# Preface Date: January 25, 2026 This week was a cool 1,370. And I'm not going to beat myself up at all. Why is this? It's not just because I've been practicing self-compassion (though that HAS been needed for quite some time now). It's because I began my first full week of school! I've been referring to this as College 2.0. I still intend on getting into graduate school in Europe somewhere. The hitch there right now is that I need to form a Letter of Motivation. And this requires some self-reflection. Which has kinda been the number one theme as of late. # Part 1: Non-Fiction ### 1.1 The Calm Before the Storm This was a piece I wrote the night before school started. Looking back, I think this title is a bit dramatic. I was actually incredibly excited to start school. I even packed my backpack the night before! Link below as I figure out how to organize these blog posts. ### 1.2 College 2.0 - First Week The bookend to the title above. It's my reflection on the week in general. Plus! I got new glasses so I can finally see what I'm doing again. And I'll be able to get back to my art homework... # Part 2: Fiction Fiction was in short supply this week. Primarily because I'm getting used to school. It was an easy start, but it's still chaos that I need to get used to. We'll see how I integrate everything. But here's a major change! I've started a creative writing class. And it was highly encouraged to keep a Creative Writing Diary and to write some free thinking pages. The frequency is up to us. I am ***hoping*** for every day. But that's the beauty of diaries. I can add as much or as little as I need every day. And it's already helping me make connections - especially for Project Moonshadow. ## 2.1 Short Story Titled: X Word count: X Synopsis: ## 2.2 Project Madison Flame Word count: X Synopsis: Notes:Nothing this week, but I'm writing in my creative diary and there's already some big ideas. ## 2.3 Project Moonshadow Word count: X Synopsis: Notes: Nothing this week, but I'm writing in my creative diary and there's already some big ideas. ## 2.4 Project Castro Word count: X Synopsis: Notes: No word counts to speak of, but I did have a discussion with my coder and co-writer about the skeleton of the story as well as needed changes to the story. We're wanting to expand the visual novel in a few ways, and I'm trying to accommodate that. ## 3. Substack **Please note:** I'm stacking my fiction and (eventually) non-fiction for Fridays in future. So you won't immediately see the content for Substack. It's queued up. ### 3.1 Flash Fiction Friday 341 "Change of Pace" Titled: Untitled Date: January 23, 2026 Word count: 391 Synopsis: A man gets encouragement from his friend Tracy after a string of failed job hunts. [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/acewriter/806561844449935360/fff-341-change-of-pace?source=share) [Substack](https://open.substack.com/pub/aroacephoto/p/flash-fiction-friday-341-change-of?r=2getsk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true) Notes: This is my submission for . [**@flashfictionfridayofficial**](https://www.tumblr.com/flashfictionfridayofficial/). This is a weekly prompt that I try to participate in every week. Some weeks I can’t think of anything, other weeks I do. This is one of those "Write what you know" kinda pieces. This is based off of my own experience of failed job hunts and having several friends talk to me about going back to college. You can only deflect so many times before you decide that maybe it's an alright idea. The conversation is the fictional part. I intentionally left the POV character unnamed. Tracy is kind of a mix between all the well-meaning people who have pushed me to do this. As always, this is a first draft. Hope you enjoy! ### 3.2 Substack Links [Calm Before the Storm](https://substack.com/@aroacephoto/note/p-185136073?r=2getsk&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web) [College 2.0 Begins](https://substack.com/@aroacephoto/note/p-185490171?r=2getsk&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web) ## 4. TTRPGs ### 4.1 Monster of the Week # Conclusion We'll see what strange creations I come up with in the next week to end January. But I can guarantee you it'll be in my creative diary! There's not much more than that. I've got a Dungeons & Dragons session to get ready for. We'll see what monsters we need to vanquish today. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week! The below table is mostly for myself. But if you, like me, enjoy seeing numbers go up in any capacity, then this may be for you as well. It's meant to be an encouragement to keep on writing. I tally up all the different categories of writing that I contribute to. I keep track of them monthly. | Word Type | Weekly Totals | Monthly Totals | | --------------------- | ------------- | -------------- | | Project Castro | 0+0+0+0 | 0 | | Project Moonshadow | 1,112+0+0+0 | 1,112 | | Flash Fiction Fridays | 0+670+804+391 | 1,865 | | Non-Fiction | 0+644+908+979 | 2,531 | | Short Story | 1,103+514+0+0 | 1,617 | | TTRPG | 0+0+1,301+0 | 1,301 | | Grand Total | 1,370 | 8,426 |