Another year for the books. I feel like a lot happened this year and yet, at the same time, so very little. So! Let's recap a little bit.

Writing

I...did not get nearly as much writing done as I was hoping to accomplish this year. I rebooted my Anima story and only managed to finish 8 chapters. Chapter 9 is partially drafted, but incomplete.

Aside from that I only finished a side story in the rebooted world via a raffle for Chemicalfox and a short.

I only published one new narrative recipe this year, though I do have the recipes and photos ready to draft about 4 of them. I'll get into more about why cooking was less of a thing this year later in this journal.

But! That isn't all the writing I did this year! I participated in a game jam last February and made my very first visual novel! Despite the rough edges I am EXTREMELY proud of myself for successfully making the thing. If that game jam returns again this coming February, I'll gladly join again and try to improve even more.

On top of that I did manage to write a couple of shorts of a much more...spicy nature, though I've been debating about whether or not to post them, so they'll stay in the can until I decide what to do with them.

While I didn't write nearly as much as I was hoping I would, I'd like to find time to focus on finishing more projects next year. I want to make a big push on trying to finish the Intramorph story (as unlikely as finishing it properly will be considering how few chapters I managed to finish this year, but I digress.)

Reading

I didn't do that much reading this year either. Just been hard to find time to sit down and put my focus into reading. It's hard to read with distractions everywhere nowadays. Feels like every day off from work is filled with chores and other busy work. Can't read at work because I don't work the kind of job where downtime is a thing, let alone significant downtime to stop and read. Sigh.

Drawing

While I didn't really do much about learning how to do digital drawing, aside from a couple short little doodles, I did do more drawing this year thanks to the Intramorph reboot stuff, was drawing up outfits and figuring out some character design stuff too. It was nice! I even got to participate in a drawing secret santa in a local fur chat I'm in! While I couldn't really do much more than a bust, I'm happy with what I did get to draw.

Maybe this year I'll try and learn how to do some simple figure drawings, so I'm not just drawing faces all the time.

Commissions

It's definitely very obvious that this is what the bulk of the gallery this year has been. I've always enjoyed the furry art and since getting a proper ref sheet commissioned last year, It's been hard to resist the urge to get cool art of Ryker. While I'm excited to keep getting even more art, It'd be wise of me to dial it back a little bit. I definitely overextended my wallet during October and have been struggling to reestablish my savings ever since. Self control. That's what I need.

I also adopted several characters this year. Some are going to be apart of my cast of characters for narrative recipes, while some are starting their own little stories (if I ever sit down to write them...), and a few individual adopted blorbos that still have yet to be seen here!

In due time, in due time.

Life in 2025

This year was a bit...bumpy to say the least.

Started out strong when it came to making stuff for the first couple months. Was really riding a creative high for a while. Started to fall apart in March due to work being super busy for the first half of March and planning a fun Mafia-themed dinner party, which wound up being a huge success!

However, I didn't have a properly working refrigerator for over half the year, bringing with it its own headaches and causing some eating problems. Felt hard to cook anything when I couldn't store any left overs. Needless to say it was a relief when the new fridge came in and finally worked, but it's been tough getting back into the swing of being able to use a refrigerator again.

Not having a working refrigerator alongside the rising costs of livings were certainly the lowlight of the year.

However, some things started to look up again in the latter half of the year. Went to Denfur 2025 and had a great time, made new friends, local friends. It's helped me feel a lot more connected to the furry community now having people close by I can meet up with and talk all things furry for hours on end face to face or muzzle to muzzle as it were! Also learned of a new, much smaller fur con that I hope to go to next year since it's also fairly local.

I wasn't able to put together a Halloween photography project this year. Wasn't able to pull together everything that I wanted to pull together in time and have my schedule line up with a friend to help me, so that project's been put on the backburner for now, and I'll revisit it when I can pull things together.

Had a few costly car maitenance moments this year. Including this week. So much for putting my Christmas money into savings...

Overall, 2025 has been a very mixed year as far as good and bad. Some very nice high points, but also several prolonged and very depressing lows this year. Hopefully 2026 will be better! Gotta hold onto some hope or I'm going to go insane!

Looking to 2026

So, what do I want to really get out of 2026?

Well, like always, I want to do more writing, hopefully being able to focus in on finishing projects that I've started instead of just getting a little ways through it and getting distracted like I usually do.

I want to find time to do more reading, particularly finding time to read more physical books. When I was waiting on a car repair the other day, it was really refreshing to be able to put all of my focus into reading a good book. Made me realize how much I had missed the feeling. Used to read all the time when I rode the busses everywhere. Sucks that it's so hard to do that while driving. Sure audio books exist, but it's not really the same. My listening comprehension for books is pretty garbage if it can't grab me with the performance...

I want to keep practicing art, maybe learning to do so simple figure drawings and build my skills.

I want to source and make a pair of fur paws by con season. Been building up comfortability with a sewing machine and starting with some hand paws, I think is as good a start as any.

I want to keep commissioning more art, though I also need to reign myself in a bit and make sure I'm not overexerting my budget, so I still have money left to get groceries and eat food, so I don't starve.



Well, this wound up being a much longer journal than I was anticipating when I started this, but it just means I had a lot to say. I hope you all had a great holiday season, that the food you ate was delicious, and that 2026 is kind to you. For now, I'll let y'all be. Have a happy new year, and stay safe out there y'all.

--Ryker