I love this notion and the fact that it started popping off in 2025, and I will gladly help bring it through into 2026. I remember watching a Ruby Granger video last year where she discussed her personal curriculum and what she wanted to do, and it was so inspirational and cosy and exactly what I felt I needed in my life. So, without further ado, let me share my personal curriculum for 2026.

Maybe I should explain to those unaware what a personal curriculum is and why anyone would want to follow one. I don’t know the exact explanation or origins of it, but it is something one does to expand their learning on a subject outside of an educational facility like school, university, or work. Some people, for example, may want to learn code to help build a website, and so they will find a 1-month course that will teach them the skills required to get the basics down. Others may have a love of history and photography but never did art history or classics in school, so upon finding out such areas of intrigue, they decide to set aside a semester to learning as much as possible about these fields. Essentially, it is about finding the joy and excitement of learning things for pleasure and personal growth, and continuing to expand your mind post-schooling.

For me, I have three key areas I would like to build on in 2026: languages, bookish social media, and writing an adult fantasy manuscript. I know, I give the broadest idea in one hand and a niche idea in another, but this is what I am putting my energy towards this year. For the language, you already know I want to refresh and expand on my te reo Māori, but I am possibly heading to South Korea later this year for my post-data collection holiday, and I want to brush up on my Korean before I get there. Language learning can be quite difficult for some, especially when trying to go through multiple languages at once with minimal similarities between them. I want that challenge, and I am hoping that running the two side by side will help me retain the information more deeply and help cover the essentials in both languages.

Bookish social media is not a new subject on this blog, and it certainly isn’t something I am a stranger to, but there is so much that I don’t know and need to find out for my PhD. This will involve me reading a lot of dissertations, theses, and journal articles, as well as seeing the lived experience of bookish social media users, both here in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. From the trends and movements to the ups and downs of the algorithm, and let’s not forget about the pressure put on everyone to keep up with the changes. It is a vault of knowledge, and I am so eager to crack it open and see what there is to be shared.

Last but not least, we have my goal to learn more about fantasy writing, specifically adult fantasy writing. For those who don’t know, I come from a creative writing background, and I have a fantasy manuscript I need to rework. It sits somewhere between a YA fantasy and an adult fantasy, but it is too long and in need of a decent spruce-up. My plan is to rewrite from scratch, changing the points of view, language, and tone to better suit an adult fantasy novel. It will still be my narrative style, but I need some help from the authors of the series I look up to. I’m hoping to be able to find interviews and books to read that will help me understand their approach to the craft, how they plan their works and what is integral to them as writers. I love the story world I have created, but I want to make it really pop. In getting a better understanding of what to focus on when writing adult fantasy, I am hoping to have the information and eagerness I need to really crack into it in March.

There are a couple of smaller things I want to learn to do, too, such as baking different breads, how to mend, sew, and darn my clothing to better suit me, and creating my optimal baking book. These are more practical, hands-on tasks, so while there will certainly be several videos and bits to read along the way, it will be a slower, steadier, and less demanding process. I love having moments where I am tactile; I used to do a puzzle a week as a meditative act, letting myself forget everything else and just focus on the image I was creating with the pieces. I think this is why I am also quite an avid baker. As for clothing, I have fallen in love with the idea of reusing, recycling, and making clothing for myself over the last few years. I follow a handful of people on YouTube, and I will gladly watch their videos for hours at a time as I learn how certain pieces are made and what each stitch does on a sewing machine. I would love to be able to make my own clothing by the time I am 30, so this is a skill I really want to hone in on as soon as possible.

What is in your personal curriculum? It could be for the next month, the first half of the year, or even the whole year. Let me know in the comments!