2025 Recap

Let’s start with the plain stats. I had around 40 submissions, 2 acceptances, 2 publications, and 35 rejections. In the spring, Fusion Fragment published “All the Pretty Starships Fly Like This,” which was one of my first bigger sales. I followed that up with a publication in Escape Pod (my first professional publication!) in the fall with “Hot Bot Summer.” And then I sold “The Two Thousandth and Seventieth Time Sara Deletes Her Family” to Analog (which is forthcoming in 2026). So all in all, a good year.

You would think after getting a few sales under my belt, I would start to get a knack for this. But writing is hard. And this year, with a newborn (and so little sleep) and a new job, it was particularly difficult. I still tried though. Several stories made it to final rounds but could not quite push past the finish line. A few are still being shopped around with some newer pieces. I am working on trying not to be too hard on myself and giving myself grace.

I started this journey with the idea that I would explore the kind of writer I am. Two years in, and I am still figuring that out. My guess is it always will be. But I am hoping I can get a little closer to what works and what doesn’t. I guess, if I had to think of a goal for 2026, it would be to try to get closer to what is me. That’s a pretty nebulous goal, so I’m hesitant to make that a target. But who knows. Maybe a year from now, I’ll know whether or not I hit it.

As always, here’s to a new year! Good luck to all those writers out there!