New Year, New Events, and New Books! 💖⚙️📚
🎁 Open for two end-of-year events to finish 2025 with fun and whimsy
Hello! I hope you had a fantastic December. My month has been a mix of revisions, family time, catching up with author friends, watching my niece and nephew perform in the Ballet Des Moines Nutcracker, and much-needed rest after attending three conventions in November! I had an amazing time, but it was so good to reset and refocus on my projects.
Part of getting organized for 2026 has been setting up my planners and traveler’s notebooks. For my system next year, I’m going back to using traveler’s notebooks in addition to a regular planner (that I customize heavily because I can’t help myself. 😂)
In my previous newsletter, I mentioned keeping Tamagotchis as a way of spending less time doom-scrolling, and while that is working (all of my silly digital pets are thriving), having a system to keep all my panel ideas and research notes together has become a necessity. For my in-depth notes, I digitize them in Obsidian before creating outlines for panels. (Some day, I’ll get better at uploading ALL of my notes. 😅)
Interior of my main journal system, complete with a slightly unhinged motivational mood board for my Word of the Year for 2026, “Emerge”:
I haven’t quite finished decorating my planner and journals, but it has been a blast using up my stash of crafty supplies on hand (yay for being thrifty!) I’m particularly excited to start filling in my research notes. My Merry Christmas to Me was joining The Folklore Society! This is the same London Folklore Society that I presented about at TeslaCon. Now I have access to all their archives that go back to 1878.
If I find myself in the UK, I also have access to the collection of 19,000 books, pamphlets, and serials at the University College London Library.😍
Anyway, I'm super excited for what this is going to do for my research for both panels and books. Give me ALL the archives! 💖📚
Speaking of books, the sequel to Monsters and Machines, Alchemy and Automatons, is out in 3 months! Be prepared to hear lots about Lucille and Rosie in the coming weeks! (The Clockwork Coffin is also coming out in 2026, too. If all goes well, I’m hoping to have it ready for the Chicago Steampunk Expo in June!)
Steampunk Events to Celebrate the New Year
Tonight at 7 pm Central time, Madame Askew and the Grand Arbiter are hosting The Hogmanay Variety Show virtually online for a couple hours of shenanigans and merriment. For more details, check out the event page here. (Also, if you have a goal to read more in 2026, I highly recommend checking out Temporal Textual Talks: A Steampunk Book Club, hosted by Madame Askew and Bill Bodden. I love attending virtual book club every month and getting to participate in fun and thought-provoking conversations!)
For those of you local to Central Iowa, the BrassGears Adventurers Society is hosting their annual Chrononaut Cotillion on January 2nd from 8 pm to 1 am at the Holiday Inn and Suites Des Moines-Northwest! This year’s theme is Wild West. There will be dancing, drinks, door prizes, and burlesque performances by the Naughty Nerds. For more information, check out the event page (or pick up tickets here.)
However you spend New Year’s Eve, I hope you have a wonderful start to 2026! I’m so excited to share more fun book and event news over the next few months. (Some of this I’ve been sitting on for a while and it’s been SO HARD not to say anything too soon!)
Until then, happy reading!
