Jennifer. J. Chow

New Year, New Book, New Vision

It’s 2026? It’s 2026! I felt like the end of the year kinda bled into the new one. But maybe that’s because I didn’t ring in the new year.

Didn’t ring in the new year, but I did manage to correctly date a form by using “2026” in the first week of Jan–small wins!

Confession: I couldn’t even muster the energy to watch the ball drop. I also didn’t make a resolution or write a one-word goal. But I actually do enjoy the idea of new beginnings. And, clearly, I’m happy that 2026 offered me a Lefty nomination (hurrah to all!).

Plus, a new year brings a new book. Yep, book three in my Magical Fortune Cookie series is dropping on January 27th. Tell-Tale Treats is for you if you want to see Mean Girls as adults, stuck together in a secluded inn.

It was a lot of fun to write. But in a bittersweet way since it’ll be the last in the series [cue crying]. My contract is ending, and I’ll be floating untethered for a bit.

But, bringing it back to 2026… While I didn’t have a resolution or a goal, one of my kids begged to do vision boards together. So I cobbled together something. This part represents my writing vision:

I lumped my writing stuff under the “Mind” category
  • Because I’m bookish at heart, I’ve always wanted a huge bookcase with a rolling ladder, space notwithstanding
  • Peak—to go higher with my writing
  • VOICE (not VOGUE, like my daughter first thought) to share my authentic, nuanced (see: lean into the layers) self
  • Also, I added nods to waiting and not sweating during the long and bumpy process

Do you have something new happening (or that you’re envisioning for) this new year?

38 thoughts on “New Year, New Book, New Vision”

  1. I accepted a promotion at work in late November. It offers me a chance to learn new things and bring my 27 years of accumulated knowledge to play in a different daily responsibility in my company. It will likely be the job I retire from in about 5 years, so I was glad to be approached to join the team.

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  2. Nothing new, but excited to be attending reader/fan conventions as a retiree. Looking forward to LCC (Yay Nominated Chicks!), Malice, Bouchercon, and C3. I’m also thinking about cruising.

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  4. Congratulations on the new book, Jen! That’s a fantastic cover with so much detail. Love the rolls!
    2026 has the potential to be an exciting year for me. Elmo Simpson book 4 comes out 1/26 and book 5 later this year. The first two books in my Allie Cobb Mysteries come out in audio over the next couple of months. And, my first two Elmo books come out in mass market paperback in April.
    Exciting times, provided the world doesn’t blow up.

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    1. Ha! Thanks, JC! I feel like they always try to sneak in a skull in the cover art…

      2026 holds loads of stuff for you! Congrats on the new books (two in a year!) & the extra versions in audio and mass market.

      And I’m with you–let’s not make 2026 too exciting globally.

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  5. At the end of 2025, I signed a contract with a small publishing house for my first cozy mystery, to be released in 2026 (in’shallah!). My first deadline is January 31st – I’m very excited to be starting the new year with a deadline!

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  6. Hope your 2026 brings some good news for you soon.

    Me? I’m just flowing into the new year like I always do. We’ll see what the year brings. Not being one to like change, I’m not out there trying to push for it or lead it.

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  7. I’m not one for new year’s resolutions, but I do have continual life resolutions: trying to write most days, trying to do some marketing/publicity most days (ugh), trying to do something fun most–no, ALL!–days, and making sure to spend time with family and/or friends every day.

    And I too love your new book cover–it’s gorgeous! Looking forward to seeing you, and various Chicks, and Dru, and lots of other readers and writers at Left Coast Crime and Malice!

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  8. Happy New Year! I once looked at an old house that had a library with a rolling ladder and man, that alone was enough to making me want to buy it! Happy new year and hears to your vision board coming true!

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      1. My mom loved looking at houses for fun, too, Jen. She even loved touring them while they were still under construction.

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  9. Love your vision board, Jen. And boo to your publisher!

    I’m envisioning an additional pickup of my Vintage Cookbook Mysteries (prayer emoji!) and if the Golden Motels are going to be a trilogy and not a series, then selling a new series to someone.

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  10. Jennifer, I love the cover. It makes me smile and sad to hear it’s the last in the series. Know something better will come soon!
    New Year = new opportunity!

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  11. Staying alive so I can read more books, work more jigsaws, pet my dog more, be with my husband, and so many other things. I can’t believe that this series is ending. Too many of my favorites have gone that way. I have read all of your series. I just have the two standalones to read. I can’t believe that with your books winning book awards, they are letting them go. Any more LA Night Market ones?

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    1. Yes please to you staying alive and doing all those wonderful things! Thank you, thank you for supporting me!!

      So many times publishers are looking at the bottom line (not awards nominations). And with the mass market paperback format leaving… (Sadly, my other publisher is also not interested in doing extra LA Night Market ones.)

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  12. Jen, how did you get my house on the cover of your book? Ha!

    Your cover is so gorgeous! Gorgeous!

    I can’t wrap my head around this being the last book in your Magical Fortune Cookie series. I love these characters so much. I love all of your characters but I feel like this family moved into my house.

    As for something new and exciting, I’d like to take a stab at being organized. I think that would be super exciting. (She says as she looks around her super unorganized desk. Ha!)

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  13. I’m working on a vision board, too, Jen! (As you can see, I am taking the New Year schedule a bit loosely.) It’s a fun activity, though. I know you’ll have the most wonderful, equally magical new book or series to share with us soon!

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