New Year Goals for 2026

Hello, friends.

Let's not bury the lead, we interviewed Joe Hill on This Is Horror and it was a wonderful conversation. You can find the audio version below but here's the video on YouTube if you want to watch it right now.

Joe Hill on King Sorrow, Writing Process, and Growing up in Maine

Well, we may be 20 days into the year but this is the first This Is Horror newsletter of 2026 and as such I wanted to write about what my New Year’s goals are. Now, if you’re a Michael David Wilson patron, you can hear me talk about these goals here.

But assuming you’re not, let’s jump into things.

Rather than bury the lead, 2026 is the year I want to leave teaching behind and make my full-time income via podcasting and writing. I have essentially bet my entire life on ‘making it’ as a writer and creative. Every job I have ever taken was either to help me improve as a writer or to facilitate my writing (think taking the jobs with the most downtime and the most generous holidays). And suddenly, as I approach my 40th birthday later this year, this seems more important than ever. This year I must prove to myself, my family, the entire community that this bet was worth taking. This is a make or break year, and I have no plans of breaking, so only one option remains: to make it.

But what does that even look like as a goal?

“Make my full-time income as a writer and podcaster by the end of the year” is too vague. When making goals we need to get specific. I think, too, it’s a mistake to make a goal that is reliant on others and too many external factors which is why I’m not going to make a goal such as “double my Patreon” or “sell 10,000 copies of X book”. These can certainly be things we aspire to do, but when it comes to goals making them specific and in our control is the way forward.

So, if the target is to become a full-time writer and podcaster by the end of the year, I have to ensure my actions align with these goals. In many ways, we can return to the classic “fake it til you make it” or ask the question: what would a full-time writer and podcaster do? What are the things they would do that are completely in my control and I can do right now?

This is what I’ve landed on, though honestly it would cover most goals if I just called this “do two of everything every single week” for the podcast goals.

PODCAST GOALS

Release two episodes of This Is Horror Podcast in audio every week.
Post a minimum of two This Is Horror Podcast video posts on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts every week.
Post a minimum of two full length video episodes on This Is Horror Podcast YouTube every week (including archival video episodes yet to be released).

The hope here is that if I do this, the podcast will grow by every single metric. Downloads will increase, This Is Horror Podcast patrons will increase, advertising interest will increase, and followers on each social media platform will increase.

There are no fancy “get rich/get big” quick ‘tactics’ here just hard word, consistency, and showing up every week (twice). And you know what, so far, it’s actually paying off. Especially the social media video posts.

As growth continues, I intend to share my findings with you in future newsletters. I know a lot of authors are frustrated with social media at the moment, particularly the increasing demand for video. I am keeping a close eye on what works and what doesn’t work, both with my own social media accounts and with the industry as a whole. So, watch this space for a future newsletter where I’ll share my insights with you.

WRITING GOALS

Complete three novels ready to send to publishers and agents by the end of the year.—I already have the first draft of a huge 165,000 word novel with John Crinan completed, and I’m two-thirds of the way through the first draft of another novel. I have another idea that has ‘appeared’ demanding my attention. With those three and the book I already have ready to send to publishers, I have quite a few options to hopefully entice a great publisher and agent.
Complete the first 100 pages of a secret project I’ve been meaning to work on for years.—I hate vague posts but I can’t say any more than that for now. There’s a project I’ve wanted to work on for ages. I’ve put it off. I’ve made excuses. Not this year. Progress will be made.
Make significant progress with film adaptations and screenwriting.—So, this goal is a little less robust in its presentation but let me explain. Alongside my prose writing, I am being intentional about getting into the film industry. Right now I am working on something that I’m probably not allowed to talk about but I’m very optimistic about. In addition to that, I am fine-tuning a screenplay I wrote last year so I can shop it around. This goal might be better presented as ‘always have an interesting film-related project on the go’. Perhaps next year when I am more ‘in’ the world of movies, I’ll have a more specific goal and be able to shout about things properly.
Update the Michael David Wilson Patreon with a minimum of two posts per week.

So, these are the things I’m doing this year, or at least attempting to do. And if my progress slips during a goal, I don’t give up. I just get after it again the next week. I’m also doing a lot of things to bolster my Japanese learning but I’ll save that for another day.

How about you? What are your goals?

ON THIS IS HORROR PODCAST

Before I bring this newsletter to a close, I've got to give you good people direct links to the video and audio podcasts that have dropped on This Is Horror for the past month. And, my goodness, have there been a few.

Audio Podcasts on This Is Horror

Here are the podcasts that have landed since the last newsletter.

Click the images to be taken to the podcast on the This Is Horror page or listen on Spotify.

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