WorldEmber 2021 In Review

Wow!

I Did It.

During WorldEmber 2021, I...

Wrote 11 new articles. They weren't small articles either! The tatzel article alone has nearly 3000 words. This is by far the highest number of articles I have ever completed and published in a month's time. In addition, I'm proud of all the articles I wrote for WorldEmber. Writing, completing, publishing, and liking a whole eleven articles in a single month is incredible for me.

Wrote 10,000 words! I said in my pledge that I was only aiming for 5,000 words. I wasn't sure I would be able to stay motivated for the entire month. I was honestly expecting to drop off before I even reached 5k. But I surprised myself! I not only completed my goal, I doubled it!

Made tons of new friends. I wouldn't have been so motivated to complete WorldEmber if it weren't for all the lovely souls on the World Anvil Discord. Word sprinting, sharing articles, and just chatting with all of you was so motivating, inspiring, and comforting. WorldEmber, and hanging out with everyone on Discord, became my retreat. It was a much needed safe space during a very turbulent time in my life.

Shared more of my work. For a long time I have been very reluctant to share SanZera with more people. It's very close to me, and I constantly worry that something is going to happen to me that will damage my relationship with it. I desperately don't want to lose it, so I have kept it very close to my chest. During WorldEmber, though, I was motivated by the leaderboards and by everyone's unending love and support to share more of my work. I was reminded of how lovely that feels! And I got lots of new followers. I'm excited to continue sharing more and more small pieces of this thing that is so special to me. I hope that you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Learned more about my world and created new avenues to explore. In writing the articles I'd planned to write, I kept on being inspired to write additional articles that I would have never come up with before! Sanja and Mercy (not completed this year) are great examples. Ironically enough, I didn't focus on what I thought I was going to focus on, which is glowbiology. I found inspiration in other places instead! Most importantly, now that WorldEmber is over, I have lots of new things I can work on until next year!

Goals Achieved

Wordcount Goal

Knocked out of the park! I made it over 10k well before the deadline! I think setting my goal low actually helped me write more since I was very relaxed about it. Since I didn't originally intend for 10k, I didn't feel a lot of pressure to reach it. Making it there was just a bonus!

Personal Goals

The fire of worldbuilding has definitely been reignited. I feel more inspired and motivated than I have in months. I've also managed to remain very positive, though that might be because I did so well! That goal would've been much harder to achieve if I had fallen behind...

Focus 1: Celestial Conditions and Glowbiology

The only Celestial condition I completed was Glowless, though I did make names for a handful more in the to-do list. I didn't focus on glowbiology nearly as much as I expected I would, but that's okay because I had so much fun working on everything else!

Focus 2: Floatstuff, Monoliths, Floating Islands

I made a stub article for monoliths, and I never published the floating islands, but I did split "Floatstuff" into three distinct elements and made articles of 1000+ words for each of them! Kaalite, edylium, and iakine turned out amazing and spawned tons of new ideas for the world. Finally solidifying what "Floatstuff" is has done wonders for new ideas moving forward!

Focus 3: History and Calendars

I put this as a tentative third focus because I wasn't sure I'd work on it, and I was right. I did basically nothing in regards to the history and calendars. That will definitely have to be something I work on soon, because it is very hard to keep things vague when I have to talk about history and time. I can only put it off for so long!

Conclusion

Even if I didn't focus where I thought I would, I completed my main goal, which was to write 5,000 new words of worldbuilding in the month of December. I'm so happy, and--dare I say it?--proud of myself for making it here. I feel so loved and blessed.

I've said it many times before and I'll say it again: the community of World Anvil is one of the most amazing places on the internet. Without all of the love, I would never have made it this far. Thank you all so much. I hope to have just as much fun next year!