Happy New Year!

Can you believe it’s already 2018?! The holiday season flew by, as did the rest of the year, and here we are, ready to start all over again. I’m super excited about the big things happening in 2018, and I wanted to share some of the highlights (especially on the subject of new books!) with you. Here’s what’s up with the Faulk family and with Jenn Faulk books…

We’re hoping to buy a home in 2018! We’ve spent the past year and a half in a beautiful parsonage here, and while it’s been just the right place for us as we’ve settled into this community, we’re ready to own our own home again. (Because pastors eventually retire, and when Wes steps down as pastor of FBC Vidalia forty years from now, we don’t want to be homeless when we get kicked out of the parsonage. I’m sure it happens!) We’re taking our time with this decision, knowing just exactly what we’re looking for in terms of location and waiting for the right house. So excited to make Vidalia our permanent home!

I’m running 2018 miles in 2018. I did 2015 miles in 2015, and it was probably one of the most beneficial things I’ve ever done for my health. I’d love to get back to that level of fitness, and this has been a good way to discipline myself in the past, so I’m doing it again. I’ve got two marathons on the calendar for the spring, so that’ll keep me honest at the beginning when I’ll probably be most tempted to flake out.

2017 was a great year for Jenn Faulk books. It was also the first year that we were paying a full year of tuition for Wes’s doctoral work, along with all of the expenses that came with getting him to Kentucky twice and keeping him housed and fed while he was attending his seminars. (And he ate well, God bless him.) We thought at the beginning of the year that we would be lucky to just cover those costs, but there were a couple of promotions that really boosted sales. We were able to pay for a family vacation for 2018 with the surplus, and we talked both sets of our parents into coming with us. So, get ready for a Jenn Faulk book set in ALASKA! (Or just a cruise ship that visits the coast of Alaska.) I asked my dad if I could write the trip off as a business expense if our experiences there actually did end up in a sappy sweet chick lit book, but he said that’s not how tax laws work. Bummer. But it’ll be fun anyway, right?!

We’re reading through the Bible as a family in 2018. We’re moving away from the canonical plan we did this year and switching to a “part Old Testament, part New Testament every day” plan. We’re also switching from the ESV to the NLT. I’m kinda clutching my pearls at that because I’ve been reading just the ESV since 2004, after reading only the NIV since 1995. Why does this matter? Because I’ve got all these memorized NIV verses in my head, and it’s like nails on a chalkboard when I read them in the ESV and think, “What?! There’s an extra the in there!” I’ve finally gotten those verses down in the ESV, and now, I’m going to throw in a new version. (Is anyone else Type A crazy like this?) Wes assures me that reading this version will help the girls (and me, quite possibly)… and that I can still study with my ESV. I know, y’all. I need to let it go and stop acting like an old curmudgeon.

I’m going to Israel in July. There probably won’t be a book connected to this because I’m going to spend the whole time going back and forth in Scripture, marveling at the stories in a new way, amazed to stand in the very same places that Jesus stood, recalling the very words He said. (And He said them exactly as they appear in the ESV. Oh, I kid! Let it go, let it go…)

In the fall, I’ll have two girls in junior high. Glory. Actually, it’ll be a very welcome thing, as they’ll be back at the same school again. They’ll also be in the youth group together, where Ana will attempt to explain to Emma how it all works right before Emma waltzes in and does things her own way. Because that’s how the Faulkettes roll. (“Two girls in junior high?” Wes said when I mentioned this to him. “Now, THAT’S a pearl-clutching thought!” It really is.)

And for what you REALLY wanted to know… I’m shooting for a goal of TEN new Jenn Faulk books in 2018. A few weeks ago, I was in a holiday slump and wondered if I’d manage to put out one new book this year, but then, I heard from Leeann last week about the book that we wrote together and how she’s nearly done with the edits, and I said to myself, “Self, that’s one book! It isn’t even 2018 yet!” Things are looking up! (It’s all about perspective, y’all.) Seriously, though, I’ve got three other books in the works right now, and once Ana and Emma are back in school and we’ve got a normal routine around here, I’m sure my writing time will pick up. This March will mark five years since Resolutions was released, and I’m feeling a little nostalgic about all that’s happened with this whole world of characters since then. It’s been so much fun, y’all, and I’m so excited about what’s coming up next!

Whew! I didn’t intend for this to be so long. Maybe 2018 is going to be busier than I thought. But I’m looking forward to it!

How about you? What exciting things are happening for you in 2018?