2026 Intentions

It's time to look ahead at what's coming for the new year! 

"But, Krista, don't you want to do a retrospective of 2025 first?"

Excuse me, there are still 2 weeks left of this year. I might move a mountain in the next 14 days, so we shall wait until December 31 for that particular post. 

Looking ahead, though—if you follow me anywhere on socials, you'll know I've been obsessing about this for weeks.

My word of 2026 is Growth.

I don't believe it's possible to ever stop learning or developing or improving. To quote from my Nayis Trilogy: "Either you're learning or you're dead."

So in 2026 I'm taking out specifics. I tried that in 2025, and while it did help me maintain a more solid view of my targets and I’ll be taking some of it forward, it didn't sit right.

This year, I do have specific targets, but the plan to get there is all about expanding on what I already know/have instead of barrelling into everything new.

After 12 years of publishing, after 32 publishing books, I have a lot to build on, and it’s time I remembered that.

So while my top objective for growth this year is wiser money management (I will do it this time. I have a plan), the bulk of my focus will be improving my marketing strategies.

I have 8 series to my name. 6 of them are complete, 1 of them is at a natural stopping point, and the last one is a series of standalones. That’s a lot to talk about. Yet I get so caught up talking about my next book that I sometimes forget I have a really solid backlist behind me. I have characters I actually really miss and want to get reacquainted with. I have stories that wrapped themselves around my heart for months and months while I first wrote and then edited them.

So I’m hoping to spend time with them this year. Re-reading some of them, but finding all kinds of ways to fall back in love so I can talk about them and (hopefully) have you fall in love with them as well.

Did you know the Meratis Trilogy is out in audio? No? That’s because I completely forget about it more often than not. I don’t have the rights to it right now and the agent is not great at communicating, so it gets NO love. I want to change that this year.

Know what else I’m lucky enough to have? The most amazing, lovely, supportive street team in the booksphere, and this year I want to start having some fun with you guys. I have a few ideas, so over the coming weeks, I’m going to be putting together a (gasp) spreadsheet to run past you.

The biggest change in 2026? I only have 2 releases planned, both of them in the latter half of the year.

Compared to this year’s SIX, it’s going to feel so strange and kind of like I’m slacking off… but I’ll be putting that time to good use. First, by running at least 1 if not 2 Kickstarter campaigns, and second, by WRITING.

So far (this is not the final number; hence the waiting on the retrospective), I’ve written 450,000 words this year… but I haven’t dug into many of the new stories whirring through my head. Of which there are many.

My first priorities on drafting will be finishing Witches 5 and 6 (so I can look at releasing them in 2027), Rogues of Golthwaine Book 3 (and probably another companion story), and the start of this romantasy duology/trilogy I’ve been playing with for a few years that… yeah. I recently re-read the super rough first draft I wrote 2 years ago, and—guys—it’s REALLY good. Like… REALLY good.

So that’s my 2026 in a nutshell:

Fewer releases, more marketing, more production, more falling in love with my characters.

GROWTH.

I’d love to hear what your word for 2026 is.