Happy 2026!

Updates galore, and why I don't do year-in-review booklists

Happy New Year, bibliophiles!

It’s been a minute since I sent a newsletter. That’s because December was something of a blur. I spent the first two weeks running around like a crazy person: My son had his fall theater production (he played Squidward in SpongeBob the Musical—you can watch his solo here), plus we had family parties, friends in from out of town, my husband and I went to a live performance of Handel’s Messiah…

All of which meant that, inevitably, I spent the second half of December with the flu. I got well-enough just in time to visit more family for Christmas, but not as many as usual because some of them were sick too. Sometimes I think I should move to Australia so the holidays won’t be during flu season.

So here I am, on day 4 of 2026, already trying to play catch up on all the things…but also grateful for the gifts of family and friends, of you lovely readers, of beautiful music and live performances (which I will never take for granted after Covid), and most of all, of our blessed Savior, the Word who became Flesh to save us from our sins. And I’m grateful that I still live in Louisiana because, despite the holiday flu season, it’s Epiphany today (in the new Roman calendar), so we get king cake.

What I read in 2025…or didn’t.

Everywhere I look on social media the past couple of weeks, people are posting lists of books they read in 2025. It’s awesome—people are reading! And enjoying it! And wanting to share their enjoyment! But because I’m an editor working in both acquisitions and all levels of book development, I have no idea how to put together a similar list. Rarely can I even answer the question, “What are you reading?” because the words on my Kindle are someone’s unpublished manuscript submitted for consideration. How much credit toward your end-of-year book list do you get for reading a third of a novel before deciding it’s not the right fit for your press? And what about the books I’m reading for the eighth time, proofreading the final typeset before they’re published? Is it reading if you’re doing a line edit, changing and cutting and making notes all the while?

On the other hand, if I only put out the list of published books I read in a year, you’d all think I was a lazy slob who doesn’t read. (I do read published books, just not very many because the unpublished ones take most of my time.) So please keep the end-of-year book lists coming, but I won’t be posting one myself. I would need a top-secret government algorithm to calculate how many books I’ve read…or haven’t.

Upcoming Events

On February 16 & 17, I’ll be at Ave Maria University in Florida speaking to a couple of classes in the English department about all things writing, and on the evening of the 16th, I’ll offer a lecture about the metaphysics of Catholic storytelling, open to the entire university community. Hope to see you at Ave Maria in February!

Recipes

For some reason, my family still expects to be fed even when I have the flu. Enjoy our easy crockpot Mexican casserole.

May you all have a blessed 2026 and beyond! I love to hear from you, so please don’t be shy about replying to this email or commenting on Substack. Post your end-of-year reading list if you want! Somebody should.

In Christ,

Karen