This was written January 1st, 2026
Writing Challenge 2025 – Retrospective
Well, this one challenge is now over, and I’ve…mostly accomplished it. I did have to twist some of the initial parameters to accomplish it, in particular I had two kinds of lapses:
- I had one story that was not self-contained, ending on a cliffhanger (with, as of yet, not sequel)
- I ended up having a few days where I wrote my own thoughts, as opposed to writing either a story or a poem
Still, you can’t always choose how inspiration will strike, and might as well strike while the iron is hot. Moreover, it was about keeping the habit alive, so I think I should feel happy about having kept the habit alive.
However, I do have a few thoughts to share about how it went. First of all, just as I’ve discovered during my daily drawing challenge in October (nope, nothing about it on the blog, it was a purely personal thing…though I might follow up on this at some point), it seems like the optimum part of such a challenge is the second week. To me, that’s when I feel some of the best results came out. I think it might be a mix of having had time to improve a bit, along with still having a high motivation. I reckon later on, in weeks three and four, there is a mixture of expectation, along with exhaustion, that kicks in. Worries about results not being as good as before, along with weariness, leading to phoning it in more often.
Next, one thing I’ve found rather surprising is how, usually, inspiration still came in. It also rarely came in the form I expected. For over a whole month of writing, that’s rather surprising. Yet, sitting long enough at my desk, I eventually would have an idea that would pop up in my head. Still, the longer the month went, the less ideas I had which I’d already thought about previously. This does mean it was easiest for some of the early stories to be more fleshed out, having cooked up longer in my brain.
Now, a few of the annoyances with it. First, some of my ideas felt a bit too ambitious, and so I discarded them for this challenge. If I gave myself a few days per story, that would likely not be as much of an issue. Similarly, as stated in the Challenge Introduction, I decided to discard the option to review my text. However, this felt a bit…shameful in some cases. And I at time hesitated using some concepts because of that…it felt like a waste. In the future, I’d like to investigate another similar challenge…though I might have different rules, for longer and better stories, although this is still to be determined.
As for my schedule…I didn’t have any schedule. As long as I did this before going to sleep, it counted. That…caused a lot of pain, sometimes making me go to sleep rather late (in the neighborhood of 4am). True, this was also due to combining it with other daily habits (reading, drawing and exercise), but I’m not sure how sustainable it would be long-term.
Still, I managed to complete this challenge, and I will file this under S for Success! Now, to move on to the next project! (There might be an upcoming announcement related to this, I just need to evaluate viability first, so stay tuned!)
If you’ve followed my progress, and know me personally, I would like to ask you four questions about my writing. I’d be curious to know what people think:
- How would you characterize my “voice” as an author.
- What aspects of my writing would you say were particularly good or interesting? (Anything, it could be related the type of story, the narrative devices, specific parts of the story like descriptions or characterization, etc..)
- What would you say my biggest shortcomings were?
- What should I focus on in the future? (Either to improve or because it’s one of my strengths)
Indeed, while this challenge is over, it doesn’t mean I’m done with writing, and I consider this kind of feedback valuable.
Finally, If you were here and saw my challenge through the end, whether you liked the stories or were just curious, I’m very thankful. I would like to thank everyone who supported me, whether through kind words, helping me stay on track with this challenge. And a very special thanks to the donations I’ve received to my BuyMeACoffee!
And if you’ve been wanting to support me, I would redirect you to my support page.
If you liked any of my stories or just the idea of the challenge interesting, don’t hesitate to share it or any of the specific stories with others!
Take care everyone, and thank you all!