KATIE MARIE

It’s that time of year again when I take a moment to consider the year ahead.

The 2025 calendar is already filling up, which is lovely, and I have some small goals and targets.

Writing

Writing wise I have a couple of solid goals for 2025.

I want to write short stories more consistently. I’m aiming for one a month and weekly submissions.

My new significant work in progress (working title: In Bloom) is possibly my biggest project ever (not counting the PhD). It’s undoubtedly the longest novel I will have ever written. I am aware that starting this during the second year of my PhD is probably not the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s fun, so meh. It’s an experiment on my part, as I intend to have multiple point-of-view characters, which I’ve never done before.

I’m also hoping to deliver a horror workshop in 2025, but it’s early days in the planning, so we’ll have to wait and see.

I am also reasonably confident I’ll have some other good news to share early in the year, though I don’t want to jinx it.

PhD

This year, I will be doing my upgrade viva, which will be my main focus for the first half of the year.

The upgrade viva for a PhD is a formal oral examination. I will present my research progress to a panel of academics and (hopefully) demonstrate my ability to undertake the full PhD. If I am successful, I will essentially be “upgrading” my status from an MPhil to a PhD candidate.

Health

Health-wise, I want to keep up my two-day-a-week gym habit, my attempt at food mindfulness (paying more attention to what I’m eating when I’m eating), fencing club, and weekend walks.

My main health focus this year is going to be my mental health. I’m often busy, and the first thing I sacrifice to make more time is self-care, and then I burn out. So, I have downloaded an app that will give me prompts and reminders to do little things throughout the day, week, and month to care for myself. I’m also giving journalling a shot.

Work

Since I got promoted at work last year, my focus will be on continuing to expand into my new role. I want to upskill myself as much as possible to be the best little data nerd I can be. With that in mind, I’m scheduling training and putting myself forward for new projects.

Volunteering

I intend to work hard as Chair of the Development Committee at Equal Lives and continue volunteering for the National Centre for Writing.

Travel

We don’t have any big/abroad trips planned for 2025; we’re hoping to visit a few places in England and Wales for some long weekends. We’re heading down to London a few times, and of course, I’ll be nipping back and forth to uni.

Everything else!

This year, I aim to get the lovely Mr Sherlock down to meet some of my family in the West Country and head over to Wales at some point to meet my new niece.

This coming year, I want to play more games, watch more films and see more shows. We’ve already booked 12 theatre shows for 2025, and we’ve purchased a membership to Picture House Cinema to get us to go and see films we might not otherwise have gone to the effort and expense to see.

It’s only just started, and 2025 is looking to be excellent.