2025 Successes and 2026 Resolutions

2025 has been a good year for me as a writer. I was thrilled to be asked to write a regular column in the magazine of the Bereavement Authority of Ontario and also delighted to have the Toronto Star publish an article last January. Both were huge boosts. They were also paid publications, moving me a millimetre closer to having writing break even financially. Links to two of the published pieces are at the bottom of this post.

Beyond publishing, 2025 moved me forward in a few other ways.

Early in the year, preparing a writing sample for the Humber Polytechic Summer Creative Writing week pushed me to prepare a draft book proposal for Lane Change, the book I’m working on about reinventing my life and moving into my custom laneway house. I made a new friend with a publishing background who gave me excellent feedback on the proposal and a couple of sample chapters. I submitted those to the Humber program and was accepted!
The Humber week was a chance to learn from the writing coaches and from the various panels about the industry. The very talented women in my small group inspired and humbled me.
I spent intensive weeks writing on my own in February and October, and am in the midst of a writing spurt now with a goal to complete a draft of Lane Change before the end of this week, later than I’d hoped. But that’s life.
I continue to attend, when I can, the two writing groups I joined in 2024, although I’ll be honest, other things have intervened for much of the last half of the year. I hope to get back to that early in 2026.
In May of 2026, it’ll be five years that I’ve blogged weekly! To date, I’ve posted about 275 blogs comprising approximately 230,000 words, the equivalent of three long books. I started videoing the pieces too and there are now 83 videos on my YouTube channel.
2025 I launched two blog series:

Weston Winterlicious: reviews of restaurants in my local community. I’ll write another series in 2026.
Lane Changers: profiles of women who’ve made at least one major life shift. The pipeline of column candidates has slowed a bit, but I’ll write a few more in 2026, I’m sure, when the opportunity presents itself. I’m pleased at how the concept of lane changing has struck a chord with so many, supporting my theory that my book, Lane Change, will have a market. Or so I will argue to publishers when the time comes to pitch my book proposal!

My blog subscriber list increased by nearly 50% going from 307 to 460 - not viral, but I’m encouraged by the upward trajectory. The number of visits to my website has increased by another 11% over 2024, with the high-water mark of nearly 2100 visits in August 2025.
Over 1100 people read my most popular 2025 blog about my mother’s decision to die with medical assistance, far outstripping anything else I’ve written, making me even prouder of her decision. A version of the article was also published by the Bereavement Authority of Ontario.
The third most popular piece in 2025 was one about CBC radio which continues to attract readers despite being more than a year old.
Last January, I spoke online about my blogging with a Mississauga writers’ group. It was fun to share my positive experience of building a network, meeting my own deadlines, and improving my writing.
Profile is important for some publishers, so I’ve done a few things to that end:

increased my social media numbers — still small but growing
organized and hosted two parties for people who are part of the Toronto Laneway House Facebook group. I’ll try again a third in early 2026
organized and emceed a panel of people who’ve built laneway houses at the National Home Show last March

I submitted 33 times for publication and got 36 “thanks but no thanks” responses (some of those were 2024 submissions). Currently I have only 12 active submissions, short of my goal of at least 20 things pending at all times. I vow to get back to that habit in 2026.
I rejoined the Toronto Public Library after two decades without a card. It’s a marvellous way to sample books without committing to the sticker price. I worry about the authors’ income but I learned this year they get a piece of the action through payments from the Public Lending Right Program. I place holds on all important newly-released memoirs, and expect to get Margaret Atwood’s sometime late in 2026!
To improve my writing, I:

attended a six part on-line series of interviews this fall hosted by Anne Bokma featuring five memoirists and one agent.
attended five online workshops through Jane Friedman, the author of The Business of Writing, hands down, the most practical book I’ve read about writing.
went to the Eden Mills Writers Festival where I got to hear from writers like Ardra Sheppard, author of MS memoir, Fallosophy, and Souvankham Thammavongsa, winner of the 2025 Giller Prize for Pick a Colour.
read many memoirs and books on writing including Stephen King’s On Writing, Jane Friedman’s book noted above, and How to Write a Book Proposal, another useful one.

And finally, and perhaps best of all, I made friends with two writers: blogger, Amanda Le Rougetel who has become my accountability coach and Louise Ells, a novelist, UofT writing professor, and also a Lane Changer. I’m grateful to have met these two fine writers.

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And now for the 2026 writing resolutions:

be published at least five more times and hopefully even more. Three of those will be BAO columns.
maintain the momentum of a weekly blog on wide-ranging topics including the dining solo series which is generating its own readership among the many Facebook “cooking for one” groups.
grow my subscriber list and my readership on social media by continuing what I’m doing and finding ways to develop my audience, especially among those living in small spaces like I do.
have a book proposal done and a draft manuscript and be shopping for an agent for Lane Change.
continue meeting with other writers and reading their work. They inspire and encourage me to improve and keep producing.

Here’s to more writing and happy new year!

2025 Publications:

Toronto Star Article I took out a second mortgage and built a laneway house when my spouse died. I expect to die in debt — and don’t regret it

BAO Article #2 Lane Changer - Sybil Chandler (1928-2025) Proud to find Life's Off-Ramp

(BAO Article #1 about Jack’s medically assisted death has disappeared into the ether!)

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I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #35