2026 Intentions

Hello, dear readers! Welcome to 2026 and happy new year!

I recognize that the new year doesn’t magically change much (if it could, there is a lot I’d magically wish away). But it does give my autistic brain that fresh start mindset that I love, so I’ve always been a fan of setting intentions for the upcoming year. I appreciate everyone giving me that space to reflect on the year in a way I love in the same way you did when I did my wrap-ups last month (which I had so much fun writing). 🖤

For this month, these are the areas I’d like to be particularly intentional about:

• Intentions for 2026

• Reading Goals

• Freelance Business Goals

Wait, Nicole, what about your writing goals? I’m so glad you asked! Those are going to be over on my Patreon, which is my hub for all things writing related. So go check out my Patreon this week to learn about my ambitious and exciting intentions for the year (spoiler: I have a new book coming out!!). A bit of a shameless plug, but I have a lot of plans for fun stuff in the next two years, so this is a great time to join me in that space. 🥰

So, before we dive into what my intnetions are, let’s talk about why I use the word intention, rather than goals.

Intentions Versus Goals

It might seem a bit pedantic or even a bit silly, but switching from a goals mindset to an intentions framework feels more doable to me—feels kinder. A goal carries the weight of added pressure and expectation, not to mention this dissatisfaction because goalposts seem to always be moving. Plus, goals feel like something you make in January and forget about by March.

In comparion, intentions feels purposeful but also kind. It’s a promise to myself and a reminder that I am in charge, encouraging me to focus on things that I am in control of. For example, I have a goal of earning out with each of my books, but I can’t really control that. I can’t force people to buy my book. So while I still have that goal, making that a focus is unfair since I cannot control the actual outcome (influence it, perhaps, sure, but not guarantee it). It’s setting myself up for failure before I’ve even begun.

So that’s why I’ve switched up a bit with setting intentions for each year. I won’t lie: I’m still attempting to remember my intentions and actively work on them each year, because despite my hopes at the beginning of every year, Life Finds A Way™️to make it hard for me to stay engaged. I’m hoping to change that this year, starting with an overall mindshift change.

2026, for me, is going to be the year of cringe.

Word of the Year: Cringe

I’ve seen others pick a word of a year before, something to encapsulate the vibes they want the year to carry. I’ve never done that before, but I’ve been musing on it a bit for the past few weeks and my word hasn’t left me since I first realized what I wanted it to be.

Cringe.

Not exactly the inspiring beacon on the offset, is it? But for me, it’s actually a really powerful reminder of something I’ve always wanted to do, but struggled to fully embrace: being myself.

Growing up, I was always worried about what others thought. Despite having a core group of friends growing up, I still feel into the toxic popularity contest mindset that middle school and high school thrive off of—no one is surprised I wasn’t one of the “cool” popular kids. I was an emo nerd who was midsize (yet thought she was fat and didn’t actually become fat until the past few years) who never had a relationship and struggled to express myself in the way that was truly me while growing up in a small, conservative, Christian town.

(Gods, I just want to give little Nicole a hug.)

As I’ve grown, I’ve slowly embraced myself more fully; embraced my queerness, my sexuality, my desire, my emoness, my nerdiness, my socalist views. Yet that fear of being judged and caring about what others think has stayed with me like a shackle. It shows up particularly when I attempt to market my books, especially on platforms like TikTok where showing your face and doing videos is (usually) key. I’m always so terrified of how others will perceive me, falling into patterns of self-critique that I’ve honestly outgrown, yet can’t seem to shake.

Time for me to enter my cringe era.

For me, cringe is not caring if someone else thinks my marketing is silly and foolish or embarassing. It’s not caring if someone else thinks I’m fat (I am, and that’s okay). It’s allowing myself to show up the way I want to, honoring who I’ve honestly fought to free; free from the pressure of the patriachry, from the chains of skinny culture, from the suffocation of capitalism, from the unfair expectation of neurotypical standards. It’s giving myself permission to take up space as I am and who I want to grow to become, even a world who, as our current administration has made clear, doesn’t believe deserves to exist.

Oh, fuck that.

Welcome to my cringe era, babes. I’m glad to have you here. 😘

Goals for 2026

Before we get into my actual intentions for 2026, I do have some general goals that I hope to meet! I’m writing these out so I can see if I reach them at the end of the year, since they are more metric and numbers based, so it’ll be easy to see if I can reach them! And, while I do plan to do things to help support the chances of these happening (i.e., marketing more, posting consistently, etc.), these goals are mostly out of my control, so this is more of a record of what I’d like to achieve, but I’m putting no pressure on myself to do so. 😊

• Grow my social media presence (1000+ followers), particularly on Threads and Tiktok

  • Current Numbers:

    • Threads: 778

    • TikTok: 98 (I know, I know, 1,000 is unhinged LOL)

    • BlueSky: 619

    • Instagram: 431

• Be able to pay one bill a month with book income

  • My “lowest” reoccuring monthly bill is paying for a yard cleaning service for Dovah’s poop at $52 a month, so the goal is to earn $52 a month regularly from book sales.

  • Currently, my average monthly income from book sales was $10 a month this year (with my lowest month being $-3.49 and my highest being $23.01, achieving $52 a month would be feat!

• Create a marketing routine that brings me joy

  • I’ve come to hate marketing and the constantly changing algos and how they are different from every platform and how much they demand. If I’m going to be forced to market to get people to buy my books and hire me as an editor, I might as well enjoy it lol.

• Grow my Patreon to $100 a month and newsletter to 100 subscribers

  • Currently at $68 a month for Patreon and my newsletter is at 74 subscribers!

• Earn back what I put into publishing my books

  • Currently, in the 15 months Blood Price has been out, I’ve made $305. It cost me $2500 to publish it (between editing, cover art, formatting, etc.) so I still need to earn roughly $2200 to break even.

  • For my upcoming fantasy romance debut, it’s even bigger than Blood Price, plus I’m doing more editing than I did with my debut, so I’m figuring the upfront cost is going to be higher.

Intentions for 2026

So, with all of that context enveloping my year, what exactly are my intentions of 2026? In 2026, I intend to:

• Learn more about myself and how to authentically honor her

• Find a daily rhythm that works for me

• Lessen my daily stress and guilt by building up trust in myself

• Pour myself into things that bring me joy

• Grow my voice’s strength to continue standing up for myself and what I believe in

This year, I took the leap in editing full-time. Last year, I self-published my first book. Both were such important steps in getting me closer to where I want to be and who I am. But I have a lot of internalized mindsets driven by shame, guilt and making myself smaller that I don’t want to subscribe to anymore. These intentions will show up in a lot of ways, some small (e.g., not being myself up if I sleep until noon and stay up until 3am) and some massive (e.g., finally loving my fat body fully).

I owe it to myself—owe it to little Nicole, who never had any other choice to survive—to continue building the life I want and honoring the woman I am while continuing to push myself into the type of person I want to be. Thanks for being along the ride.

Until next,
Nicole 🖤

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