As always, I’m going to end the month with a reflection. I’m going to use the questions from last year, though I will not be making charts this time as it’s late, and I don’t want to…tonight. But I probably will tomorrow when I’m procrastinating on grading. Want to, that is. Also, I am answering these without looking at last year’s answers.

1. How did the Slice of Life Challenge (SOL) go? It went. I did it, I’m proud of it, and I’m glad I did it, but some mistakes have been made.

2. What went well? I posted every day, which means I completed the challenge. I think I only struggled for a topic one or two days, so I appreciate everyone else’s posts as they serve as inspiration.

3. What were some challenges you faced? This semester has been a shitshow so far for me. I am completely behind the ball on everything and while it was good to blog every day, this may not have been a good semester to do it. Unfortunately, I am ambitious and stubborn and often don’t know my own limits.

Because time was a huge issue, I didn’t get to make comments on other people’s posts every day and am super behind on those. I plan to go back and do the days I missed, though, because I know how important it is not to blog into a vacuum and how discouraging it can be to not receive comments. Also, I play fair and by the rules, and the rule is to comment on people’s posts.

A couple of people posted from their substacks and good for them, but I’m not subscribing to blogs–excuse me, newsletters–or signing up to another service for this challenge. Turn on anonymous commenting at least for the length of the challenge if you want comments, people! It was annoying (and felt like a waste of time, though it’s obviously is not a waste of time to read someone’s writing) to read a whole post and then not have a way to comment on it. Again: play fair.

4. What did you learn about yourself as a writer? I can write, and I will write when I have a deadline.

5. What tips or suggestions would you give anyone planning to participate in SOL in the future? Do it in a way that works for you. I usually try to start a day ahed since I’m a night owl and am up at midnight on Day 1. However, once I got off that one day ahead schedule, I was still scrambling to make my posts before 11;59 p.m. for the day of instead of around midnight for the day following. But I know who I am, so I don’t fight the late night writing thing. That said, on the one day I knew I probably wouldn’t get to write I did do two posts that night so one would be ready for the next day. Of course, I forgot to post it to the SOL blog post for the day, but you know. The goal is to write not to report on writing, but I do like checking all the boxes, so.

6. When you sit down–or stand, if that is your jam–to write your slice, where do you go first? Is it the story? The form? Do you think of a punchline? A title? A picture? Do you write the title first? Or do you write it last? Usually the story. Sometimes the title. But I usually do the title last since that’s when I know what best encapsulates what I wrote about for the day.

7. Also here’s a fun thing Linda&Greg via Arjeha did: a grouping of the titles of all my posts so they make a poem. Does it make sense? Does it make a poem?

Allow me to re-introduce myself
Accidentally Trendy
Meh
Compartmentalizing
Saturday Meltdown
Five Joyful Things
Ten

Rain

1,000 words
Theater Camp for Writers

Currently
March 19th
Grading Drinking (Water) Game
Evaluation Addendum
Zoom Fail
Google Drive & Body and Soul
Wet Cupping
Lessons Learned: Banks & Meds Edition
New pool, who dis?
Rose Thorn Bud
Egg Rolls & Game Night

What are you currently reading?
What’s saving your reading life?
Enjoyment vs. Engagement: A Tale of Two Book Club Meetings
Pasadena Festival of Women Authors
AWP 2025 Day 1
AWP 2025 Day 2
AWP 2025 Day 3

I should be sleeping
Sabbath-ish

Does it make sense? Reflecting on This Year’s Slice of Life Challenge

My immediate answer is I definitely had to re-order it to make sense, but, yes, themes emerge.

8. Final thoughts about participating in the Slice of Life challenge: I never regret participating once it’s over, so I would say if you’re on the fence about it, do it. If you’re not sure you can handle the daily challenge, join in on the weekly one. There’s always something to write about, and if you’re stumped, there is always other people’s writing to inspire you.

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And with that, 2025 is in the bag. Four years, four times finishing. 2025, 2024, 2018, and 2017: done, done, done, and done.