Last winter, I shared how I was re-thinking what exactly constitutes a “creative accomplishment.” This year, the thought experiment continues. Here, in no particular order, are my favorite traditional and non-traditional creative accomplishments of the year.
1. I got married (& honeymooned in Spain!)
Marriage is a collaboration. And marriage between two queers who are writers, witches, and professional occultists becomes a profoundly creative and spiritual collaborative project. I used to think I could never date another writer, and yet now I can’t imagine a life where I can’t just walk into the next room and ask Meg to read over this paragraph and tell me what’s wrong (or right).
Getting to honeymoon in Spain also fed us creatively and spiritually in ways I am still digesting, nearly a year later. (Seville has my heart.) Again, allow me to share a hearty thank you to everyone who chipped in amounts large and small to Meg’s and my honeymoon fund; you bought us genuine time off, such a rarity as self-employed people, and something we will always be grateful for.
2. I sold a book inspired by this newsletter.
For a more obvious high: I sold my second book! Astrology for Artists: Intentional Practices for Creative Living is forthcoming in spring 2027 from Hachette. Trust, I’ll share a pre-order link when I have one.
I wrote about the process of selling this practical nonfiction book at length earlier this year, so will not belabor the point, except to say: selling a book is cool, and I’m grateful for the way it boosts confidence and offers validation. The older I get, the more comfortable I am with the fact that validation is actually a really, really helpful thing!
3. An unexpected death-and-rebirth experience with my first book, Heretic, highlighted the importance of my creative community.
Heretic’s rebirth as a paperback with a brand-new subtitle (and new launch events!) felt like a fugue state. I wonder, where did the summer go? and, why didn’t I make more progress on my current WIPs? and then my wife reminds me that I totally re-launched a book that I thought was done and dusted.
Which would never have happened without the involvement of A TON of other people! A true 11th house creative experience!
I have also written about this experience at length, but I want to say that, while I do absolutely count it as a personal creative accomplishment, it was ALSO the result of potent collaboration and community care. Heretic’s rebirth wouldn’t have happened without:
my agent Dana Murphy
Harper editor Liz Velez (who was an ed assistant when working on Heretic), who picked up the whole goddamn project and shepherded her to a new life
of The Rebis, who gave me 10 volunteer hours helping with pitches and publicity
of Pine State Publicity, who as part of a trade gave me a free hour of publicity consultation
THE ASTROLOGY FOR WRITERS DISCORD, oh my god, for collectively brainstorming a new subtitle as a group — I love y’all so much! — and for helping keep me sane as I publicly-in-Discord grieved what I initially thought was a premature out of print death
my beloved friend Smita, for introducing me to the incredible queer owners of BGSQD, where we did such a cool exvangelical event
Lexi, the owner of Astoria Bookshop (where Meg and I got married), for alerting me to issues with Heretic being out of print in the first place and then advocating directly to HarperCollins on my behalf
my now dear friend Casey McQuiston, for agreeing to be in conversation with me for the re-launch when we had never met and they’d never even read the book!
It takes a village. Not necessarily the village of professional support you can afford to buy, but rather, the personal village that you’ve spent years cultivating and strengthening. There is no greater power in publishing than queers showing up for each other to make something a success. I love us.
4. I cultivated joyful, spirit-full creative communities online.
In addition to the IRL folks listed above, I (sometimes co-!) cultivated creative digital communities, in the aforementioned Discord as well as The Grove. Meg and I co-facilitate The Grove, which is a 6-month container for creative and spiritual community and exploration (the next cohort starts in March 2026), and if our inaugural spring/summer cohort was epic, then the autumn/winter cohort… y’all. The intimacy, the trust, the showing up for each other.
Most recently, one Grove member had a baby (!) that she brought to our next Zoom meeting less than two weeks after giving birth (!) and we all cooed and awed over le bebe like the proud aunties and guncles we are! (We all also did a fair bit of spellwork on mama’s behalf, so we were very much feeling like witchy aunties.) The first Grove baby! So incredibly special for all of us to get to be a part of such a Life Moment.
There is something so humbling and intimate to being in a large-ish group of women and queers from all over the world, living wildly different and diverse lives, all talking about how moving in rhythm with the seasons keeps us grounded in our creative work. It’s so special and has been such a sanctuary for me this year, and I’m honored that so many folks who’ve joined have felt the same.
