I'd never really been in the habit of writing year-end reviews, but quite a lot happened in 2025. After giving it some thought, I decided to leave a record. Below, I've divided it into "Life," "Being an author," and, finally, "A little rambling"!
Feel free to pick whichever sections interest you.
Of course, I recommend reading it all. It took me ages to write, after all!
[Life]:
2025 was probably my first real year as a full-time writer.
Around Lunar New Year last year, I handed in my resignation at work, and after April, I started writing novels full-time.
My plan at the time was to see whether I could support myself through writing before I reached the awkward age of thirty-five. If I could, I'd keep going.
If I couldn't, I'd still have a chance to find another job.
Luckily, things went well. My folklore forum novel saw some success toward the end of the year, which let me breathe easier.
Of course, even before I resigned, my writing income was already roughly equal to my salary, so this wasn't some reckless decision.
Then my wife got pregnant, and continuing the forum novel became rather rocky. Those of you who followed it probably knew about that, since I asked for plenty of good wishes at the time. Thankfully, both mother and son came through safely this February.
I thought that meant I could finally settle down to writing and earn some formula money for the baby.
But who could have known that, during the month after my son was born, I'd spend almost half my nights sleeping on a bench outside the ICU?
I couldn't put what that felt like into words.
And I didn't want to bring up exactly what happened again.
At the time, I actually didn't