Hello lovely reader! I hope you had the most splendid festive season, no matter what it is you believe in and how it is you celebrate. Mine was quiet and understated, but I was able to spend time with my nearest and dearest (and getting everything off of my list was a nice bonus!)
So, 2025. Excuse my French but what a fucking year. Not to wish my fleeting life away but I am beyond ready to the see the tail-end of it! From losing a grandparent, to dealing with a stalker situation, and finding myself in financial strife, it’s just been awful. My mental and physical health tanked, just…yikes. It was not good.
Nevertheless, I do not wish for this to be a negative post. Instead I want to focus on the good things. As crap as a year this has been, there has thankfully been some nice bits. So let’s remind myself of those!
The Completion of My Moominhouse
I started building the Moominhouse in the beginning of 2023. I had just gotten over a very severe illness, and was in dire need of a pick-me-up. I had seen an advert for this Moominhouse subscription, where every month or so, you’d receive parts of the house and instructions on how to build it, plus various characters to go along with it. Since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to build a dollhouse like this, so I decided; why not? This kickstarted my love for the Moomins (yup, I didn’t really know of them beforehand!) And now, just over two years later, it is complete!
Writing Wins
For 2025, my writing goal was simply to “write something a month”. I left it vague as to not pressure myself too much. I could decide myself if what I’d achieved in said month was enough. And, ignoring the months where I was dealing with stuff, I feel like I accomplished this. I drafted a few stories for some submissions, I wrote a Nosferatu fanfiction, but my biggest win was plotting my current WIP, which goes under the working title Project Locrian. This is a massive deal for me, before Project Locrian, I was a loyal Pantser! However, the more I plotted this story, the easier it came. I honestly believe I was supposed to be a Plotter all along..oh well, better late than never! But yes, I am almost finished with the plotting/building stage of Project Locrian, and I hope to make a start on the first draft soon!
Three Amazing Concerts
If you know me at all, then you know I adore going to concerts. Since finding my courage to go alone, and to drive myself no matter the distance, I have been able to go to some amazing gigs. I went to three this year:
- Newton Faulkner, 1st May, Corn Exchange Theatre, Stamford – This was probably my favourite gig of the year, just because of how intimate it was. It was also a very impromptu concert for me; I had to speedrun Newt’s discography before I went! But I absolutely adored it, he played a lot of my favourite songs, and I was perceived!
- Empire of The Sun, 2nd August, Old Naval College, Greenwich – This one wasn’t what I was expected at all. I didn’t realise it was a music festival until I turned up! I got there at around three in the afternoon, and Empire of The Sun didn’t come on until nine in the evening. So..six hours of waiting around, occasionally broken up by the odd support band and/or DJ. It was a long day, and unfortunately the etiquette of festival-goers (or lack of!) meant I didn’t have the best time. Also I had to watch the whole thing through a screen, so there was definitely a disconnect and I felt like I wasn’t really there? But, they did play all the songs I wanted them to, so we’ll take it as a win!
- Damiano David, 28th September, The Roundhouse, Camden – This was a fabulous gig, with a lot of energy and finesse. Damiano has a lot of stage charisma (duh, he’s Italian!) and it was such a joy to watch him! I’ve been wanting to see him live ever since Maneskin won Eurovision a few years ago, and whilst I would have preferred it to be the full band, this was a lovely substitute.
House of Kong: The Gorillaz Exhibition
Gorillaz is one of the great loves in my life, so when I saw they were hosting an exhibition down in London, I obviously knew I had to go! So, I hopped on the train for what would turn out to be an absolutely splendid day! The exhibition completely subverted all my expectations. It was interactive and immersive, and for some parts you had Murdoc’s voice in your ear leading the way! No pictures or filming were allowed inside, so you’ll just have to take my word it. But it was honestly amazing. I believe it’s going over to Los Angeles next year, so any of my US friends that are also Gorillaz fans, I definitely recommend going! Whilst I was down in London, I also checked out Yungblud’s shop, it was so cool!
So, yes. Whilst 2025 was a truly awful year, I can’t deny that there were some parts that I thoroughly enjoyed. But I am looking forward to 2026, and for now, I’m ambitious and eager for what’s to come. I have a few goals:
First Draft of Project Locrian
Now that Project Locrian has been thoroughly plotted, it is finally time for me to tackle the first draft! I’ve been itching to write this story since it first came to me months ago, and now it’s finally time. For the curious few, Project Locrian started life as a Wednesday Addams x Tyler Galpin fanfiction (from Tim Burton’s Wednesday), but the more I fleshed it out, the more I realised this needed to be its own story. A paranormal romance with very light horror and dark romance elements (and I mean VERY LIGHT, barely a dark romance by some of the popular standards..) It’s also full of ND and queer rep, things that are very dear to me. I’m looking forwards to people meeting Eden and Cyrus, although it might be a while yet..
Gain Weight
A rather radical ambition, seeing as a lot of people are hoping to lose weight as their first resolution of the year! There’s not much to this one. I lost some weight this year, and I’m hoping to get it back. The thing is, I have no idea how much I weighed before, I haven’t weighed myself in years! All I have is the measure of whether my clothes fit me properly. I’m planning on getting a set of scales, and recording what I’m eating, and hopefully go from there. It’s the reason I haven’t been posting many selfies as of late, so yes, I’d love to get my weight and my confidence back!
Continue Exploring Fashion
One of my goals for this year was to explore my sense of fashion. Yes, I love flannel shirts and band tees, but I also love goth/alt fashion, and I would like to dress more like the latter a little more often. I did make a bit of a start, I bought a few new tops I liked, experimented with accessories and make-up, but I didn’t do as much as I was hoping for. In 2026, I vow to be more expressive with what I wear. I’ve started putting some money aside for a big shopping trip (including thrift stores!) so hopefully I can add more variety to my wardrobe. I would like to start wearing make-up too, but not all the time. I’ve led the tomboy, bare-faced lifestyle for so long now, I’m comfortable with how I look, so I know I wouldn’t want to do that all the time. It’s more of a “it would be nice to make the effort once in a while” sort of thing. Also it would be nice to hide the eyebags every now and then..
And with that, I’m done. 2025 was beyond shit, but maybe 2026 can be better. I’m motivated for the things I want to achieve, honestly I want to thrive out of spite! Things will be better, if I can help it.
I wish you all the best for the new year.
Soph, signing off!
Sophie Brookes 