Like last year, I’m back to review how 2025 went. Since I have done this for the last two years, I figured this should become a yearly thing. So, let’s look back on my goals for this year.
My 2025 Goals
Goal One
Complete a draft of a new novel.
I finished the first draft of a novel this year. I started it last year and finished the epilogue a few hours ago. It’s a Beauty and the Beast inspired fantasy romance between a young woman and a king and is currently just under 70k words. I know it needs a lot of editing and revising, which I can hopefully start once I’ve had a few months away from the story, and it will likely end up slightly longer since there is a lot to add, but I’m very hopeful about it all.
Goal Two
Read at least 20 books.
I have successfully completed this goal. I have read (number] books this year. However, I did not read as many indie and self published authors as I intended to and instead focused on my TBR lists and reading books that I physically owned. This was mostly because I have more books than I have space for them and I have been trying to donate the books I don’t want instead of keeping them piled up in my bedroom.
Goal Three
Post a free short story on my blog.
I completed this one this year! I’m very happy with the short story I wrote, which I released on 1st October. If you want to read it for free, you can do so here.
Overall, I am very happy with what I have done this year, and hopefully I will continue to work towards and meet my goals next year.
2026 Goals
Now that we have looked at my 2025 goals, let’s look at what I’m aiming to do in 2026.
One
Write 200k words.
This goal was suggested by my girlfriend.In the last quarter of the year, I did a “write 100k words” challenge. While I didn’t manage it and only wrote 64k words, my yearly word count was over 100k. She then saw last year’s stats and decided 200k words was difficult enough for me to consider it a challenge. I also like this because it doesn’t limit me to one story and any other pieces of writing I do like short stories or random scenes and idea will also count, unlike with writing a new draft of a book.
Two
Donate ten books.
As I mentioned earlier, this year I tried to read more books that I owned and tried to donate some of them. I want to continue with that in 2026 and my goal is to donate ten books. I want to make more space by donating books that I have no intentions of rereading, or don’t love enough to keep a physical copy of. Currently, I intend to donate them to my local charity shop.
Three
Write more reviews.
I have written a lot of Doctor Who reviews in the last few years, as well as some theatre and book reviews, but I want to do more. I want to review more books and films and even some of the things I do when I travel.
If you’re not following me already, here are the links to my Instagram and Tumblr.
And finally, I hope you are all well and have a good 2026. Happy New Year!