The Year of Calm Planning
Setting the Framework For My 2025 Goals and To-Do Lists
Happy New Year!
I aways love the transition to a brand new year. I embrace the closing of the previous year, and use those last few weeks to focus on wrapping things up and reflecting on what’s happened, or didn’t happen. This helps set the stage for planning and gearing up for the new year, and ruminating on all that I hope to experience and accomplish. There’s an inherent sense of renewal that takes root, and I appreciate the energy and optimism that this presents in how I feel and approach the brand new year.
This year, right after the celebratory New Year’s, the flu took over our household. I know we were not alone in this — “something” was going around, with a vengeance. In the scheme of things, this was a very minor inconvenience, one that would be very short-lived (thankfully!). In three days time, we were feeling much better, and life was back to normal. But I do admit to being very frustrated that my grand plans for the first week of the year were derailed.
One benefit of this experience was clarity on how I want to approach 2025 — in both my personal and professional endeavors. This will be my year of CALM PLANNING. I don’t pretend to be an expert on this, but my goal is to keep this sentiment top-of-mind and get better at it as I work to create, build, and execute on projects, whether that’s growing a garden in my backyard or running a major book campaign.
This is certainly no groundbreaking concept — from all the way back in middle school I can recall seeing this statement in big bold letters on a classroom bulletin board: “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.” (I believe this was in my woodshop class).
And even in many of the subjects I explored last year in this newsletter, whether it was pre-order campaigns, or understanding how the Indie Next list works, or the ongoing Publishing Timeline series, a foundational element to all of it was being aware of deadlines and starting efforts early.
Calm planning makes way for longer and more versatile runways, which lead to more enjoyable, substantive, and successful efforts.
All this to say, here’s to more calm planning in 2025. I’m excited to have this theme further present itself in this newsletter as the year progresses.
Speaking of “calm planning,” here are just a few relevant resources and recommendations:
FANTASTIC AUTHOR BOOKPLATE INSIGHTS
I’m a huge fan of bookplates. I’ve shared some bookplate recommendations in my newsletter (here and here), and always encourage authors to plan ahead and get them made well before their book’s publication day. Sharing this fantastic resource from bookseller
— really great info and insights on all aspects of bookplate strategy, most especially on how to best use your bookplates with indie booksellers.
CALENDAR PLANNING
The start of the year is a great time to take a hard look at the event and festival landscape, and start making your plans accordingly. In particular, I’d make note of when your local book festival might be happening, paying special attention to any author programming deadlines. The festival might not be until the Fall, but the deadline for panel submissions could be as soon as early Spring. For the major publishing industry events, I’ve created this handy 2025 resource.
PLATFORM TUNE-UP
I shared this tune-up newsletter at the very end of the year. Possible you missed it, or opted not to engage. Worth taking a look at now — quick and easy items to update your author platform, like changing the copyright on your website from 2024 to 2025. Read the full recommendations here:
THE GLOOMY GIRL VARIETY SHOW LAUNCH EVENT
Extremely excited that my client
’s groundbreaking memoir, The Gloomy Girl Variety Show, will be publishing next Tuesday, Jan. 14. And for those in Cincinnati, OH, I hope you’ll attend her launch event on Wednesday, Jan 15, at the newly renovated The Mercantile Library. You can learn more about Freda’s book here (she’s also got a fantastic newsletter), and RSVP for the launch here.
Thank you for reading, sharing, commenting and subscribing. I’m truly excited about this new year, and really looking forward to further connecting with this wonderful community of writers, authors, artists and publishing folks in 2025.
I send this newsletter while being cognizant of the wildfires in the Los Angeles area — thinking of my friends, colleagues, and family in the area, and all those that are being impacted. I found this resource article from LAist helpful, and so I am sharing it here.
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Regarding the art in today’s newsletter: Nothing like a winter’s early sunset to create a joyously calming run in the park. No one around, the crackling sound of snow and ice slowly melting away, a drifting layer of fog establishing a blurred out, dream-like landscape. The perfect setting to ruminate on seasonal beginnings and endings in the way that unfolds in one’s mind while running — a fragmented, chaotic clarity; a streaming flow of emotions that’s just rolling forth, not diverting or allowing one to rise above any other; and a peaceful energizing glow signaling that everything is going to be just fine, at least in this moment, with no halting for reality-checks or logistical analysis. One step in front of the other, deeper into the dark, breathing in the cold, crisp air, towards whatever lies ahead.
ABOUT THE WRITER OF THIS NEWSLETTER
did get some of his intended platform updates made as last year came to a close, including updating my bio, adding a showcase of recent and current clients, and improving how client testimonials are presented. The work continues… and I will be doing my best to move forward with the aforementioned calm planning.If you are new to this newsletter, you can view the archive organized by topic here.
Paid subscribers have access to the full archives, as well as this growing list of resources, like this model author questionnaire, an author exercise, and this list of BIPOC / diversity-focused book publishing links.
Useful, as always! Thanks!
thank you for sharing! <3