January 2026 Recap

January 2026 Recap

Introduction:

Hey y'all! This year I was inspired by Lindsay Puckett over on AuthorTube to really take control of my year by keeping track of everything going on in my life. I'll link her 2025 recap video here so you can see what I'm talking about, but when she posted this, I realized that I had no clue what had even happened in 2025 let alone what month it happened to me. I also know if I don't write something down it's lost forever. Grocery lists, story ideas, you name it.  Thus inspiring this new blog series that I hope to do indefinitely. 

How I'm Tracking:

 I am keeping this new habit short and simple. I keep a note on the Notes App on my phone for each month of the year. I write a little something everyday, or when something big or important happens. From baking cookies to finishing a first draft. Then, I am transferring that here in a blog post. That way when 2026 wraps up, I will have something to truly reflect on and see all my progress, lessons, and successes. This also helps to keep me on track and accountable. 

I am also taking this one step further buy doing a daily habit tracker. I bought this clever fox one. I'll start in February since I got it late, but I am then imputing the paper information onto a digital habit tracker I bought on etsy to be able to see graphs, percentages, and more. I am so excited about it because this is where my brain thrives: seeing progress! Especially now that my mental health is healthy again, I can get back to being the annoying millennial who is results focused. Lol 

But of course to see results, it requires consistency. And consistency is boring. It looks boring. Doing these physical trackers and being able to see progress truly keeps me going while working towards a goal. I can't wait to start seeing my discipline pay off! 

Recapping in Four Parts: Writing, Reading, Health, and Other Life Stuff

Writing

Going into 2026, I had 12K written in my current WIP. Pitiful numbers, but 2024-2025 were really years of growth, healing, and more that you can read about in my last journal entry. Writing was hard for a while. 

I spent the first 2 weeks of January off from writing intentionally so I could brainstorm, plan, and set goals for the year. I decluttered my old pens so I had the joy of buying new ones this year along with a new planner that I love. I picked a word of the year, made a new vision board, and asked myself questions to see what really feels great, brings joy, and aligns for me. I let go of all my past "failures" and  really decided to move forward. It was a wonderful time that I encourage everyone to do. I am even planning on doing this quarterly now to check back in with myself and assess  my progress to see if I need to make changes as life happens. I am also doing daily habit tracking now which I think will be so beneficial to my process. 

During this planning process, I knew I wanted to set a goal to release my debut book during the first quarter of the year. I went down the process of deciding which story that would be and ultimately I set aside the 12K WIP from the last year, and chose to start fresh with one of my other ideas I love that I thought would be a great book for me to debut with. I am currently loving writing this story. It is easy to write and the words have been flowing! It's an M/M Friends to Lovers Romance and I am all in! I will update more next month as I am only two weeks into drafting it, but I feel good about it!

One of my other goals for the year is to be present and active in my writing communities, and I am proud to say that I have jumped back in this month! I love being surrounded by like minded writers filled with positivity and being present there always makes this writing gig feel a little less lonely. 

Reading 

January was super slow for me on reading. I finished 3 novellas and I usually read/listen to 2-3 books per week so this was a slow month. It was all meant to be though as my brain needed to focus on other things at the start of the year. My brain has been loving short quick reads though while everything else has been busy. I am also planning on reading a lot more non-fiction this year.

In a total fangirl "this never happens to me moment" I won some signed Stephenie Meyer Twilight 20th anniversary bookplates! It made my day! I entered back in October and totally forgot about it. So when I got a letter from THE Jodi Reamer I panicked thinking I slept walked and sent her a horrible 1st draft of something. Lol 

Health

My overall health goals for 2026 are water, sleep, and intentional movement. 

I intentionally took off exercising over the holidays except for walks and i'm not mad about it. It's better to say I have decided I am not working out for these few week than to stress over missing workouts and making your body and mind fill with guilt over it.

That being said, after hardly missing any days since last August, it has been hard to get back to routine, but I have started back since the 18th with the Zumba  app and Get Fit With Rick on Youtube and I'm loving it! I'm still always trying to get my water in every day as it's the hardest for me to do. I'm tracking that this year though so that will help me get more than I would normally.

Cooking:

 I have been living in my Fix It And Forget It Slow Cooker cookbook to make meal prep easy! I am still in my sourdough era and it's been me and my bread machine against the world. Here is my favorite bread machine sourdough recipe! 

Skin Care/Self Care:

I am turning 30 this year so skincare health is something I want to start staying consistent with. Over the years I have been all over the place with it and I want to make sure I am washing, moisturizing, and wearing sunscreen daily. I am also implementing a retinol and eye cream. So I am doing 5 skin care products that don't take long. It's been a good start that I am happy with, and I can already see results from the consistency! I love using this blog for healthy product recommendations. 

Other Life Stuff

We started off The New Year bright and early with my hubby running his first 12K! He finished 41st out of 134 runners! I am super proud of him. He has lost almost 100 lbs since starting his health and running journey about 2 years ago now I think. It was a great day and we spent the rest of it with family. 

Manifestation Story Time:

We did our final Christmas date on the 4th and did walkthrough lights that were amazing and had dinner at Cracker Barrel. And there is where I manifested a bag of Sixlets. You know, the chocolate candy? Well, it was my favorite as a kid and you can't find them hardly at all anymore since the company was sold.  I talk about them sometimes thinking how I would love some. Especially during the holidays. Well after dinner I said let me look in the gift shop because if anyone is going to have Sixlets it would be Cracker Barrel. And there, tossed in between two candy containers like it didn't belong was a single bag of sixlets. Literal magic! I was so excited and nearly squealed in joy.  Yes, it's a little manifestation. But, if you can manifest a bag of sixlets you can manifest a million of them. I went to check out and asked the lady if they had anymore and she said no and didn't even know they had them. It was a cool moment to start off my new year with!

Birding

I am a birder so we are all set up for Spring birding to come and put up Purple Martin houses for the first time. I can't wait to sit outside and watch them, but backyard birding has been happening all month long as usual anyway. It's winter so I have loved having the Dark Eyed Juncos and American Goldfinches at my feeder! It brings me joy to watch the birds. This March will make a year since I fell into this hobby!

Films & Other Stuff

January was also my time to binge watch The Rings of Power. I loved it so much that I went back and watched all of the Lord of The Rings movies. It was my 1st time watching the extended versions, and I got so much more out of them. I then watched all of The Hobbit movies. That was my first time ever watching the second and third one! It was a blast and I loved all of them! This is clearly where my usual reading time went instead as well. Lol 

I am also choosing to decrease my time on social media where it's just scrolling. I have been back to my roots of when I started writing by using Youtube more and that has really been good for me! 

The hubby and I wrapped up this month with backyard firepit night and had smores while I wrote by the fire. It was so cozy! 

Conclusion 

Overall, January felt amazing and I am inspired and my creativity is flowing! and I am excited for the rest of this year and all the good coming my way. I hope you have an amazing year and I wish you all the peace, happiness, and joy in all of your endeavors! 

Leave me a comment below and let me know how your January went!