If you would like to watch me talk for 44 minutes about this past year and looking ahead, I applaud you, and here’s your link.

Hello, my friends,

Happy New Year’s Eve, and Happy New Year. I am wishing the best to you and to the new things that will be coming for you. I am excited to enter this new year with you, and that is why I want to get in a quick roundup before the new year rolls in.

BRIEF DISCLAIMER: This Newsletter has been summarized by AI off the YouTube transcription, then edited… almost entirely, by me. Just in case some of the formatting looks weird, now you know.

I don’t really write resolutions; I prefer to set guideposts so that I can see which direction I should be heading. In this newsletter, I’m going to be taking stock of what happened in 2025 and then how I am looking ahead.

The workshop that mattered

Early in the year, I put my first feature screenplay on its feet: three days with a small group of actors, daily rewrites, daily re-prints, then back on its feet again. Big thanks to Ryan Shealy (Associate AD) and Michael Thomas (Artistic Director) at the Renaissance Theatre for helping me write this screenplay, for looking over my work, and Ryan Shealy especially for his patience with the unscheduled “I had an idea that will change the entirety of the script” conversations. That room taught me I can iterate and reiterate and watch the work breathe in real time.

Leaving the job (too soon)

In May, I resigned from the Renaissance Theatre. Differences emerged; I left without a very good plan. It was the decision I made. That decision dropped me into a financial hole I then had to climb out of.

The hole (not pretty)

DoorDash for groceries. A ticket that bumped my insurance. Monthly payments tightening all around me. I kept trying new things but nothing really worked.

I kept going, but it wasn’t pretty.

The new foundation. The new job

I interviewed, got hired, and started training on August 11. Two months later, on October 11th, I was on the floor. Benefits from day one. It’s steady, and that has created a foundation to build art on.

Family changing

My parents divorced. We moved. I’m living with my mom. Hard conversations, ongoing processing, forward motion.

The constant

Writing never left. It’s been my anchor for nine years; this year, it became non-negotiable.

I am writing a book

I started writing a book in, I don’t know, September? I realized while working at the new job that I needed something to keep me creative and keep my muscles flexing. Otherwise, I probably would die quite a bit inside. This will be the soft announcement, but… I’m writing a book.

This project matched the energy that I wanted to keep while working on everything else: Slow and steady.

19,067 words as of today. Target is at least 90,000. I expect the story to expand once I hit about 50k; there are already very important moments that need expanding.

Final certification in teaching the Chekhov technique

Final certification at GLMCC this summer (year three). Chekhov remains the foundation of my acting: A feeling of ease, a feeling of beauty, a feeling of form, and a feeling of the entirety.

I am excited to continue working on the technique and see how I can apply it to my art now. Especially, my book.

Teaching (intentionally)

I’m formalizing this slowly. Clear one-on-one work rooted in Chekhov. I only teach what I’ve tested in my own body, even on camera (which I’m actively experimenting with).

I have taught before, but it has been hard to sustain it. I feel as a teacher, I am still learning, and want to continue developing in this route.

YouTube as sketchbook

Goal: 3 videos/month (maybe getting 40 videos this year? (if I add 4). I am not chasing quick monetization; my main priority is to build skills: camera fluency, storytelling, presence on lens, editing under constraints, and my artistic eye.

Foundations & Finance.

I am in debt (about $150k). I know, wild… but it is what it is. I see that. My plan: keep the job, pay above minimums, build a small buffer, and avoid desperate moves. If YouTube or the book ever brings in money, it goes to debt first. That’s the same with any other side hustle that I’m doing. Any extra money that I make.

Thank you. Thank you for being a part of my year. You all have been here with me while I have been off and on with this newsletter. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to write for you, and I would love to continue writing for you.

I wouldn’t be here without the people who carried me through the messy middle. If that’s you, you know it. Thank you.

If you have read this whole thing, or you just skipped down to the bottom (both are fine), I have a favor to ask of you.

I love hearing from my readers, and it is so important to continue working and developing my writing for you. The question is:

What would you like to see from me this year?

I’m not promising perfection. I’m promising practice. Onward.