This Journal post feels extra special because it’s the first I’m writing as a fifty-year-old. My forties have disappeared in the rearview mirror. It can only get better from here, right?
Following the holiday hubbub, my actual birthday always feels like an undercover event, which is a-okay with me. This year I started the day off right by burning a favorite scented candle at breakfast. Relished phone conversations with loved ones. Walked through the quiet forest during a break in the stormy weather. Ate a shrimp dinner with hubby, followed by a Collin Street Bakery fruitcake special-ordered by my family.
You might expect that working from home in a self-employed role means you can take days off willy-nilly whenever you want. I do know of talented novelists who work this way. But in my mind fresh ideas are always forming—so many stories to tell!—and the trick is figuring out how to fit them all onto the page in one lifetime. Which is now more than halfway gone, assuming I end up with average longevity. So I also spent my birthday working, planning projects for the new year (a glamourous way of saying I took a soul-searching look at what I can reasonably commit to, scrapped what I couldn’t, then added a bunch of color-coded deadlines to my calendar).
Okie-dokie. All of the above was a roundabout wind-up to revealing what’s coming in 2026. Here we go!
- The second Wren Island novel will be published! Woo-hoo! Title and cover reveal coming soon. For now, know the story will include everything you already love about Wren Island, plus fresh topics from different angles. A few readers have hinted they’d like to bring the new release on their summer vacation—the nicest sort of deadline imaginable—so that’s what we’re aiming for.
- An early draft of the third Wren Island novel will be written (blue-colored deadlines on my calendar, in case anyone is curious). So after Wren 2 has flown the coop, email subscribers will hear about invitations to influence what happens in Wren 3. (Not yet getting my emails? Subscribe here.)
- The Read with Laura Joy podcast will continue, but at a snail’s pace. Same great stuff, released less frequently. Stay subscribed through your favorite listening app and you’ll be alerted to new episodes.
- Email subscribers will continue receiving newsy emails every few weeks—a real highlight in their lives, I’m sure. Plus, anyone following me on Instagram or Facebook can watch me bravely attempt (and probably bungle) new-to-me posting styles. A fifty-year-old ought to try keeping up with ever-changing technology before it completely gallops off without her.
- This year in the Pacific Northwest, readers will be able to say hi at various in-person events. Signings at indie bookstores, library workshops, book club discussions, and pop-ups with other local authors. (All in one place, shop for every reader on your gift list!) Watch for event details in emails and on social media.
Whew! 2026 has sprung, and it’s off like a shot. Not at all like the slow start I wrote about a year ago.
How is your new year starting out? Will you turn a decade older this year? Try something new? Back-burner one project so another can shine? I hope you’ll send me a message, because I’d love to hear all about it.
(Wren Islanders get newsy notes like this directly in their inboxes! Become a Wren Islander.)
[Photo courtesy of Unsplash.]