Dear Friend,

The holidays are over. 2026 has arrived. And I don’t know about you, but my TBR stack is about to get cracked wide open! 2025 was a good year for reading. I’ll be sharing my Top 3 Clean YA Fantasy reads in an upcoming email. There will also be another VERY special sneak peek coming within a few weeks, one you won’t want to miss out on. Keep on the lookout.

With the New Year underway, the work to get Swan Song out into the world has officially begun. There is so much to be done! Writing the book is hard enough. Getting it fit to be released into the world…that’s a whole other ordeal. It will be worth it, though. And I’m making sure to be thorough in my plans so that the final product will be the best that it can be.

Let’s get into what that looks like, starting with an EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT…

Chapter 1 of Book 1 is ALMOST shareable! In just a few weeks, I’ll be formatting it and prepping it. So be on the lookout – it will coming very soon to your inbox!

Q1 has the bases loaded. I got back the developmental edit letter from the editor (for Book 1). And the suggested edits were lightweight enough that I am confident this edit will happen in the timeframe I had already planned. Which means…

Next month I’ll be passing this manuscript along to beta readers!

If you don’t know what those are, beta readers are readers who look at the book once the author has finished making all the changes they can on their own. Betas go through with a critical eye and let the author know about anything that doesn’t make sense, that contradicts itself, that pulls them out of the story, those kinds of things. The author can look at all the different opinions and then do a final developmental edit on the story. It usually takes between 4 to 6 weeks.

But, though I’ll be sending out the manuscript the first week of February, I won’t be looking at the feedback till May. And that’s because between February and May, I’ll be…

·      Brainstorming and Outlining Book 3 of this series

·      Reading Book 2 and Prepping a New Outline, and…

·      Rewriting Book 2 to send to the Developmental Editor

That’s a lot to fit into three months! Needless to say, I’ll be working lots of late nights this quarter.

I’ve also been researching professional editors to finalize Book 1 later this year. And I’ve been researching cover designers to make the books look all beautiful! This quarter I’ll also be setting up a budget for the publication of Book 1. Being an indie author means that I provide the initial investment. So things like editors, covers, marketing, etc., those are all things we indie authors pay for. (Another good reason to publish a little slower; I’d prefer to spread out the book releases so I can afford better quality edits and covers.)

I’ll be honest – I’m still struggling with how long this process takes. Last week I opened an end-of-the-year update email from another author. And as I read down the list at ALL the books they had written, edited or published in 2025, I was flabbergasted. I still don’t know how they do it all. But I do know that’s not what God equipped me to do. So I’m going to trust His timing and process.

Christmas brought a round of sniffles to our house. They even caught up with me for the first time since March! I’m just grateful it wasn’t the stomach bug. (That truly is the worst!) We enjoyed lots of good food, family time, and LOTS of rest. I’ve noticed I’m hitting that point in my life where it’s hard to enjoy a day of doing nothing with zero guilt. Gonna work on that this year.

For Christmas, my amazing husband gave me two brand new books by fellow Christian fantasy indie authors! Does that grow my already bursting TBR list? Yes. Am I mad about that? No! This past year, I made an effort to read more and managed to read six shorter books (one complete print omnibus). So the hope this year is to do even more.

2026 brings lots of goals, not just for writing. Also for our family and for me personally. Health and fitness, school and family time. I want to read more books with my kids (so many good books; so little time!). So we’ve started a practice of reading chapter books individually with Mommy before bedtime. So far, the kids are loving it. (Especially my five-year-old; he is absolutely in love with Beverly Cleary’s The Mouse and the Motorcycle.)  I love getting back into classics I loved as a kid, and enjoying new books that I’ve never read before. Our favorite right now is The Unicorn Quest by Kamilla Benko. Such a good book!

This coming year, I’d like to get back to the doorstop fantasy! Jordan. Sanderson. Etc. It will take longer to read fewer books. But I’ll enjoy it just as much. As I told a friend the other day, slower, wordier books are like hot soup. It takes longer to prep, but they’re just plain good for your soul.

For now, I’ll be cleaning and cooking in preparation for this year’s Lord of the Rings movie marathon (extended editions only, obviously). And yes, we’ll be having roast chicken and po-ta-toes. (Boiled and mashed.)

Until next month, friends,

Joanna

Want to continue the conversation? Feel free to email me at joannagholden@gmail.com or DM me on social media (@authorjoannagholden).

Clean, wholesome Christian fantasy for preteen girls.

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