January updates // 2026

January 26, 2026

I thought I’d be going strong in January. My todo list was packed with ambitious stuff like fixing all the plot holes from my middle-grade novel and creating a brief for my maybe future cover designer. Unfortunately I believe Fate wouldn’t have it. January was a busy month, but not in the author activities area. We started with all the new year celebrations with friends and family (Happy New Year by the way!). We even had snow (lots) at the beginning of the month. So let me give you some worthy updates.

Brand-new office in the making

My father-in-law had the greatest idea to gift me a service for Christmas: helping me in revamping my home office. I had been thinking about it for a while now but couldn’t start on the project. So, in January, I went to see an interior designer to settle on some new colors and I went shopping for materials with my father-in-law. He’ll start on the work in February, mainly to install a door to the storage area and build a pipe cover for the many pipes in there. Hopefully it will be quickly done, as I work from home at least once a week for my day job and I need an uncluttered space.

What has been done in January?

sigh

I’ve adulted a lot! By that, I mean I’ve been a responsible adult by managing the house admin, the school admin, the getting doctors appointments and things like that. Not that I didn’t have to do all these things the previous months, but getting all the things ticked off my todo list was empowering. I had felt so overwhelmed last month…

Anywho. I guess you’re not here for that kind of updates but for the author ones.

I’ve updated things here and there on my website. A while back, this very website you’re on was intended to reflect my author side hustle… then it became kind of an « everything Estelle does » website. I told everyone landing on the homepage that I am an author, a web designer and a speaker. That’s a lot. So I decided to reframe. To go back to the way it was before, but better.

I’ve had a meltdown over PO Boxes, as anyone selling things online should display a physical address. And PO Boxes are expensive guys! I don’t have that kind of money in the stage I’m at in this author journey. I even thought about getting a PO Box just for my next book’s preorder campaign but I would have to sell a lot of books just to pay off that PO Box. So… had to back down on the eshop.

I’ve said in my 2025 income report that I should stop doing things for the sake of doing things, and think more strategically. This is me undoing the thing I did just for the sake of it (opening an eshop). At least I’ve learned something, and maybe you too.

An upcoming Read Along

March will be upon us in no time and, with it, The Londoners’ 5th Anniversary! To celebrate my first book baby, I’d like to organise a Book Club in which, each week, we’ll be reading along together and talking about it. I’ll share some new memories and content around the book and organise a live stream (or more than one? Still to be determined) to answer live questions.

Will you join me on this Read Along adventure, starting March 23rd?

Once Upon A Sky updates

I did start on the brief for the book cover designer and I’ll be sending it to a list of five designers I’ve pre-selected to get their quotes very very soon. I’ve followed their work for traditional publishers, so I already expect them to make a hole in my budget… But we’ll see, maybe I’ll be surprised!

Last December, I did all the editing and publishing work on Finding Maxwell, a prequel short story to Once Upon A Sky. I just need to press save on the epub and pdf versions so I can send it to my beloved subscribers on the newsletter (if you’re not registered yet, here’s your cue, haha). Honestly I just need a small kick in the butt to complete it.

And last but not least, on the manuscript front, nothing has changed since December… With all the things going on I barely had time to sit down. Hopefully this will change next month and all the plot holes will be fixed.