Behold the Babble King

[babblish]

A Year in Writing; 2025 — A Retrospective

Following the same theme from 2024, the amount of prose I got written this year amounted to checks notes sod all. Unlike last year, I feel like in 2025 had I sat my arse down, opened a blank document and told myself to write… I probably could’ve come up with something, which is promising. But a combination of health and circumstances meant I kinda just didn’t want to? And I wasn’t going to force it.

Stats

Overall Word Count: 157484

Highest Word Count in a Day: 7956 (JUL 30)

Average Word Count on a Writing Day: 1050

Priority Project: 100833

Other Projects: 0

Notes, Emails, & Correspondence: 36380

What I Learned as a Writer in 2025:

If your cat needs medicine and won’t tolerate tablet medicine, do everything in your power to get your hands on LIQUID medication. On a related note, get a couple special medicine towels you don’t mind getting soiled with medicine and shredded while keep your cat gently restrained.

If you have a stress-aggravated chronic illness just assume it’s going to suddenly get worse and plan accordingly. Pack a hospital bag and remember to include a blank notebook (one of the 15 you have to your enormous shame) and pens/pencils. Also phone charger and cable, and whiteboard marker jic.

With a lot of patience, perseverance, and coordinating with you medical team, sometimes you can convince the government to leave you the fuck alone for a while.

Maps are fun. :3

Neography is also fun but typography software gives me a headache. 3:

Writing Goals for 2026:

TBH I don’t know if I can be bothered to make writing goals for the year. If the muse bites me I won’t ignore it, but the project/s I’m currently working on is serving me just fine. 2026 is my year to be selfish and boring, and get the rest I’ve desperately needed to actually recover from burn out. I step into the future, not bright and bushy tailed, but into a new era.

In many ways this year hit much like 2017, and I found myself back at square one in a way I didn’t expect. For me 2018 marked the beginning of piecing myself back together as my body crumbled around me, and resulted in me writing fanfiction for the very first time as a way to cope and try not to lose what brain function I had. This led to me starting this blog roughly 7 years ago, and things started to improve. I met a lot of important in my life who I love very much. And through a lot of hardwork and believing myself, am probably at the most medically stable I’ve been since I was like… 16.

So… I’ve leaving myself open on purpose. No deadlines, no writing goals, just girl man hurtling towards his 40s who is going to be okay.

[2020 Retrospective] [2021 Retrospective] [2022 Retrospective] [2023 Retrospective] [2024 Retrospective]

[beholdingslut]

in absolute tears about the pride module at my work

[dikdikpronouncedxylophone]

[bigfoots-biggest-fan]

HOLY SHIT GUYS, I WAS INSPIRED BY THIS POST TO TRY MAKE THE SONG AND YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT WHEN I DRAGGED THE TRAINING AUDIO OVER THE BACKING TRACK AND IT LINED UP PERFECTLY

Visit Original Link

Tempted to actually put this on spotify so I can secretly stream it at work...

Tagging @batshit-auspol because as an Australian you're the only big account I know who might share (sorry).

[punkrorschach]

happy first day of pride everyone

[podcastwizard]

you don’t realize how important lunch is until you’re wandering around thinking about how unloveable and untalented and uniquely cursed you are and then it’s 4pm and you finally eat lunch and you go Oh. oh right.

[podcastwizard]

lot of people commenting on this post like "who eats lunch at 4pm that's a terrible time to eat lunch" yes. that is the point. 4pm lunch is inadvisable. 4pm lunch is not the ideal. 4pm lunch makes the mind demons real.

[alien-daydreamer]

I did a search and replace on one of my conlangs, replacing x with ʁ, and forgetting that English sometimes uses x in words. I got some fun results

Erecutioner

[existennialmemes]

Not to sound like a decrepit, rambling corpse about it, but back in my day Word used to be a pre installed program that came with your computer, if you were running Windows.

No subscription. Just program.

On your computer. You got to use it forever and ever and never had to worry about it going away.

Because it was physically on your computer. As a program. That you actually owned. Not because you got it separately, but because it was a standard inclusion with your computer.

I'm sorry but I'll just never get over it. I remember when companies cared about their products being usable out of the box. I remember when our things belonged to us.

Old man shaking fist at cloud, wherein the cloud is the background of the Windows 98 logo.

[interestingmistakes]

Reblogging this manually. Op doesn't want credit for fear of being terminated.

[fangorn-forest]

summer sufferers poll: would you rather have…

the ability to repel all bugs so they can’t touch/bite/sting you

the ability to always be at a comfortable temperature while outside

no chafing ever again

Remaining time: 4 days 20 hours

[wiltking]

if you're writing and find yourself thinking 'this is too weird/gross/offputting/esoteric/ambitious/catered to my specific interests + sure to push away a broader audience' that is the devil speaking and it is a lie. you are already firmly on the right path and you need to double down

[whenharrymetsallys]

[literaryreference]

It took me a second to realize this was a pun and not a joke about WWI-related literature/poetry (and/or Modernism generally).

[agnes-nielsens]

[aralintheobsessive]

if you want butterflies, you need to live with caterpillars.

i am not being metaphorical, i work in a garden center, stop buying plants 'to bring in the bees and butterflies' and then immediately poisoning every caterpillar that dares to consume a single leaf

you will not get butterflies if you kill all the things that turn into butterflies! what are you doing!

[aralintheobsessive]

getting a lot of responses to this going 'ok but it would be good as a metaphor though' so I will accept a metaphorical interpretation as long as you ALSO (!) promise to be considerate towards larval forms of insects specifically and biodiversity in general, deal?

