January 2, 2026
I'm not sure what to say about the year 2025. I survived it, but I'm not sure I did it with any sort of grace and style. I tried some new things, I got two books published (The First of February and January After Dark), and I did a lot of physical labor around the manor. This was the year of tree removal, burning brush, and splitting firewood. At least I'm staying warm.
Writing these retrospectives is never easy for me. They remind of those things I wanted to do but didn't have the time, or energy, to accomplish. Nevertheless, here we go.
January 2025
January 2025 found western Maryland in the throes of an old-fashioned winter. It was cold and snowy. Deuce and I were stuck inside so we made the most of it. The dog caught up on his sleep, and I worked on organization and writing. I wanted to finish The First of February before the first of February, but it didn't happen.
Finally! The First of February went live. It was quite a relief to accomplish that. It was also quite a relief that my cousin was home to come to my rescue when the battery in my car went dead. I decided that a story I wrote and originally published with the late Christianne France was worth putting out on Kindle Unlimited. It was one of a series of five stories, but the one I wrote in its entirety to meet our deadline due to her health. A Night on the Town went live on Kindle Unlimited. I also moved my first two KC Kendricks books, Surrendered Victory and Passion's Victory, to Kindle Unlimited (for all the good that did me).
March through August 2025
I began work on a new manuscript, and I planted a lot of seeds in hopes of a 2025 garden. March 30th rolled around, the first anniversary of Ron's death. I stalled, and stayed stalled for months. After a lot of deliberating, I put all the Rayne Forrest titles on Kindle Unlimited (for all the good that did).
September - October 2025
One of life's twists and turns came to me in October. One of my oldest and dearest friends suddenly stepped back into my life. We've had dinner together a few times, and it's been good for me to talk with someone who knew me way back in the 1970s.
I took the leap and put all my titles on Audible. I do not like the AI voice, but the service was provided free to me, so I went with it. I worked on January After Dark, tended to the end of the gardening season, and got more serious about making videos. I had survived a second summer without Ron and somehow life got easier. Once into October, my cousin and I got serious about laying in firewood.
November 2025
Work continued on January After Dark and on a new story that is untitled as of this writing. I learned more about editing videos and, if I must say so myself, some of them are pretty good for a rank amateur.
December 2025
January After Dark went live! I can still call myself a writer. I read an email from Amazon that said I could go back and put DRM on any books I'd not already put on, so I did that. I gleefully did that.
The weather left a lot to be desired, and I stayed busy feeding the woodstove. I also made a few videos, but December is a quiet time of the Year. There wasn't a lot to record here at the manor. This was my second Christmas without Ron.
And that brings me to this new year, the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Six. I still miss Ron, every day, but it is better than it was.
In a lot of ways, I've come full circle. I'm writing for ME. Screw the rules. Screw what a potential publisher wants. I've been at this a long time and I'm back to writing the story I want to read. I think that will make 2026 an interesting year.
KC/Rayne
The 2017 Retrospective
The 2016 Retrospective
The 2015 Retrospective
The 2014 Retrospective
The 2013 Retrospective
The 2012 Retrospective
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