another new platform with limited features so far. It also has a lot of promise and potential. I published a few MBaD chapters here.

What I learned:

I fell in love with the serial fiction format. This pushed me to learn more about how to tell better serial stories, and I’ve gotten a great deal of practice since I began.

I also learned that I just don’t have the mental capacity to spread thin and maintain multiple platforms at once. I needed to find a singular creative home where I could publish all of my stories in one place and let them truly take root.

2025 Radish Stats:

The Constructor:

• Published 14 episodes

• Gained 2 subscribers

• Had 215 views

Wrong Side of the Mirror:

• Published 16 episodes

• Gained 0 subscribers

• Had 497 views

Total income: $2.30

PUBLISHING

A while back — like a while a while, probably around 2014 — I self-published a time travel romance novella titled Wrong Side of the Mirror. It never did very well on its own. I think I made all of twelve bucks on this story.

So on August 27th of this year, I went out on a limb and submitted the novella to NineStar Press, an LGBTQ+ publisher. After a month and a few days, they responded and offered me a contract, which I happily accepted.

I’m over-the-moon excited about this. I really loved this story, and it always broke my heart that it never went very far. I’m currently working on expanding the story to at least 40k to hit novel length, then official edits begin in March 2026.

I can’t wait to see this story finally reach its true potential.

REAM

Ream was suggested to me by another author who was also affected by Radish’s closure. After checking it out multiple times, I ultimately decided to settle there toward the end of 2September.

It was intimidating at first, and I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to grow on a platform like this. But it turned out to be exactly the creative home I was looking for, a place where I have full control over my content, along with the ease of being a platform designed specifically for authors to monetize their writing.

I created an account, set up a very simple subscription tier, and moved all of my chapters from Mofic and WeInk over to Ream.

I started with Marked By a Demon, my paranormal romance. I did briefly add The Constructor as well, but ultimately removed it again due to being unhappy with the story overall. It needs major work, both with the plot and the worldbuilding, and I plan to revisit this story at a later time.

A few weeks ago I also started a brand new story: The Clockmaker’s Fairy, a fantasy romance.

Ream Stats:

• Marked By a Demon: Published 22 chapters

• The Clockmaker’s Fairy: Published 2 chapters

• Gained 15 followers

• Total income: $0

LOOKING FORWARD: GOALS AND DIRECTION FOR 2026

1. I struggle with schedules and deadlines, even self-imposed ones. I always have. This will likely be an ongoing challenge for me, but learning to schedule and publish consistently I feel will end up being my key to success. If I could choose only one habit to gain in 2026, it would be consistency and reliability with uploads. I plan to create a realistic publishing schedule for my Ream chapters and do my best to stick to it.

The key word here is realistic. If I can only publish twice a month, then twice a month it will be, as long as it’s consistent. That’s what matters most right now. Ideally, I’d like to gradually work my way up to two chapters per month per story (I currently have two ongoing stories).

2. I’ve developed a genuine love of writing personal essays and daily reflections. Going forward, it’s very important to me to continue publishing on my Medium page. Not only does it have strong income potential, but this type of writing is deeply therapeutic, and I’ve made some wonderful connections through it.

3. I’ve been working toward writing full time since April, and for nine straight months I haven’t had a single “zero day.” Every day I’ve done something in service of furthering my writing career, whether that be writing an entire chapter or only fifty words. During that time, I’ve discovered my patterns, my cadence, and my rhythms and routines. I know how writing fits into my life now. I’m developing my own voice and style, and I’ve made real progress in pushing back against my perfectionism. Most importantly, I’ve gained confidence in myself and my work.

4. My top priority for the first couple months of 2026 is finishing the expansion of Wrong Side of the Mirror in preparation for editing with NineStar Press in March. Once official edits begin, it’ll be a whole new world for me. I’ve never worked with a professional editor before, and I truly can’t wait to get started. I’m excited to see this story truly reach its potential.

5. Marked By a Demon: I’d love to see Season One completed in the first half of the year. While I have a loose plot in mind, this story is largely being pantsed. Which is a whole lot of fun, to be honest, but it doesn’t make planning very easy. I’m not sure how many chapters I have left to go, so I may set a tentative goal to create a solid Season One plan during the first week of the year. That should give me a clearer estimate of how many chapters it will take to finish the season.

6. The Clockmaker’s Fairy: If I stick to the consistency mentioned in my first goal, I anticipate this story to be fully complete in the first half of the year. I plan to write the story twice, in essence — once from Gregor’s POV and again from Elanrai’s. I also have three endings planned, and I intend to write all three. It’s not meant to be a sprawling epic, just something short and intimate.

Definitive Goals:

• Rework writing goals so they’re no longer vague

• Set a realistic publishing schedule, and STICK TO IT!

• Expand Wrong Side of the Mirror to at least 40k by Feb 28

• First week of 2026: lay out a plot and structure for the remainder of MBaD Season One

And that about does it for me for 2025! All in all, a very fulfilling year. I know now without a doubt that I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing, and that’s a wonderful feeling.

When I step back and really look at what I’ve accomplished, I feel so incredibly proud of myself. I’ve established myself on Medium and Ream, two platforms I truly love. I’ve written thousands of words, both fiction and nonfiction, discovered my voice, and even found a home for Wrong Side of the Mirror.

I have big plans for the coming year. I’m just getting started.

2025 was a year of planting seeds.

In 2026, I get to watch those seeds sprout and blossom.

I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful 2025, and I hope you have an even better 2026.

See y’all next year!