Hey, we made it to 2025! Happy 2 years to this newsletter. Sorry it’s been pretty dead the latter half of this year. Hopefully, this coming year will be a bit different.
2024 Project Recap:
I was able to release 2 of the 5 books I was hoping for this past year. The first one was a rather large milestone as it was book 2 in my very first series ever, The Guardian Elf Scrolls. It had only been waiting for 11 years since I published book one… I was trying to get it out so I’d have physical copies for my June author event as there was a girl who bought the first book in 2022 and ask about book 2 in 2023, to which I told her it would be there next year. And it was! And she got it! Win!
You can find it here.
(I also do signed copies of any of my books , you just need to get in touch with me though my social medias or email me at: tristashayeofficial@gmail.com. Payment is through PayPal or Venmo and you always get extra goodies!)
The second book I released was The Prophecy’s Chosen Heir, book 1 in my new MG series, The Misadventures of a Chosen One’s Best Friend. I have heard nothing but love for this book and it’s been blowing me away how many people are grabbing copies every month - audio as well as ebook and paperbacks! I’ve already had 2 sales of paperbacks this year, which is awesome! Thank you!
You can find all the formats here.
Tales of Ezmeer isn’t a book, it’s an audio drama podcast. But! I still have to write the entire thing, second draft, and get some edits done on it, so it feels like its own book of sorts. I got Season 3 finished, printed, and we had our mass cast read-through. It’s a massive script this time; episodes will all probably be around 30 minutes long if not longer.
Find Seasons 1-2 here.
We worked on our house a good bit, though in the summer, we were struggling to pay bills due to some unfortunate and unforeseen work situations, so the house was on hold and we didn’t get nearly as much done as we hoped. But we met some of my goals for it!
We got the upstairs closet doors on - there were none when we moved in. It feels so much nicer up there now. We also got some of the trim on up there and my closet got shelving so I don’t have to live out of a tote anymore! Yay!
We replaced all the flooring in the kitchen and "living room/everything” area.
We got a new fridge that’s much bigger (the old one was so small and almost every time you opened the door, things fell out at you…) and my Hubby made this perfect pull-out trashcan cupboard for beside it. (We’re gonna but shelving above it for a pantry.)
We also changed out all the countertops and replaced the sink - something that absolutely was the worst since our walls are not straight in any part of the house. But the results are great! And I love the new countertops - yeah, they’re white, but they sure don’t stain!
Here are my project recap photos of the year for some of the projects/audio I worked on and also some of the covers I commissioned or bought this year.
Did I meet any of my goals I set for last year project-wise?
I published The Nameless, got TOE Season 3 written, I did finish writing Super Pinecones, and I released 3 backlogged audiobooks and 1 for a new release. I didn’t actually have Misadventures #1 on this years goals, it just happened.
2025 Project Goals:
*Publish Super Pinecones
*Publish Big 6 & 7
*Publish Heirs of Ever After 2
*Publish Misadventures #2
*Edit and release all my backlogged audiobooks (5)
*Write The Guardian Elf Scrolls #3
*Add 1 more in-person event
*Record TOE Season 3 & The Nameless multicast audiobook
*Finish the inside of the house - trim and kitchen
*Get my professional animation voiceover reel produced
I have a lot more secret goals, but if these all happen that would be amazing! I always shoot for the stars and land where I may.
Writing/Books:
Been working away on Super Pinecone’s second draft and plan to have that finished by the end of this week or so. I’ll do my last quick read-through/edit, then the Hubby will get it next for a proofread, and then it will go off to the editor for another one by the beginning of February. I should have it back by March and the plan is to release it the end of April - it’s going to take a little bit for me to get the illustrations done but after it goes off to the editor, I’ll begin work on those. This one has been waiting to be released into the world for at least 4 years now!
I also went through and roughly plotted out the last 8 Misadventures books (yeah, there are 10 in total, but I already have book 2 figured out.) I’m stoked for this series and it seems everyone who’s read book 1 is too. I wish I could release more than 1 a year, but due to the high cost of the interior illustrations, I likely won’t be able to (unless I get mega blessed with some good paying jobs, which is possible).
I shared this peek of Cover 2’s art on my socials, so here it is if you missed it.
I also recently shared that I have between 300-400 ideas for individual books. Feel the need to go through them all and prioritize as best as I can, even though I want all of them to see the light of day.
I’m also trying to post every day on my FB page this month to see how it goes and if I can even keep it up. I tend to go long stints in between posting, but for algorithms sake, I’m going to push myself to try something new for January. Here’s the peek of Book 6 in my fantasy cozy mystery series that I’m posting on there later today. I’m super excited for this series!
Podcast:
The plan is to record Season 3 sometime later this spring/early summer. After that, we’ll see how things look for release and I’ll keep you up dated.
Voiceover:
I was looking into closing the door on most of my audiobook work this past year. I wasn’t getting work for a long time, months and months, and I thought maybe it was time to shut the door and move on. I was looking into some film schools actually and was super excited. But I knew we couldn’t afford any of them so it was more of a long term goal. Then, not only was I not bringing in income, but my Hubby’s job started to pay less and suddenly it looked like we weren’t going to be able to pay all the bills. So, I jumped back in with both feet and worked my butt off auditioning for at least a month or so (the earlier problem was that there hadn’t been hardly any good books to audition for for a long time). I ended up getting absolutely swamped with work right up until the week before Christmas and man, it was a lot! But we were so thankful for it! I’m starting up again next week on another audiobook and hope to continue to bring more work in.
Bean’s Picture:
Beans hopes you’re this cozy throughout the rest of the winter months.