From January 8-21, the first two books in my Green Dory Inn mystery series are on sale.
Unknown Enemy: Who’s playing mind games with the inn’s owner? Can a young woman with a traumatic past discover the truth?
Alert readers will notice they can scoop this up for free by signing up for my newsletter. Don’t want to do that but still want to read it? It’s only 99 cents until January 21, 2026.
Hidden Secrets: Past secrets. Present threats. And a woman determined to uncover the truth.
Discounted to $2.99 or USD equivalent (except $3.99 in Canada because I’m horrified by the exchange rate). The buy link for most ebook platforms is books2read.com/hidden-secrets.
Perhaps you’re like me. You enjoy setting goals and listing what you would like to accomplish in the new year—even if you know you will only achieve a fraction of those goals (at best). Although those around you may not be able to understand, the act of creating this list in and of itself brings a sense of excitement and anticipation even if you know it’s more of a thought experiment than a roadmap.
Maybe you shy away from setting goals because you feel like a failure if you don’t reach them. Or perhaps, you set only a limited number of achievable goals so you can check them off your list in short order and then go on to create another brief list.
No matter what kind of a goal-setter you are (or aren’t), here are six pointers when it comes to considering what you want to achieve in 2026:
Make a list of things that are important to you (i.e.: relationships with family and friends, your physical health, your emotional / mental health, time management, career goals, etc., etc.).
List one achievable goal that you could reach by the end of January (or the end of March at the latest) and one “pie-in-the-sky” goal for each category. (If listing a plethora of goals brings you joy, go for it!)
Now, break down each achievable goal into its most basic components. (For example, say your goal is to write the first draft of a novella in the first quarter [Q1] of 2026. Step #1 could simply be to write for at least 15 minutes or until you’ve added 250 words to the manuscript for three days the first week and slowly increase from there. If checkmarks, stickers, or smiley faces on a physical calendar give you a boost, let the endorphins flow—no matter how old you are. I’m 64 and love stickers and checkmarks—but especially stickers.)
This suggestion might be a little more challenging, but it’s important. Although the overarching categories you listed may all seem to have equal importance, it’s good to prioritize them—at least the highest ranking two or three.
When you’ve chosen your highest priority categories, chose one specific goal in each and then one achievable, targeted goal. (Let’s say improving your physical health and connecting with extended family members are two of your top priorities. Your specific goals could be to develop the habit of eating better and emailing, texting, or popping a physical note in the mail each week. Zeroing down even further, you could add a serving of vegetables to each evening meal and create a list of four to eight family members you will touch base with in January.)
And remember not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you don’t achieve your goal today, remind yourself that tomorrow is another day. If you are consistently “falling short,” adjust your goals. It’s okay to do so. Really, it is.
You’ll notice that I haven’t listed any “negative goals.”
Do I have at least one bad habit I want to stop? Sure I do.
Could I apply guilt and shame to my goal-setting (such as “stop eating such and such” or “stay off social media entirely”)? Absolutely.
Could I label myself a failure if I don’t achieve my Q1 goals—again? I could.
However…
By listing those things I want to accomplish, seeking to add “positives” rather than eliminate “negatives,” and focusing on a limited number of goals at any given time, I’m far more likely to achieve at least some of them.
What’s your #1 goal for 2026? What’s the first step you intend to take to achieve it? Are you like me and simply enjoy creating the list?
Photo credit: Jaime Mellor Photography
As an editor, Steph Beth Nickel has the honour of coming alongside writers to help them polish their work. As the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’s memoirs, Steph has been blessed to work with this amazing woman. And as a future self-published author, with the Lord’s help, Steph has taken brave steps toward publication.
All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. Luke 2:18-19, NLT*
The shepherds saw wonders. Mary herself saw wonders! She held the Wonder of the world in her arms.
Do you think what she experienced in Bethlehem helped her keep hoping in the difficult days ahead? Surely it helped her worship this God who loved and chose her. She’d already seen Him provide, and she knew He wouldn’t abandon her and Joseph now.
Let’s be encouraged and inspired by Mary’s humble sense of obedience and trust. Let’s consciously keep in our hearts those precious times we’ve seen God touch our lives, and think about them often.
Maybe as we begin a new year it’s time to start (or re-start) a journal for gratitude or to track answered prayer. Or perhaps it’s time for a fresh commitment to keep watch for “God moments” in our days.
Precious, loving God, You are so kind in the ways You involve Yourself in my daily life. Whether it’s something major like Your call on Mary’s life or something as simple as helping me find a lost item, please help me recognize Your care. Help me keep these things in my own heart and think about them often, especially when the times of trouble come. May my spirit be kept in Your perfect peace because I know I can trust in You.
“Unsilent Nights” (Maple Syrup Mysteries) Lawyer and maple syrup farm owner Nicole Fitzhenry-Dawes can’t even go on her honeymoon without landing in a mystery that needs solving. Watch her stare down cruise ships officials in flip-flops and shorts.
“Ginger Dead Man” (Cupcake Truck Mysteries) Isabel Addington is on the run from her abusive ex, running a mobile food truck. She’s sleeping in the truck too, but that doesn’t make her homeless, right? She needs to keep off-grid, but she can’t walk away when a homeless man’s murder may go unsolved.
