The new year is almost upon us.

As many end-of-the-year lists hit the scene (best movies, best television, best face cream, best smashburger, etc.) some people take a moment to reflect on their own best of. Or worst of.

Common elements of a personal year-in-review include:

1. What changed in 2025?
2. What was hard?
3. What was good?
4. What was learned?
5. What are you letting go of in the new year?
6. What are your hopes/goals in 2026?

WINNER!!

If you subscribed to my newsletter at my last book signing or contacted me with stories when prompted over the last few newsletters, or purchased from my website this holiday season, you were placed in a drawing for a gift basket. The winner has been drawn:

ALISSA BRUNSKILL

(Please reply to this newsletter with your address.)

Every book in my bookshop is half off until December 31st, 2025. Gift-wrapped and autographed. If you haven't picked up a copy of my three books, now is a great time.

CHECKOUT CODE: GREATLIFE

I stepped outside my comfort zone this year. I did things I never thought would be offered to me, and I wasn't convinced I could carry them. But I carried them all the same, for better or worse. I'm calling these things, wins.

But you can't win at everything unless you're... nobody. Nobody wins at everything, but there are recognizable patterns in people who appear to win at everything - professionally, creatively, socially, spiritually.

I could dissect those patterns, but then this newsletter would turn into a motivational workshop for adults who are spiritually overcooked, and who has the stamina for that in late December?

So, let's keep it simple: the people who look like they're winning are the ones who stay steady, stay humble, and keep going long after the rest of us sit down.

I’m grateful you’ve followed my writing journey this year. With any luck, the seeds planted in 2025 will bear real fruit in the year ahead. Book four, The Wick Effect, is in its final edit and on track to be pitched to literary agents in 2026. And book one, Life in a Supermarket Basket, has officially been adapted for the stage—with a potential world premiere on the horizon.

My main goal in 2026 is to work harder to embrace the good. Allow it to breath.

And then I'm smothering the bad. I'm going to LEAVE IT.

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R!

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