It’s been a fun and eventful year in writing for this author:

• A year ago, I challenged myself to write at least one blog post a month on average in 2025. This post is my 18th for the year. Mission accomplished!
• In response to a challenge by my husband, I wrote eight horror comedy short stories. Two of them—Kitty’s Hobby and Armed—got published, and a third , “Food Baby,” will be part of an anthology next year. (One of my dreams is to publish a collection of my horror comedies, because I came up with the best title EVER, which I am keeping secret until I make it happen!)
• I won third place in the NYC Midnight 100-word Microfiction Challenge 2025. This was thrilling for many reasons, including beating out 4,300+ competitors, the cash prize, and the accomplishment of finally placing in a contest I’ve entered dozens of times without making it into the top 10.
• Speaking of NYC Midnight, I entered their inaugural Scary Story Challenge, which was great fun despite its unusual 400-word limit. I liked my story so much that I’ve already revised it into a slightly longer 500-word piece that made it onto a shortlist for Dark Holme’s monthly Dark Descent contest.
• My short story Break Time got published after being rejected 19 times over the years. I thought that story would never find a home. It’s an odd one, and I’m glad it resonated with the folks at Whisper House Press.
• My story The Window-Room, based on a family ghost story, appeared in the June issue of parABnormal Magazine.
• My creepy mannequin story Andie appeared in the anthology Weird Tales to Haunt Your Reptilian Brain from Burial Books.
• My gothic horror story The Painted Man appeared in Pretend You Don’t See Her from Kandisha Press. The book got a very nice review on Horror Tree.
• I established my very own GoodReads author page and made my first-ever FM radio appearance.
• And finally, what might be my favorite highlight of the year: my story “The River’s Revenge” was published in Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories. What an honor and a kick it was to appear alongside so many talented Chicago-area authors.

And that’s not all. I’ve written 74,000 words of my first horror novel, the idea for which came to me in a dream earlier this year. While I hoped to be done by year end, it didn’t quite happen, but it will happen soon, because I’m not giving up on this creepy story of isolation and madness.

As much as I’d like to write full-time, I have a day job as well as very full life and people I love. My kids are now 13 and 17. Spending time with them and my husband is my greatest joy. Everyone’s familiar with the feeling of looking back on “the good old days.” For me, the good old days are happening right now, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I told Maggie, my oldest, that I had resigned myself to not being done with the draft by the end of 2025. Her response: “So finish it by the end of the Chinese lunar year.” I love that kid.