2026, The year of living dangerously

 

(Reminder: this site is now ONLY my blog. If you're looking for my book links or contact options, events, or any other aspects of my writer life, please visit http://dangerouswhenbored.com )

 

Welcome to the first Wednesday of the month. You know what that means! It's time to let our insecurities hang out. Yep, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop. If you're a writer at any stage of career, I highly recommend this blog hop as a way to connect with other writers for support, sympathy, ideas, and networking. If you're a reader, it's a great way to peek behind the curtain of a writing life.

Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the January 7 posting of the IWSG are Shannon Lawrence, Olga Godim, Jean Davis, and Jacqui Murray!

January 7 question - Is there anything in your writing plans for 2026 that you are going to do that you couldn't get done in 2025?

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2025 in my writing life was in some ways a year of endings. 

I finished my Menopausal Superheroes series, which has been my major focus as a writer for the past decade, bringing that vision to a close. The last novel (Change for the Better) came out nearly exactly ten years after the first novel (Going Through the Change), which had a nice feeling of perfect timing. 

I've been on this roller coaster a long time, and while it's been a great ride, I'm excited about moving on to other projects and ideas. 

 

 

 

I've also spent 2025 gearing up for  

2026, the year Samantha goes indie! 

It is both exciting and terrifying. But I feel good about what I've done to get ready to make the leap and try to move my "hobby that pays for itself" writing life into a real business. 

• Incorporated as an LLC (Dangerous When Bored)
• Trademarked my Imprint/Business Name
• Built my new website: http://dangerouswhenbored.com
• Moved my newsletter to Mailerlite 
• Sought education on a variety of publishing topics (Women in Publishing has been SO HELPFUL) 
• Quietly published my first book (Stories from Shadow Hill) under the imprint, mostly to learn how to do this
• learned Vellum for formatting
• learned about various distribution options (I went with Ingram, with a separate upload to Amazon) 
• began learning Canva for promotional image creation 
• Wrote three short GenX romance novels and contracted for editing, cover art, and audiobook production. (The first one is already available for preorder and my proof copy is soooooo pretty)

 

So, 2026 is when it all comes to fruition, and we find out if I can make a go of this. It's a lot to juggle, and has definitely already felt overwhelming. But it's also super-exciting to make all the decisions myself and have more control over timetables and other publishing decisions. 

I'd love to hear from others about your publishing journeys and what you learned along the way…and if GenX romance sounds up your alley, let me know if you're interested in being an ARC reader and one of my early reviewers for release day!