Here at year’s end, I am meditating on how much I am truly fed by both participating in and leading group spaces, and… well, you’ll just have to wait for the announcements coming in 2026. 😈
5. Dancing and scream-singing in the third row at Cowboy Carter with my sister!
For something a little unexpected: my beloved sister Jo and I went to the Cowboy Carter tour together. We have been Beyoncé fans since the ‘90s (SAY MY NAME!), but this was our first Bey show together. And my sister splurged and treated us to 3rd row seats (!).
In a culture that values productivity and creative output, I often feel like it’s my ministry to preach the importance of CREATIVE INPUT, and this concert kept me fed for weeks. (Then the next day we went and saw Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. Y’all. My mind, heart, and spirit, were FULL.)
Taking in great work — both in and outside of the modality we work in! — is so, so important to all of our artistic growth.
6. I started strength training.
On a similar ~input~ note: after several years of health crises, surgeries, a near-death experience, blah blah blah, I am finally back in the gym. While my 12th house moon which means I wish I was a brain on a stick, it turns out that I do in fact have a body that requires more attention with each passing year, and so I am slowly learning about the ways in which taking care of it is a creative and spiritual practice.
Namely, I’m learning about what it is to be a total beginner again. Sure, my form is solid (because I used to do this stuff), but the aforementioned Health Events took me out of the game for a while. My muscles have atrophied; my stamina is low. I can’t just pick up where I left off, back when I was doing weekly spin class and Pilates and bouncing back more quickly from hypermobility-induced injury.
So I’m learning about grace. About being kind to myself. About how meaningful a small gain can be. About how the goal is not (cannot) be to get back to where I was five years ago, because I can only train for the body I have now.
I fear there are many strength training-to-creative process analogies coming your way!
7. I stayed in relationship with my novel WIP, and even made some progress.
Earlier this year, I had hoped to have a full draft of the novel to my agent by December. Insert joke about the universe laughing at plans, etc. etc. The book is not done.
It would have been very easy for Past Jeanna to see this as a failure, and I am taking it as a win that I don’t. I stayed in relationship with the novel — lighting candles for its spirits, listening to playlists, jotting notes when I could — amidst the turbulence of Heretic’s Descent of Inanna summer. Maintaining consistent income was unexpectedly hard for us this year (as it was for a lot of self-employed folks), and so a lot of the time I’d hoped to spend working on the novel got eaten up by classes and clients. Here at year’s end, I was able to make enough space in my schedule to pick it up again, consistently working on her in October and November, and making some tremendous structural inroads.
So: that’s a win. Staying in relationship with the work, even when we aren’t meeting word count goals, is a win. Staying flexible and not holding myself to a standard that was determined before Life intervened is also a win for my ex-evangelical ass.
8. Call Your Coven hit 10,000 downloads.
In other creative collaboration: what a joy it has been to do Call Your Coven [a podcast!] for more than a year now! My wife Meg, our friend , and I do a tarot-numerology-astrology blended monthly forecast, and we also do a conversation episode on topics as varied as witching with chronic illness and developing spirit relationships. We also have videos on YouTube, if that’s your thing!
Hitting 10K is definitely an accomplishment worth celebrating!
9. I’ve spent more than half of 2025 working with Tarantula Studio to build out new branding AND a brand new (TBA!) website.
Those of you on IG have seen some of the branding in action, but the website… omg, it’s so beautiful, and I’m so excited to share it in 2026. It is the biggest financial investment I have ever made in my business. It’s been a tremendously thoughtful ongoing collaboration with the studio, and also a huge exercise in trust, that investing in this thing and devoting so much creative energy to something behind-the-scenes will, eventually, pay off.
I thought I took my business seriously, but this process has taught me SO MUCH, and I think it has ultimately leveled me up as a business owner. And while I love being an artist, the business of being a professional artist and occultist is EQUALLY important. So on a personal level alone, witnessing my growth as a business owner this year has been really exciting.
10. I did 300+ hours of Witcher 3.
Again: creative input matters.
Creative input that isn’t IG-sexy matters.
Creative input that is just for you and just for fun and completely unproductive matters.
Personally, I loved spending so much of my year with Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri, who were always there when I needed to turn my brain off. I hope you had stories and games that brought you equal amounts of deep joy and rest!