End of 2025 - Time to Wrap Things Up & Start Fresh!

A Brief Note Before We Close the Year

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve been quiet here this year. Life pulled focus in a lot of directions in 2025, and while the work never truly stopped, the website didn’t get the attention it deserved. That said, I don’t want to end the year by apologizing—I want to end it by taking stock.

What follows is a snapshot of how 2025 is wrapping up for me: a short “Wrapped” reflection, followed by a journal entry from the final days of the year. Together, they tell a story of momentum returning, habits being rebuilt, and creative ground being reclaimed—brick by brick.

As we move into 2026, I’m looking forward to getting back to business here. Coming soon will be updates on the blog itself, progress on my books, and what I hope will be an exciting stretch of consistent forward motion.

Thanks for sticking around—or for finding your way back. Let’s see what comes next!

🧱 2025 Personal WRAPPED 🧱

I didn’t track everything this year, so some of this is memory-based—but the wins still count.

✍️ Words Written 📖 104,396 words across three projects ➕ Plus poetry that didn’t even make the word count (oops).

🎮 Favorite First-Time Game ⭐ Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

📚 Favorite First-Time Book

⭐ The Martian

💼 Life & Momentum

✅ Got a new job

✅ Started working out again

✅ Started walking the dogs again

✅ Started journaling again—and kept refining it to work better

✅ Put my heart out there (it didn’t work out, but it was still a win)

🧠 The Big Picture

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions—but I do believe in recognizing progress.

These are bricks I laid in 2025.

And I’m going to keep laying more.

Bit by bit. Brick by brick. 🧱🔥

December 31, 2025 — Wednesday

I ended the year on a good note today. My mood stayed solid, even if my energy was middling. I slept about five and a half hours and took a forty-minute power nap around noon, which helped me stay functional. The day began cold—28 degrees when I woke up—but warmed nicely into the high 50s under clear skies, cooling back down into the mid-30s tonight.

Creatively, today was productive and measurable. I worked on Ella’s portion of Book Three, starting at 33,118 words and ending the day at 34,224—1,106 new words added. I continued reading Remnant’s Bond by Rochelle Myles and kept listening to Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb on audiobook. In the background, I watched the College Football Playoff quarterfinal between Ohio State and Miami, and I kept up with my daily routine in Final Fantasy XIV.

Physically, I took an important step forward. I went on a 0.77-mile walk with Wedge—my first walk in weeks, maybe even months. I also completed ten pushups, lunges, and squats, starting a daily progression where I’ll add one each day. After thirty days, I’ll be doing forty of each before transitioning into a more structured workout routine. I also logged my food today, keeping that habit intact.

I was a social butterfly today. I spent time in several Discord communities—The Cartel, Create Boldly, Horizon, Cryst, and Indie Book Spotlight. I also had a long voice chat with some friends from Create Boldly that lasted a couple of hours, which was especially fun. I love my people.

The clear win of the day was going for that walk—something simple, but deeply important. I’m grateful for my friends and for the motivation I’m carrying with me into 2026. Today felt great overall. I’ve created a better way to track my days and habits, and that clarity has reinforced something I’ve been rediscovering: the key to building good habits isn’t just doing the thing—it’s making the thing easier to do. People focus on plans, but what really matters is what happens between the items on the list. I’ve taken steps to improve those in-between spaces.

I don’t make resolutions, but my goal for 2026 is this: to keep building on what I’ve started. To be better. To do better.

Happy New Year, Edward. You’re going to do great.