Emily James writes mysteries that are fast, clean, and funny in places. I appreciate the way she really understands her protagonists and the details in their lives.
As well as the Maple Syrup Mysteries and Cupcake Truck Mysteries, Emily James has also written the Cat and Mouse Whodunits. For more about the author and her work, visit authoremilyjames.com.
[Review copy from the public library via the Hoopla Digital app.]
For under $2, get books 1 and 2 to start the Green Dory Inn Mystery series. International (US, CA, UK, AU, NZ, Europe). Multiple retailers. Ends May 11, 2025.
If you like British-based police procedurals, unconventional detectives, down-to-earth characters, and plenty of bird sightings, the Birder Murder Mystery series is for you. This particular mystery will take you to rural England and to Antarctica.
In England: A disciplinary suspension bars DCI Dominic Jejeune from involvement in any active cases. Not that there’s much going on except someone setting a few fires. Well, until they find a body.
In Antarctica: A research scientist is murdered.
Dominic gains access to the local research centre connected with the dead scientist. From the reports and sporadic contact with the expedition’s leader, he begins to trace the clues.
But when his findings become linked with arson at the local research centre, he’s skirting dangerously close to breaking the terms of his suspension.
This is book 7 in the Birder Murder Mystery series. Each novel’s mystery is complete. A reader new to the series starting here would be able to follow the plot but would miss the nuances that have built over time between the characters. It’s a series worth reading from the beginning, so I suggest you start with A Siege of Bitterns.
I love the loyalty that’s grown among these characters, and the descriptions of the natural settings. Like this one:
It had rained earlier that morning, a fine mist so gentle it had settled on the stalks of the grasses without bowing them. (p. 202, Chapter 29)
I also appreciate the way each book touches on details of environmental issues (in an organic way, never feeling like an agenda or a lesson).
Award-winning author Steve Burrows is a UK-born, Canadian-based writer with a long history of experience in the birding world. For more about the author and his work, visit steveburrows.org.
She left high-pressure city life behind and is now part-owner of a maple syrup farm in Michigan and a partner in a small-town law firm. She’s also a wife and expectant mother—and an amateur sleuth with a knack for digging out the truth.
There weren’t supposed to be any new cases for Nicole Fitzhenry-Dawes-Cavanagh to tackle before her baby’s birth. But when a man shows up at her office covered in blood, with no idea what happened, she knows he’s going to need a defense attorney.
Nicole only represents innocent clients. How can she be sure he’s telling the truth?
And how did we get to 13 books in the Maple Syrup Mysteries series? I’ve enjoyed them all.
This series is written for a mainstream audience. As such, although Nicole and her husband are Christians there’s not an overt faith thread. In this novel, I appreciated watching her wrestle with one of the murder suspects being a priest.
She can’t dismiss the possibility of his guilt, but she doesn’t want to be one of those people who look at church scandals and automatically assume the worst. Because of her faith—and her experience with believers who sometimes do wrong but who often are simply misunderstood—she’s glad to be the one pursuing this investigation because she can approach it with more sensitivity.
Stumped is a strong ending to an engaging series. The Maple Syrup Mysteries are cleverly plotted, the characters have depth, and there’s enough quirky humour to make me smile.
I’d encourage anyone new to the series to start at the beginning and follow the characters and their relationships. You can get a free ebook copy of the prequel, Sapped, at the author’s website by signing up for her newsletter. Here’s the link: authoremilyjames.com/book/sapped.
Emily James is also the author of the Cupcake Truck Mysteries and the Cat and Mouse Whodunits. There’s at least one other author with the same name, so to see more about this Emily James and her work, it’s best to visit her website at authoremilyjames.com.
We’ve all read books where the setting has a personality all its own. Not only does it provide the perfect backdrop to the story; it is a living, breathing character in its own right.
In September, my husband and I spent three weeks exploring Scotland, Iceland, and Ireland with our eldest son and his wife. (They live not far from Glasgow.)
As you can see from the pictures below, our surroundings came alive and could easily become characters in a book. (I took all except the path with the autumn-coloured leaves while we were away.)
While I would appreciate acknowledgment if you share one or more of these images, feel free to do so and/or use them as writing prompts or inspiration for your work.
And if you get the opportunity to visit one or more of these locations, I encourage you to do so. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that will provide years of memories—and inspiration.
Photo credit: Jaime Mellor Photography
As an editor, Steph Beth Nickel has the honour of coming alongside writers to help them polish their work. As the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’s memoirs, Steph has been blessed to work with this amazing woman. And as a future self-published author, with the Lord’s help, Steph has taken brave steps toward publication.
These annual awards, sponsored by Canada’s The Word Guild, recognize “unpublished work as well as work published in 2023 for both Christian and general market audiences. Entrants from across Canada received awards in over 40 genres and categories.” [From the official press release, found here: https://thewordguild.com/media/]
Each of my other novels have been shortlisted for the awards, which I count as validation in its own right. But this win is sweet, and it encourages me to keep going with the next Green Dory Inn mystery.
If you haven’t read Deadly Burden, you can find it online in paperback and digital versions. All buy links are here: https://books2read.com/deadly-burden.
Deadly Burden has been short-listed for The Word Awards! Winners will be announced September 14, 2023. To learn about The Word Awards and view the short-list, visit thewordguild.com/the-word-awards-winners-finalists.
