Reflections on Blogging: Wins and Regrets of 2025

Hi, random readers. I am so grateful you stop by and read my ramblings. I wrote this post a week ago, but I have finally sat down to post it on the blog. Book reviews, essays, and other writing will be posted soon.  A friend has challenged me to stop hoarding my writing. Good, Bad, or indifferent, they said to post. I will take today to post something.  Happy Reading. P.S. This post has AI images. I will do better with stock images in future posts.  

As I sat here on Christmas Day, I was thinking about my wins and regrets for the blog this year. I really had to dig deep. In 2024, I had such big hopes and aspirations. As 2025 started, my hopes and aspirations went into survival mode. I planned to downsize the blog and, at one point, give up on all my creative thoughts and ideas. Below is just a brief win and regret list:

Win: I kept reading and blogging. In a chaotic 2025, I found reading for entertainment to be hard. My brain would race, and I would be unable to focus. As life stress tripled, my brain rejected the idea of reading and writing. I found time to read and write, but I felt guilty for not being productive. Those little commitments to myself to read and still write a blog brought me joy and helped reduce my stress. I did not read as many books, and I have more Unfinished books than finished ones, but I am grateful I kept reading and writing.

• Regrets: Not Monetizing the Blog. I did not monetize the blog as I wanted. I was hoping to have a few affiliate links and make some passive income from blogging. I realized I am still lost in the sauce of how to monetize content. I watched videos about how to monetize content, only to be hit with a paywall to access the real content. I asked friends who were successful content creators how to monetize their work. One person told me how to do it, but I was driving and couldn’t record what they said. Others told me I would figure it out, which feels like a cop out. During 2025, I never made the move to bring in even $1. I know monetization is not always the goal, but it would be nice to earn a few ad dollars or affiliate commissions
• Win: I wrote two complete short stories this year, and 20 one-paragraph starts to a short story. After months of writer’s block and false starts, I finished two short stories. They were terrible, but I was so happy to get back into writing. My next goal is to submit short stories to a contest, but I’m struggling to meet deadlines. I am still practicing writing and structuring stories. I am glad the spark for writing returned. I missed telling the stories and ideas that circulated within my chaotic mind.

• Regrets: Not publishing my New Year’s Eve short story collection. I had this brilliant idea to compile a short-story collection of NYE stories, but I had a failure-to-launch moment, which led to the failed Goal of 2025. I hate that I failed the goal I set for myself, but sometimes a delay is a sign to refocus. I might be thinking too small, and 2026 is a “Think BIG “year. The lesson I learned is to hold on to the dreams I have for myself and execute them for me and only me. I will turn this regret into a win; even if I am not sure, I will see this book published.

• Regret: Not launching my guest post. Back in 2024, I wanted to launch a guest post on the blog. Have a guest writer talk about a book they like. Provide a format and pay $50. Sorry if that seems low, but that is all I could afford per post. This one was a failure to launch ideas, and I need to figure out how to work it into my blog. I asked friends if they wanted to post, and I would pay, but everyone brushed me off. It is an innovative idea, and not everyone wants to do their own blog for one or two books. Not everyone wants to post on TikTok or Instagram, but I wanted to give people the opportunity to write and talk about the books they love.

I want to end this post on a Win: I still have the passion to write and read books, which sounds like number one. I still take time to write blog posts that never get posted. I still read, and find myself never finishing a book, than reading six books in a row like a maniac. I look up fresh writing prompts to see how I can turn them into my own image or give my own take. There are two prompts I am ready to try, letting my creativity take over and see what happens. I hope you enjoy this Christmas Day post if I post it on Christmas Day.

Happy Holidays!

Until Next time,

Che Michelle