Reflecting on My 2025 Year as an Author

As we wrap up 2025, I wanted to take a look at the growth I’ve made as an author and publisher this year. 

2025 has been an incredible year for growth and change, the greatest amount of change I’ve made in all of my years publishing… probably combined. Let’s break it down.

January - I had my third ever book signing event, and my first event at the first Barnes & Noble I ever shopped at, which is very cool! I also had my first bulk book order from a bookstore! 

February - I got to spend a day talking to creative writing students. This was my first official book talk, and I had so much fun being back in the classroom, this time talking about my process as an author! 

March - This is the first month that I ever had more than one event in the month! I had a pre-release book event for Severed on March 22nd at the American Fork Barnes & Noble, and I had a big, very successful book signing event in Park City Utah to celebrate the release of Severed, the second book in the Bound trilogy. At this single event, I sold 29 books!

April - I had a book signing event at the Sugarhouse Barnes & Noble. 

May - I had two book signing events this month, and for one of these, I had my first multi-author event. I also caught this multi-author event immediately after a flight, which made me feel so cool. I took a trip to Oregon with my family, and during this trip I was able to finish my final edits for Twice in a Lifetime, which I would release later in the summer. 

June - In this month, I returned to Park City for another book signing event. 

July - I returned to Barnes & Noble in Orem to celebrate the release of Twice in a Lifetime. In this month, I released Twice in a Lifetime, a contemporary sweet romance about an artist who loses her fiancé just days before their wedding, and has to grapple with grief, change, and finding love again. I also officially registered AzureStar Press as a business! 

August - In this month, I focused on writing Fated and editing my poetry book, Joyful, Grateful, Hopeful. I had three more book signing events this month, including a weekend where I did a book signing event on Saturday and a multi-vendor event on Sunday, and got connected with Hidden Pages in Idaho! I shipped off my first large, out of state order of books. 

September - I had two more book signing events this month, as well, including my very first out of state author event! I got to spend the day with the lovely ladies at Hidden Pages in Idaho, and had a very nice weekend out of town for it. In this month, I released Joyful, Grateful, Hopeful, a collection of poems focused on things that bring me joy, make me feel gratitude, and fill me with hope. 

October - I had another book signing event in Park City (they very quickly became my favorite bookstore to work with, because their staff has been amazing!) In this month, I got my next book outlined while Fated was with my editor, and I got so excited, but I didn’t start writing it, because I had surgery in both hands for my carpel tunnel. This set me back a bit.

November - In this month, I spent the majority of my writing time resting and healing. I did have a few book signing events, including two in one day about a two-hour drive apart from each other, because I’m crazy that way. This month, I released The Little Red Fergie, a children’s book by Gary R. Motte that I illustrated. We had the book launch event on November 1st, and we completely sold out and then some! We ended up having 72 book sales on that first day! I completely contribute this book’s initial success to the incredible footwork the author and his family did beforehand, letting their community know it was coming. The Little Red Fergie is also the first book (outside of mine) to be completely created and published under AzureStar Press. I had another book event at Park City, and I also held a writing workshop for a group of kids thanks to the interest from MyHen. 

December - I had another multi-author event that I got the opportunity to participate in at the Springville public library for Utah Author’s day, and I even accidentally met and got to talk with Beth Brower, who is actually super cool! I released The Boy and the Stone, a children’s book about a young boy who finds a magical stone one day. 

Throughout the year… 

• I regularly chipped away each week on illustrating for The Little Red Fergie and The Boy and The Stone.
  
• I consistently wrote poems every day for Joyful, Grateful, Hopeful.
  
• I edited Twice in a Lifetime.
  
• I drafted and edited (and have been working on rewriting) Fated. 
  
• I outlined my next book. 
  
• I had a wonderful year of getting in touch with more bookstores, talking and connecting with more readers, and making more book sales! 
  
  

After selling 134 books last year, my initial goal was to sell 100 books this year, to see if that number was sustainable. Thanks to all the events I’ve been able to participate in, consistently putting out a book every quarter, and the incredible readers I’ve met, I was able to sell 586 books (this includes sales for The Little Red Fergie, which I did not write, but I do receive royalty payments for illustrating). 

This year has been one of learning, growing, and expanding, and I am SO grateful to every person and challenge that helped me get here. I have high hopes for the upcoming year as I continue to get my work out into the world.