Year-end review (2025)
As I enter my third year being On My Own (professionally speaking), it’s all on me to make sure I’m doing what I need to be doing. (I have to do everything around here.)
For the sake of accountability, transparency, and humble-bragging, I’m sharing the results of my 2025 performance review with you.
Here’s to 2026! 🥂
✔ Presented at History Camp Boston
This was the highlight of the year. Deciding to apply was a huge decision, but I’m so glad I did. It was exhilarating and I had a blast. (Have you seen my presentation?)
✔ Scheduled 2026 virtual presidential series
I’m freaking excited. Starting with George Washington, we’re focusing on a different president every month — in chronological order. I’ll share my doodles and trivia I’ve collected over the years. Learn more here.
If you live in Massachusetts or New Hampshire, register with your library if they are participating.
✔ Revamped my home page and added a services page
Now I just need to add something about “hey, I’m available for public speaking, too!”
✔ Bought a web cam
I’ve been using the crappy one on my laptop. Every time I had a call, I had to shuffle my whole desk around and move the keyboard and lose most of the writing surface on my desk. And not only that, going back and forth between my laptop being closed, using my computer as a tablet to draw on, and conference calls somehow shuffled around which mic/speakers the computer used and it was a crap shoot whether any one would be able to hear me. None of that was enough to compel me to do the research or fork over extra money.
I can’t have that with my upcoming virtual series.
Now it’s separate. No need to move anything around. The quality is crisp! [the skies parted and the angels sing!]
Effortless. Possibly the best money I’ve spent all year.
✔ Improved work/life balance
At the risk of jinxing myself — I love all of my clients. (Somebody pinch me!) I’m able to do what I need to do and love … with flexibility to leave early for sports events or other kid activities. And I can work non-traditional hours hours to maximize pool time in the summer, etc.
✔ Joined Substack
I’m not 100% sure what I’m doing over there that I’m not already doing in The POTUS Notice or on my own blog. But:
It’s a way to meet / connect with people / be “discovered” by others.
They have different functionality over there and that’s kinda cool.
Anyone who likes The POTUS Notice, but wants emails more often can subscribe (for free!) to Presidential Briefs.
That said, I hate to bombard people with emails so I mostly just post Substacks without forcing them to email. A lot of work for one or two people to see, but it still brings me weird joy to see my little Substack webpage fill in.
If nothing else, it’s sort of a backup repository.
✔ Joined Bluesky
Meh. I thought I would be more active. Honestly, I did a terrible job setting it up. Instagram went from a delightful place to see wonderful art and design and history to a bunch of reels (I hate reels! I wish I could turn off videos altogether) about icing cakes (why?? I do not bake cakes) that sap my time even though I’m not interested. Somehow I managed to make Bluesky full of doom and gloom and it’s no longer any fun. Maybe I just need to clear up my algorithm or something. Or maybe it’s just that there’s a lot of doom and gloom.
✔ Played croquet on a Founding Father’s lawn
I won! Only because the 6-year-old who had never played before and yet was winning had to leave, but that’s neither here nor there.
✔ Started doing TRX again
And just when I was starting to feel like I would not die during class… the kids’ schedules changed and I can’t take it regularly anymore. Maybe in the spring!
✔ New PO box
This seems minor but it’s a massive achievement for me. I agonized over the decision. My old one was a fraction of the cost but had limited hours. And wasn’t conveniently located. If I needed to take a left hand turn out of the parking lot at rush hour? There goes my morning.
My new post office offers 24/7 access to the PO boxes! Not that I ever get mail or leave the house after 8 p.m., but if I DID I could totally check my post office box at 2 a.m. if I wanted to!
I even came up with a handy way to remember my PO box number: William Henry Harrison was our 9th president, Grant was our 18th, and Monroe was our 5th. PO Box 9185!
✔ Took several field trips!
Attended my very first political memorabilia event
Paid my respects at my maybe-ancestor’s grave
Toured Hingham, Massachusetts (bucket town)
Dragged my family to Hildene, Robert Todd Lincoln’s home
And also JFK Presidential Library and Museum
Visited Grant Cottage again, this time strolling the grounds
Finally toured Springwood (FDR’s home)
Attended the Theodore Roosevelt Association annual meeting
✔ Collaborated with Becca Grawl again
Becca shared stories of eight incredible (dare I say badass?) women who supported and even fought for our Independence.
✔ My doodles were in Strawberry Moon Magazine
[Squeals!] If you’re into art journaling, it’s a gorgeous magazine.
Issue 9 (it’s still available for purchase in both print and digital formats)
✔ Set-up a payment method in Bookshop
I ♥️ Bookshop. I’ve been an affiliate for a while, but never set up a payment method or really promoted it. As far as I know, the only people who have purchased through my shop have been my best friend and me. I point any book reference to Bookshop so people could easily learn more about any given book. And I use it to track what I read each year and add book covers to my website (like I did below). But if you’re buying books online anyhow, maybe consider buying through my shop.
✔ I deleted Instagram from my phone
In the spirit of transparency, this is something I did late December. The teensiest sliver of 2025. But still! The closest thing to a social media app I have on my phone now is Substack. Not sure I’ll stick with it, but the idea is that if I have a few spare minutes I’ll pass the time reading a book or an article and not mindlessly scrolling. At the very least, I plan to get through the holidays without it and reevaluate. Secretly hoping to stick with it. I miss the ability to add music and post to Stories, and pin and unpin stuff, but I know that posting to Stories is how they get me to visit the app a bajillion times a day.
