Goodbye April Writeathon!
Writing Update
Quitting April Writeathon
Well, it finally happened. The midpoint of the April Writeathon (22k words) on Royal Road was due today, April 16th. Unfortunately, even though I had time to reach the goal, I decided to back out of the challenge.
But Why?
A couple of days ago, I released a chapter from the main character's point of view. Without realizing it, I found myself making things… a little more wordy than necessary, not editing down as much as usual, and all-around sacrificing quality for quantity to reach the goal.
I’m not a big fan of that.
This challenge would have been great if I had treated it like NaNoWriMo—writing 50k unfiltered words in a month—but with God of Embers, I’m doing a complete rewrite and 2–4 editing passes before publishing. It’s just not doable for me.
Routines
That being said, I actually felt relieved to quit the challenge. I’ve come to enjoy my routine of writing, editing, and publishing a chapter in a day. I could easily see how the April Writeathon could have led to burnout.
Twitch Update
Since I’m quitting the Writeathon, this also leaves much more time for streaming! I’m really excited. Now that I have my writing routine down, I think I’m ready to be consistent again.
Art Commission
There is new channel art coming soon! I commissioned one of my favorite artists and will be seeing the sketches in the next few days. It’s all I can think about.
Spoiler: there might be tiny Yokai involved.
Further Excitement
Because I’m excited, I’m getting my hair and eyebrows done this week, so I won’t look like a goblin on stream.
To be honest, using a webcam is a little hard for me. If I am about to start streaming and my hair looks off, my makeup looks weird, or my clothes make me look bulky, it brings forth a whole bunch of needless anxieties. It’s something I‘ve always struggled with.
That being said, the nervousness usually goes away once I’m streaming consistently. I’m looking forward to that.
Life Update
Current Goals
When I quit streaming full-time, things got a bit scary.
I didn’t really know where I was going next or how I was going to progress in my writing career. I had written a few novels, but I was still stuck in progress limbo. Also, I missed streaming but didn’t know how to do both without feeling like a failed writer.
Things are different now.
Before, I thought my journey was linear. I would write a book, get an agent, and then get traditionally published. It was hard to admit to myself that this wasn’t what I really wanted.
What I really wanted was to share my work with you guys for free, be able to talk about it, and feel like something was progressing.
Now, my plan is to continue posting 4 to 5 chapters a week on Royal Road, hire a professional editor when it’s done, and self-publish. Since this is a much more tangible goal, I can finally stream again without feeling guilty for not “doing enough”.
Games
I’ve been playing Baldur’s Gate 3 again and really loving it. As for everything else: I’m itching to play more Final Fantasy Online, I’ve played a little bit of Omori, and I’m thinking about playing Against the Storm for the first time on Steam Deck for something a little different.
Apps
I’m still loving Higher Goals, which is a lesser-known habit tracker app on iOS. I use it to track my progress on Royal Road.
Books
After a short break, I’m back to reading The Wandering Inn. I’m currently on book five. Originally, I became a little frustrated with “petty drama” storylines and had to put it down, but that ended quickly yesterday. The book is going at a great pace again, and I’m looking forward to continuing the series.
Conclusion
- I’m quitting the April Writeathon because I don’t want to sacrifice quality over quantity.
- Now that I’m committing to Royal Road as a writer, I’ll have more time for streaming.
- I’m having new art commissioned for my Twitch channel.
Thanks for reading!
♡ SodaKite
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You can also check out the latest chapter of God of Embers on Royal Road or watch my Twitch streams for gaming content.
