A happy new year, assuming you live in a part of the world using the Gregorian calendar! 🎉 In either case a happy day to you! And since I always like learning about other cultures I would be delighted to learn when and how your country celebrates the new year 😀

Now to the 2025 review. I started this blog in July 2025 as part of a two month PACT to try out this concept. I had no expectations and no specific goals. At that time I also didn’t exactly know what I was going to write about 😅
Half a year later, there are over 150 published posts. Most of them in the category “poetry” (85) followed by “weekly review” (26) and “wordplay” (14). The currently top three most frequent used tags are “life” (30), “haiku” (24) and “observation” (17). With over 260 likes, resulting in a big hearty THANK YOU! 🥰
Never even in my wildest dreams did I imagine such an amazing outcome, when I started this blog. You really blew my mind here 🤯 🥳

As for the evaluation, not only does creative writing help me vent frustration, it also gives me an opportunity to play around with words resulting in the occasional fun and nonsensical post. Additionally, the blog gives my non-digital creative works a platform for a wider audience, like my beadworks or pictures. Although at the time of this writing there is just one picture 🤔

Proceeding to a quick outlook for the year 2026. I don’t intend to write a “to-do” or “what to expect” list. Instead I write a list of things interesting to explore, which might or might not happen over the course of the next year. And to make this even more interesting, I’m thinking about comparing this list with what actually happened in the review for 2026.
So, here is what intrigues me to explore over the next 12 months, in no particular order:

• writing short stories and thus expanding my repertoire
• sharing more non-digital creative works
• learning how to use Inkscape
• creating a logo for my website
• expanding the website beyond a blog
• finishing my study program
• learning how to use Krita
• creating digital artwork
• reading on average at least one book per month
• finishing at least one of my sewing projects
• crocheting and showing some amigurumi
• learning to code in Python
• learning wood burning while finishing another project that incorporates pyrographic elements
• in general having fun producing creative works, either digital or non-digital
• making PACTs when trying out new things

In summary, a lot happened over the last 6 months and I expect there is more yet to come for this year 😁
Thank you for being with me on this wonderful, creative journey 🥰 and I hope you continue to enjoy your visits in 2026.

There is no better date for a two month evaluation than the end of the year. Except when the months in question are in the middle of the year. Then it would be just the end of a month and not for a whole year. So, let’s see how these last two months were and what to make of it 😄

I’m still content with the headings for my weekly reviews. They give me an opportunity to pause and reflect and if necessary to take action for any course correction needed. 🧭 Again, I will keep them for the next two months and have another evaluation at the end of February 2026.
On a side note, while looking for a ship emoji depicting an old wooden ship with sails I could use in the paragraph above – why doesn’t this emoji exist? – I found an UFO emoji. And since I can’t think of anything warranting such an emoji right now but also feel an urge to use one, because it is an UFO emoji, I place it right here 🛸

My current publishing routine with a weekly review on Sunday and creative content from Monday through Thursday works quite well for me. Therefore I also see no need for adjustments right now.

For me writing is a way to deal with the stress that originates from my workplace and the fact that I simultaneously attend challenging study courses. It helps with processing the frustrations stemming from constant misgendering and other indignities I’m enduring at the office.
On a positive note 🎵, writing allows me to explore new styles and concepts. It lets me unleash part of my creativity, that has been bottled up for a long time. Also, it helps improving my English 😁

Thank you for joining me on this awesome journey 🚀🎆🪂

Another two months gone by like the wind, another evaluation time 😀 Let’s have a look at what happened, how it went and what’s next.

First, a rhyming snail joined as an irregular contributor bringing with them their own set of creative delights.
Sounds like I’m handing out sweets 😄 Another limerick, anybody?

Second, due to my study course I changed my publishing routine to Sunday through Thursday. Despite all the assignments and work for my master’s thesis this arrangement works quite well, so I will uphold it for now.

Third, I’m content with the headings of my weekly reviews, so I will keep them for now as well. At least once a week they help me to look back and reflect on what surrounds me and where I can get support if needed. And yes, they also show what isn’t so great and where potential for improvement lies. Sometimes this is in my sphere of influence, sometimes it is part of the environment.

In a nutshell, Sundays are for improvement, Mondays through Thursdays are for creativity and a rhyming snail every other day. Sounds like fun, so let’s keep it up for the next two months till the end of December 2025 and then evaluate again 😄

Thank you so much for accompanying me on this incredible journey. At the beginning of July when I set out I never dreamed of reaching 100 posts. And now, here we are!