In theory, this change will make it possible for me to spend time doing other things… like maybe focus on what I want my book to be?
✔ Tried a couple new sticker vendors
I’m like a little kid showing off their stickers.
Side note: I bought a mug in my new favorite color specifically to show off my new sticker. Then read this post about why control rooms were seafoam green and now I love my new favorite color even more than I did previously.
✔ Joined a couple of groups for self-employed
And also signed up for a retreat in 2026!
~40 books read
Plus, three others that aren’t shown here. (Two that I wouldn’t recommend and one that isn’t available on Bookshop. Yet.)
FAVORITE NON-FICTION
The Fish That Ate the Whale, by Rich Cohen
FAVORITE FICTION
The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore
1 times I used my custom inspector stamp out in the wild…
I absolutely had to have a custom inspector stamp. I waited for years to buy it. And I’ve used it once.
2 mailings sent
A zine (to announce my series with Ashland Public Library) and new postcard mailing (to celebrate my new PO box!). Because I am either very good at marketing or very good at finding ways to give myself permission to buy stuff that I probably don’t need.
6 people I “know” online that I got to meet in person
Three authors, two artists, and a professional presidential portrayer.
8 surprising things I learned this year
I bought lightning bolt earrings to commemorate learning how to spell lightning. ⚡
Nobody slips on bananas anymore because that kind of banana went extinct!
President Truman was so enthusiastic when Bess returned to the White House that they broke the bed
Abe Lincoln went bowling!
Lightning doesn’t have an e ⚡
I would have voted for Theodore Roosevelt in 1912
(Not really, because I wouldn’t have been allowed to vote)West Virginia became a state in way that was “largely extralegal” and (in Lincoln’s words) “somewhat farcical” because they wanted to stick with the Union
Charles Sumner was as tall as Abraham Lincoln
Peter Stuyvesant, Gouverneur Morris, Daniel Sickles, and William Astor Chanler were all politicians who lived in New York and also Europe and also lost a leg, each in a different century
73 blog posts written
I love writing blog posts. The ones I had the most fun with this year:
Dick picks (just a selection of Richards; nothing to worry about)
I had a blast with all of the birthday posts, but April had the most surprises
4 most visited pages on my website
Aside from my home and blog pages, here are the top visited pages on my website:
January birthdays
(Solid choice; I like that one)Extreme family-treeing with the royals
It got me all twisted up, but I’m quite proud of it. It’s wasted on mobile though — check it out on a bigger screen if you can.King George III
Guys — those last two aren’t even about presidents!! And this page is lame. Year-over-year it ranks high for some reason, so I dare not touch it.Services
(Yeah!)
9 favorite motion graphics
A few things I’d like to accomplish in 2026:
☐ Promote my Bookshop more
I mean, I don’t want to get super-salesy over here… but if you’re already buying books online…
☐ New headshot
I keep saying I need one. I keep not doing anything about it.
☐ Have one of my presidential products actually on sale somewhere other than my website
☐ But also on my own website?
I’m toying with selling easy-to-ship items — stickers, trading cards, postcards, etc. Let me know what you think!
☐ Go through my blog drafts and bring some to life
36 ideas are kicking around in my drafts folder, including:
Fish & Dale — a comparison of two 6’ 4” centenarians (Hamilton Fish III and Dale Pontius)
A collection of words I can’t spell, with accompanying evidence (doodles)
A series about the Amendments — I can never remember which is which. This would be the biggest lift, but also the most potential payoff. Imagine how much more effective I would be at trivia!
History’s Mysteries: Unsolved — a collection of random not-even-remotely-important questions bugging me
Johnson + Johnson — Andrew Johnson vs. Lyndon B. Johnson. And what the heck, I may even + Old Dick Johnson (Richard Mentor Johnson)
Women: too emotional to lead — LOL J/K. This would just be a compendium of the times men were very much in control of their emotions and thus most capable of leading, whist also not at all being in control of their emotions (think: dueling, etc.)
☐ Figure out boring business stuff
A few nagging things I just need to take care of already.
☐ Revamp The POTUS Notice masthead
I threw it together when I first launched my newsletter in a hurry. It’s time for a makeover (or at least a little refresh), but I keep putting it off.
☐ Avoid reinstalling Instagram app
Except briefly to do an app-specific task. Then delete it again.
☐ Use my new beautiful sketchbook
A friend gave me a gorgeous sketchbook this year. I decided I’d start from the front, filling in with career-related stuff. Big wins, etc. Like a visual performance review. And I could show it off at the end of the year, reflect on what I learned, etc. I’d fill it in from the back with family stuff… funny things my kids said, stuff we did, things I want to remember.
The two ended up too intertwined and hard to separate. And then I got busy and gave up. The open-endedness was overpowering. What colors do I use? Which pens? I missed having some sort of structure / rules like when I kept my Doomsday Diaries. Maybe this year I’ll try again… but different.
☐ More field trips!
At least one ambitious one. But also — there is so much within a thirty minute drive and I never take advantage of it.
☐ Returning The POTUS Notice to a regular cadence
In 2024, I did a lot of collaborative emails — tremendously fun but also it whacked my regular schedule off. For some reason, I’m only just now adjusting. I would still love to collaborate going forward, but I’m shifting my approach so I can still send out regular POTUS Notice emails every month.
