Happy 2026!

A reflection and invitation to read my work from 2025

Jan 06, 2026

Hello everyone! I hope 2026 has been treating you well so far. As many of us do at the beginning of a new year, we reflect on the year we just left behind.

I’d like to take this time to share with you some of my writing accomplishments from the previous year, and invite you to read a few of my pieces if you are so inclined.

I had my first poem accepted for publication last winter by Amethyst Review and since then, have had multiple poems accepted and published by literary journals, as well as an honorable mention for a short story. I have also of course had many pieces declined, but as we all know, that’s the name of the game in the writing world, and honestly, it motivates me to keep going (most of the time).

In February of last year, I remember getting that first “yes” for my poem “From Stardust to Stardust”, and the first person I told was my 8-year-old daughter. She was sweet and enthusiastic, and I felt my heart swell with the possibility that perhaps what I had to say would resonate with others.

Since then, I have tweaked and re-wrote some of these pieces and have been compiling a poetry book for awhile now, which may end up as a chapbook, or perhaps a full length book, I’m still not sure. But hoping for publication this year in one form or another, and will keep everyone posted on how that process goes.

If you’d like to read my work, I’ve listed links to my accepted pieces below, and if you have a poem or piece of writing you’d like to invite me to read, please feel free to share with me as well.

In addition to Substack, you can find me at Instagram@bethanyjriddle and if you have young kids in the house who want to try their hand at poetry, I have a kids poetry podcast called “Riddlewritespoetry” which you can find here on Substack, or Apple and Spotify.

Looking forward to sharing more with you as we continue in 2026 and wishing you all the best in your own creative endeavors as we navigate another trip another the sun.

Love,

Bethany J. Riddle

Amethyst Review

https://amethystmagazine.org/2025/07/04/from-stardust-to-stardust-a-poem-by-bethany-riddle/

Macrame Literary Journal

https://macramelit.com/articles/desert/

https://macramelit.com/articles/first-fruits/

Four Tulips

https://www.fourtulips.com/archives/ode-to-a-rock

https://www.fourtulips.com/archives/tomato?rq=tomato

https://www.fourtulips.com/archives/a-not-so-scary-ghost-story

Sublimation