To celebrate this occasion, let’s have a quick review of what happened so far:

Wow, look at this word cloud! It is incredible!
And for all the data nerds out there let’s have a more detailed look, shall we 😄

According to WordPress as of today there are 100 posts in 13 different categories and with over 100 tags. The most used category is “poetry” with 59 posts, the second place “weekly review” with 15 posts is far behind. The top two tags are “life” with 20 posts and “haiku” with 18 posts respectively.
The three most popular posts are “books“, “game of life” and “hoarding haiku“.
If you missed one of them or need a quick refresher or are just curious, click the links above ☝️

I gathered and analysed these insights out of curiosity but it was never my intention to limit myself to them. So I will continue publishing what comes to mind, piques my curiosity or looks like a lot of fun. 😁 To give you a hint what to expect, the next two weeks will each feature a distinct theme.

Thank you so much for your continued support and I’ll see you around.

Thank you so much for your continued visits at my humble place. I love sharing my creative outbursts with you and I’m very grateful to see that you like them so much! 🥰

Unfortunately the demands from my study course are ever increasing. Homework at least once or twice a week, even more articles to read and I’ve also started to work on my master’s thesis. All of this in addition to my day job.

I’ve felt the pressure from all my current responsibilities for quite some time now and dealt with this in a few posts already. So to keep me from total breakdown some adjustments are necessary.

Starting this week I will publish from Monday to Thursday while keeping the weekly review on Sunday. This way I can distribute my limited resources better without neglecting anything.

Hope you are as curious as I am where this creative journey will take us and see you soon! 😄

As of this week a rhyming snail is joining me on my creative journey. We’ve known each other for quite a while and value each others imaginative ideas and inspirational thoughts. Multiple times casual conversations led to creative works. On some of these we worked together, on others either of us alone.

So it was only a matter of time before a rhyming snail asked me if they might contribute to the blog on an irregular basis. To kick things off they’ve brought quite a delight with them for this week. 🥳

Here I am, nearly two months after starting my blog I finished the two PACTs I made with myself. This means it’s evaluation time :)
If you want to find out what these two PACTs were about and what the hell is a PACT anyhow check out my first post from 05.07.2025.

First, I really enjoyed the creative writing, to experiment with different contents, visualisations, topics and so on. So for now I will keep this aspect and build on it. Expanding my repertoire, trying concepts I haven’t attempted yet. Maybe write another short story. Definitely doing more ASCII art. There are some ideas I haven’t explored yet :) Continue to vent my frustrations in a creative and occasionally fun way. Share my insights every now and then how life feels for me and how I experience everyday situations.
Regardless of my study course, which starts again today, I plan to uphold the one post per day schedule for the near future. Potential necessary adjustments in the update schedule will be announced beforehand.

Second, I’m going to adjust the weekly reviews. I’m going to change the headings from “Plus – Minus – Next” to “Grateful – Failure – Take Away”. I’ll try this new concept for the next two months till the end of October 2025 and then evaluate it again.
With the old headings I sometimes got the feeling that I’m writing entries on a to do list. With the new headings I want to try the concepts of gratefulness and analysing failures and/or disappointments. Expressing gratitude is a way to improve mental health and by analysing our failures we get insights to expand and grow. Thus I’m trying out two concepts I came in contact with in the past but never gave them a shot for more than one or two days and especially not in a structured and easy to maintain way.

On the whole I’m really satisfied with the outcomes of my first tiny experiment and I will definitely continue in this spirit. I also have plans to expand the content of the blog beyond creative writing. To give you a hint, my plans involve pictures of the physical creative projects I’m doing. So this might result in yet another tiny experiment ;)

I hope you continue to enjoy your stay at my place and see you soon :)

Welcome to my place and enjoy your stay.

…

Ok, not very much here to see right now. But over the next weeks till the end of August 2025 there will be more stuff added.

Why till the end of August? And what stuff can be expected?

After reading the book “Tiny Experiments” by Anne-Laure Le Cunff I’ve made two PACTs. One: I start a blog and post every day an entry until the end of August. Two: I do a weekly review and publish the outcome here in the blog. This way I’ve committed myself for 9 weeks to test the concept of the tiny experiments and evaluate the outcome afterwards.

So, what can you expect? Well, I presume it will be some kind of creative writing most of the time for the next weeks. Maybe I throw some pictures of non-digital-work-in-progress in there too. Honestly, I don’t know yet what stuff I will post. And that is the point of an experiment – to not knowing the outcome. Or at least of this experiment ;)

But something I expect is that this blog will change. Maybe I tweak something in the layout. Or I add some social media interactions as I learn more about the functionality of WordPress. It is quite overwhelming at the beginning, so I’m trying out new stuff as I go along.

For now at least I found out how to write and publish an entry, so one point for me and one post for you. Enjoy!