[greelin]

did perfectionism ever truly protect you from harm or neglect as a child though. ultimately. Lol

[greelin]

[REALLY NORMAL AND WELL-ADJUSTED VOICE] well you never know maybe it COULD have saved me. if i ever actually achieved perfection. it could have happened then. if i was actually ever enough. Which i was not

[eatsleepandsing]

another great ship dynamic is "characters who are deeply traumatized and haunted by nightmares are finally able to get a peaceful night of sleep in each other's arms"

[babyjanedough]

Already know I wanna send this to people on June 1

[isuckattechnology]

Audio:

Erika, referencing ebenezer scrooge: You, boy! What day is it?!

Brennan, as a young boy: It's Pride, bitch!

[borderlinereminders]

Self-Soothing

Self-Soothing skills are mostly physical techniques that use different senses. This is one of the distress tolerance skills. Different things work for different people, but the goal is to use one (or more) of the five senses to give yourself a comfortable experience when you are feeling in distress.

(These are also really great ideas for grounding!)

Here are some examples to try, but don't hesitate to add your own!

Vision:

Go visit a place you love (a museum, aquarium, maybe the beach, or a trail/view point you love.)

Watch a slideshow of your favourite pictures

Look at an aesthetic collage/board you made

Light a candle and watch the flame flicker and the wax gradually melt.

Find a video you like like a wood stove burning, or maybe rain or snow falling.

Touch:

Use a stim toy that you enjoy that has an interesting texture (slime, soft things, etc).

Pet or cuddle your pet!

Hold a favourite blanket, or maybe a stuffed animal.

Take a warm bubble bath

Lay in the grass

Hearing:

Put on your favourite music

Use an auditory stim toy you enjoy (pop tubes, snapperz, etc.)

Listen to nature sounds

Listen to your pet snoring

Go to a park and listen to the sounds of children laughing and playing

Taste:

Have a nice cup of tea, hot chocolate, coffee, etc

Suck on a hard candy

Chew on gum

Eat one of your favourite snacks

Cook a favourite meal

Go grab a favourite drink from somewhere

Smell:

Light a scented candle and focus on the smell

Use incense

Use your favourite body spray/perfume

Go for a walk somewhere where you can smell something you enjoy like the ocean, or fresh baking at the bakery

Bake or cook something to smell it in the oven

Set up a new air freshener

We sometimes feel like we don't deserve these comforts, or it's hard for us to self-soothe on our own without someone to help us. You absolutely deserve these comforts, and while it's valid to get help from others, being able to work on self-soothing for ourselves can be really beneficial to us and our relationships. I made a deal with myself that I will try self-soothing first and then reach out for help if needed after I make a solid effort on my own. The comfort that I still have the option to reach out makes me more willing to try to self-soothe on my own.

If possible, make yourself a goal to try a new self-soothing technique a week to try when you aren't in distress to see how it feels! Trying these distress skills when we aren't in distress can be really helpful to us being able to use them in distress. When you are trying them, make sure to try and focus solely on the technique. If you are using a taste technique, focus only on the taste and enjoyment of whatever it is. (Using mindfulness techniques to achieve this can be helpful!)

[phleb0tomist]

are you sensitive to the heat? heatwave tips ahead from your resident bedbound blogger. obviously drink water and get fresh air yadda yadda we already know that. but ALSO:

wear light colours, they basically bounce light n heat away whereas dark clothes absorb heat. also wear looser clothes

apply cold packs on the back of the neck, wrists, and ur stomach which is where your biggest artery is. if you cool the blood you cool the body

try positions where each limb is in minimal contact with other limbs if that makes sense. think starfish, open palms, spacious. you want to minmise the amount of skin touching other skin. ur own body tends to warm itself up whether you want it to or not

check more frequently for pressure sores if youre a wheelchair user, couchbound, or bedbound. sweat is a risk factor for pressure injuries

eat foods with high water content

splash water on the back of the neck and wrists

if the air temperature is above 35c /95f then a fan will NOT help you. try other cooling measures

if it’s humid like if you’re in the uk like me then try a dehumidifier. the humidity is part of what makes uk heat dangerous even when the temperature isn’t that high

[thenerdyindividual]

Also wear natural fibers! Synthetics don’t breathe and trap your body heat. Linen is the best for this if you have it but cotton works too.

[mothman-etd]

Not sure got to feel when the hobby book says this should only take an hour but it took me 5 hours.

[gallusrostromegalus]

1. Hobby books are often written by the same people who think you can caramelize onions in 5 minutes

2. Hobby books are even more often written by people who don't have or are actively neglecting their partners/full-time jobs/pets/children/household maintenance.

3. Hobby books are often written by people with ADHD, and an hour in ADHD hyperspace is like 2-7 hours for everyone else, including other ADHD people who are not currently in the zone.

4. Hobby books are written by people who, when told by an editor to add in how long it will take, just make shit up

5. If you're doing something for the first time, you're going to take way, way longer to do it than someone who's had years of practice. Maybe it does only take an hour IF YOU'VE BEEN DOING IT FOR TEN YEARS. Think about how long it took you to make idk your first excel spreadsheet vs how long it takes now

To actually answer your question: proud. You should feel proud, because you made something, AND you did so while learning a brand-new skill! Go you!!

May I ask what the Allegedly-One-Hour project was? Both because I like hearing about what my friends are doing and I want to see how wildly inaccurate the listed time scope is.