As we begin 2026, I would like to reflect on the year that was 2025. There were been plenty of reasons to be down no matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, or even which country you live in. Terror attacks and mass shootings never seem to end. Palestine, Sudan and The Democratic Republic of Congo are all facing what can only be described as genocides. The Indiana Pacers almost won an NBA Championship but Tyrese Haliburton was injured in the first quarter of the final game and Myles Turner showed us all why he doesn’t have that dog in him. Natural disasters like California’s wildfires or Tibet’s 7.1 Earthquake found their place in the year as well.
Despite that, there were plenty of reasons to smile in 2025. There were promising new cures on the radar for cancer and HIV. In Sri Lanka, over 300,000 land mines were removed allowing people to return to homes they haven’t seen in decades. Timbuktu had its archives returned and digitized for the world, Brazil’s murder rate has dropped by 20% and leopards are returning to the coasts in Africa. Orcas are still attacking yachts. Nature is healing.
At the risk of sounding arrogant, this is a newsletter about me. I’ve also had some good thing happen this year. Bi All Accounts was a success, at least for me. I don’t know what the financials look like, so I’ll just say it made $1,000,000 in profit, not gross sales. For some reason signing a contract to have my work published made me hungry for more contracts. My mother was right; I should have been a lawyer, or engineer, or somebody rich.
Ultra Black History, my YouTube channel survived YouTube’s new AI powered moderation system and surpassed 2,000 subscribers. Most channels don’t get that big so it’s a huge win. When do I get to buy a mansion?
Virtual Vagabonds, one of my (too) many web novels brought in 4,000 monthly visitors with little to no promotion. Do you know what that means? Sequels. It also means new chapters of the web novels will be dropping every other week starting on January 5th for Virtual Vagabonds, The 7th for Intercosmic, and the 9th for Exsanguinate.
While looking back can be fun, it is also important to look forward to the future and 2026. I’ve never been a fan of declaring resolutions; however, I like SMART goal is one that can be described as specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.
I’d like to hit at least 3,500 YouTube subscribers. I think I can do it if I manage to get videos out on time. I’d also like to collaborate with at least four other people for larger videos this year.
On the writing front, I’d like to have more works submitted to anthologies and collections. As well as getting more books out. That has always been my biggest struggle. I can write them, but I never want to do the work to get them to shelves. I’m always surprised by the successes because the reviews don’t necessarily seem as if there is success. But a few libraries bought copies of my books this year and they pay much better than selling individual books. That is mind blowing to me. Maybe I’ll look into an agent for some of my non-web novel works.
There is a local project I’m hoping to complete at some point in the year, but I can’t really say what it is without giving away too much.
2025 was hard, for a lot of us. The economy was trash, our rights are being taken away and trampled on. I ended up in therapy (again). A big shout out to my therapist (he’s way better than the last guy). Still, there were reasons to smile. There will be more reasons to smile in 2026. I’m hoping for a better year, I hope you experience a better year as well.
If you’ve goals of your own for next year, I’d love to hear them and as always you can reach me on socials.
