Reflections: 2024 was the Year of Growth and Clarity
It’s that time of year. A time to stop and look back and, after last year’s challenges as an author and creative entrepreneur, I decided to enter 2024 with realistic expectations.
My focus for the year centred on two main priorities:
- Creating and publishing content – fiction, non-fiction, blog posts, and more.
- Focusing on my physical and mental health – a goal I also considered a business priority.
In my 2023 Reflections post, I outlined specific goals for 2024:
– Publish THE HOUSESITTER – WIN.
– Finish and publish FINDING THE WAY – FAIL (kind of).
– Expand the “Write Your Camino Story” workshop – WIN.
– Explore other workshop ideas – WIN.
– Engage with my subscribers – WIN.
Let’s break these down:
Publish *THE HOUSESITTER – WIN!
Though it launched a month later than planned, my second domestic thriller, *The Housesitter*, was published in August. I even embarked on a book tour across the mainland for the launch.
While the tour wasn’t a runaway success, the book has been selling consistently since its release, which I’m thrilled about. I had hoped for a more robust launch, but releasing a new book during a U.S. election year, with 60% of my audience in the U.S., was always a gamble.
Publish FINDING THE WAY – FAIL (Kind of).
This goal had two parts:
- Writing the book: At the start of the year, I believed I was halfway through the draft, but it turned out I was only a quarter in. Completing THE HOUSESITTER demanded my full attention, so FINDING THE WAY took a back seat.
- Walking the Camino de Santiago: I planned to walk the Camino in April for research, but buying and renovating a house derailed those plans. I also took a much-needed six-week break during Sept/October to focus on my health and delayed house projects.
As of December 2024, I’m about a third through the draft of FINDING THE WAY and I am happy with its progress. My goal is to finish as much as possible before my third Camino wander in April 2025, where I’ll gather more material (aka my ‘research trip’).
I worried this book might feel too similar to CAMINO WANDERING, but feedback from trusted readers reassured me. One described it as: “It’s like your favourite band releasing a new album—familiar vibes but different stories.”
That feedback has fuelled me to continue.
“Write Your Camino Story” Workshop – WIN!
I love delivering this workshop because it allows participants to explore their unique Camino journeys in various formats: memoir, poetry, fiction, or short stories. By focusing not on the journey’s details but their emotions and observations, their writing evolves naturally.
As part of THE HOUSESITTER book tour, I added in workshops and delivered them in Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and the Blue Mountains (NSW). I offered one of these workshops online, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to postpone that workshop.
I limited the numbers to the workshops, because the intimacy offers more interaction and a focus on each person. Thankfully, I found the feedback to be positive and encouraging, so I will continue these workshops next year.
In 2025, I plan to continue these workshops. Find the latest information here.
Develop Other Workshops – WIN! (Kind of)
This year, I worked on two new workshops centred around the writing community: one is focused on self-publishing and the other on marketing. It took me some time to decide what I wanted to develop amidst this year’s business challenges, but as the year comes to a close, my vision has become clear.
These will launch in 2025.
Find the latest information here.
Engage with Subscribers – WIN!
This year underscored the importance of health. By September, burnout forced me to step back. Following a failed “super-secret project” and post-tour exhaustion, I hit a wall. I began questioning everything – my decision-making ability, my goals, I even considered quitting.
Then something incredible happened: after sending out a shorter-than-usual October newsletter, I received an outpouring of support from readers. Every time I received an email, I sat on the couch and cried. Sobbed really. Your emails kept me going. Thank you to every one of you who reached out. Truly, it meant a lot.
This experience taught me the importance of balance—not just preaching it to others but living it myself. It also helped me remove the “shoulds” driven by guilt and focus on what truly matters. Understanding what my definition of success really was. (I wrote about it in this blog post.)
In 2025, I’m going rogue: no trend-chasing or succumbing to external pressures. Instead, I’ll focus on what resonates with me and you.
You’ll notice that none of my goals this year were around selling books or financially driven.
That was intentional. I needed to focus on creating content, as well as finding balance, and focusing on those two things allowed me to clarify what worked and what didn’t. Listening to my business, REALLY listening, helped define how I wanted to move forward. With that, I’m hoping the background financial goals will fall into place.
So what were my lessons from 2024?
- Balance is key – work/life balance is achievable. Understanding your priorities. Given how 2023 went down for me, it was a bit of a wake-up call. But even with that, at the beginning of the year, I was in go-go-go mode. Once September came around, it all caught up with me. You need to check in with your physical, mental and spiritual health – and often.
- Listen to your business. I was surprised to learn that I not only had a significant shift in where my readers were, but also discovered the staggering number of eBooks I sell over paperbacks. I was also surprised to find that people still love workshops, and they are a great balance to a creative business.
- Do what you want, not what you should. Guilt is a silent killer. It will force you to make decisions that maybe you shouldn’t. Once you recognise the source of your decision making, it is a clarifying moment.
- Positive, supportive relationships matter. I learned a hard lesson this year: People will stab you in the back and smile while they do it. After twenty years in a corporate environment, you’d think I would have learned that colleagues aren’t always friends, nor are they willing to support you, despite you offering unwavering support to them. But it made me reassess my relationships, both personally and professionally, and that the importance of setting boundaries.
Goals for 2025
📚 Publish FINDING THE WAY.
🥾 Walk the Camino de Santiago for the third time (aka research trip for FINDING THE WAY).
🎧 Launch a Kickstarter for a CAMINO WANDERING audiobook.
📔 Deliver workshops (online and in-person) around self-publishing and marketing for authors.
㊙️ Develop a new platform for the writing community. I’ve been developing something I’ve been wanting to do for a while.
😊 Continue engaging with subscribers, ensuring my work brings you enjoyment, education, and inspiration.
If you’d like to see how 2025 progresses, be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter. It’s consistently posted on the 15th of every month (Australia time).
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This year was definitely one of growth and clarity. Thank you for your unwavering support—you are the reason I do this. Here’s to an exciting 2025!
And, if you’d like to see me break down and cry… not intentionally of course … here it is:
(And please excuse the ‘rawness of this one. I didn’t prep at ALL)
