Looking Back, Looking Ahead – #NewYears #Goals #AmWriting

Image by Gundula Vogel from Pixabay

It’s New Year’s Eve, the boundary between the old year and the new. Although this is really an illusion – tomorrow will likely be quite similar to today – it’s traditional to use the turning of the year as an opportunity to gaze back at activities and accomplishments from the previous twelve months, and to lay out plans for the months ahead.

Did you know that my entire publishing history is posted in reverse chronological order on my website? Stretching back to 1999 and the release of the first edition of Raw Silk? Cumulatively, I’m proud of my body of work. I’m also pleased that I’m still writing and publishing after more than two and a half decades, despite all the changes in the industry and in my own life.

For the past few years, though, I’ve had very little time to devote to being Lisabet Sarai. In 2021 I accepted a rewarding but demanding real-world job that shrinks my writing time to a few hours per week. I have to cram blog maintenance and the minimal marketing I do into the evenings of the days when I can work remotely. (With a three hour total commute on the days I have to be in the office, it’s too late by the time I get home.)

In 2025 I brought out two new books, both novellas, for a total of about 70K words. They’re extremely different from one another.

The Slut Does Vegas is light-hearted, no-holds-barred erotica that brings together two of my fictional worlds. One of my most devoted fans inspired this story with his fantasy of seeing heroines from the two worlds get together. I labeled it as Book 7 of my Vegas Babes series, in the hopes of attracting previous readers. 

 

Free Fall: Escape from Xanadu, on the other hand, is a serious lesbian sci-fi romance, with some nods to the current world situation. I hadn’t written “pure” lesbian fiction since By Moonlight in 2023. I had no idea how to market it, or to whom, but with help from the community, especially the IHeartSapphFic website, the story has found some readers at least. That book was inspired by a pre-made cover I fell in love with. I bought the cover with a conviction that there was a compelling story behind it. Bringing that story to life was a difficult but rewarding exercise.

I’ve also used the last few days of 2025 to publish a new edition of Her Secret Ingredient, a romance from way back in 2013. I was startled to realize that this book, written when I was a romance novice, has many elements of a rom-com. So that’s the way I’m marketing it.

So, three short books in twelve months. Not very impressive. It’s fortunate I am not trying to make my living writing!

Of course, Lisabet Sarai did more than just write erotica and romance in 2025. My blog Beyond Romance featured an average of three posts per week, including seventeen reviews over the course of the year. (Since the blog debuted in 2009, I’ve done more than 4,500 posts and had 2.7 million visitors.) On the last Sunday of every month, I’ve hosted a Charity Sunday event, raising money for various worthy causes.

I’ve also spent some time trying to acquire new skills, especially in the area of graphic arts. I’m getting better at using Gimp, the open-source alternative to PhotoShop. Although both my newly written books this year feature professional covers, Her Secret Ingredient is one of my first independent attempts to use generative AI as a starting point for my cover art.

Finally, I’ve put significant effort into maintaining our writing community. I belong to several author groups, including Marketing For Romance Writers. We share knowledge, suggestions and support, as well as exchanging promo help. Some of my dearest friends are people I know through my writing. I may never have met them in person, but I know I can count on them (and vice versa).

As for 2026, I don’t have firm plans, but here are some of my potential goals:

• Bring out the rest of my novels in print format. Right now only three of my books (Raw Silk, Incognito and Rajasthani Moon) are available in hard-copy form. I’m not sure this makes a lot of sense commercially, but I do know that some readers (including me) really love a book they can hold in their hands.

• Package some of my novels into super-bundle boxed sets for Kindle Unlimited. I publish wide in order to give my readers a choice of sources. However, I do have a few boxed sets targeted at the KU market, which is (I can see) a different group of people who might not buy the individual titles.

• Publish a new edition of The Ingredients of Bliss, the novel-length sequel to Her Secret Ingredient, after I get the rights back in late 2026.

And what about new work? Well, I recently bought two more covers (on sale) from my favorite cover artist James Help (https://goonwrite.com). He’s the guy who did both of this year’s covers. Working from a cover to a story inspiration actually turned out well with Free Fall, so I’m going to try this again. The first story I plan to attempt will be another lesbian title, a historical romance/mystery set in Victorian London and Boston. I’m working on the outline now.

I don’t like to make resolutions on New Year’s. Often they’re just an opportunity to feel guilty. Over the years, being Lisabet, creating worlds and characters and connecting with readers and other authors, has been a journey of joy. I don’t want to taint that joy by feeling pressured.

I do hope, though, that readers will tag along with me on the next leg of my journey.

Image created by Gemini AI