2025 was a big year for me.  Many of you were along for the ride, so rather than rehash my own stuff, I’d rather highlight inspiring things that some of my friends and colleagues accomplished last year!  

• Elizabeth Beechwood released her nonfiction book, How to Write Animal Characters.  She’s spent years researching this topic, for the scientific history and recent developments as well as gathering examples of these types of characters in literature.  This is your new go-to resource for crafting compelling animals on the page. 
• Maggie Slater released some zines that combine her word prowess with her visual art.  So cool!  That’s in addition to her fiction publications, including a Pushcart nom.  She also started up an honest-to-goodness snail mail newsletter, and it’s pretty much the highlight of my day to receive one of these in the mail. 
• Kirk Glaser, one of my professors at Santa Clara University, had a poetry collection published called The House that Fire Built, which tells a full narrative arc.  It isn’t speculative, it isn’t even fictional.  It’s about his family’s experience with a house fire, and let me tell you, there were scenes that had me on the edge of my seat, all told through lovely, challenging verse. 

I’ll be back soon with some metrics.  Last year I did a deep dive into my fiction data, so perhaps this time I’ll focus on the poetry side.