Ah, another year looms, full of opportunity, possibility and—if the past is anything to go by—several ill-advised distractions. But not this time. No, 2025 is the year I finally pull myself together, dust off my half-finished manuscripts and tackle the towering to-do list of my literary life.
It’s also the year I officially retire some of my more delusional dreams. Let’s dive in, shall we?
The Great Finish Line of 2025
I have five—yes, FIVE—books languishing in various states of “nearly there.” They’re like houseplants kept alive just enough to prevent outright death. This year, the watering can is coming out. My plan is simple: finish them all, publish them all and hope at least one of them finds a handful of readers who don’t share my last name.
There’s the Scottish romcom, the comedy romantasy, the vampire novel, and… two books I’ve temporarily blocked from my mind because I want to drastically change the tone of them. Each one deserves its moment, and I’m determined to stop treating my books like the vow I make every year to do yoga every day and lose (and keep off) a stone.
The Not-To-Do List: A Manifesto of Abandonment
Now, for the liberating part: all the things I am not going to do in 2025. This is the year I break up with my distractions. It’s not me, it’s them. Okay, fine—it’s a little bit me. But the point is, no more.
- Goodbye, TikTok Dreams
Let’s face it: I’m never going to be that author who lip-syncs to trending audio while pointing at text bubbles about my books. For one, I have the technical skills of a potato. For another, the idea of being “relatable” in 15-second increments fills me with existential dread. So, TikTok, it’s been… exhausting. I’m out. - Adieu, Substack Delusions
My newsletter, Flop Fiction Chronicles, is a delightful exercise in self-deprecating humour that three people seem to enjoy. But let’s be honest—three people is not exactly a literary empire. Time to let go of the idea that it’s my ticket to fame. No more chasing subscriber counts. - No More Agent Queries
After countless copy and paste rejections (and a few who never bothered replying), I’ve finally accepted that the traditional publishing world is not for me. I refuse to spend another minute crafting query letters only to have them vanish into the ether. Self-publishing may not make me rich, but at least it lets me skip the part where I beg strangers for validation. - Acceptance of Eternal Pin Money
Speaking of riches, it’s time to embrace the reality that my books are unlikely to fund a life of leisure. Instead, they’re a labour of love and a moderately expensive hobby. And that’s okay. Not every passion needs to be a profit machine.
Emma Baird is an award-winning writer, specialising in romcoms and fiction that focuses on relationships, and a type 1 diabetic. She is also the co-author of The Diabetes Diet, co-written with a doctor. Most importantly, she is the guardian of one very spoiled cat…
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All you need is one book to be made into a film. Why some manage this and other’s don’t is a mystery.
I know! Although, perhaps Anthony Doerr sincerely regrets selling the films rights of All the Light We Cannot See to Netflix… soooo bad.
Hi, and Happy New Year. You have a lot of determination. Onward!
Neil S.
Thanks, Neil! And sorry for the delayed reply – entangled in books!
Good for you for dropping communist-tok. That place is a cesspit and you do yourself no favors by training your brain to accept things in such small bytes. So bring on the Dickens, the Austens, the Sandersons and the Bardugo’s! Revel in the massiveness 😀
and have a good 2025 too 😀
Thanks for your good wishes! And the same to you. I’m also a big fan of big books. Personally, I’m okay with communism (if not TikTok), just not the way it’s been adopted, but I definitely favour the idea of a system of social organisation in which all land/property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to ability/needs.
I love it when real authors lift the curtain, because otherwise we only ever hear about the sudden, stratospheric success of someone getting a multi-million pound deal out of the blue. We KNOW that doesn’t really happen, that there’s been years of grind (hopefully) behind that overnight success, but they don’t want to print THAT story.
My ten e-books are never going to earn me more than a couple of dollars a month (if that. And that’s between all ten of them.) I tried the Kabuki dance of Self-publicity every day on Twitter (when it was Twitter) and saw no difference in sales. So I tried to post more interesting things on Twitter to get more eyeballs on my publicity posts. Eventually you realise you’re spending all your energy trying to make people you don’t know see you as something you’re not to maybe persuade them to buy something they don’t know about.
Anyway, I love this post. Hope your 2025 is filled with completed books and happy customers!
Thank you, Damian – and sorry for my slow reply, as you might have already realised, I’m rrrrrubbish at all this stuff. How do writers make a living? Is it possible in this day and age? Can we invent a system that properly rewards and recognises creativity?