A Literary and Artistic Reckoning of 2025
- Sarnav
- 7 minutes ago
- 7 min read
From Here to There: What has been written, read and produced?
As the end of the year approaches, we turn to statistics. Reflecting on the year helps us to relive those moments and experience the associated emotions again, which is valuable. Moreover, examining our work both before and after provides us with the opportunity to give more informed feedback and evaluations, which will hopefully motivate us for the new period. As I write regularly, I wanted to review my work this year, compare it with last year's work, and assess my current situation and progress.
In terms of our topic, this year has been just as intense as last year. However, to be honest, I'm not sure if I have achieved more in some respects. I will consult my records as I write and share my findings with you.
I will discuss the articles, poems, prose, stories, book reviews and film reviews that I have written on this platform. Throughout the year, I have tried to share my personal thoughts and informative comments on every piece of art I have experienced. These activities fuelled my desire to record and archive, and I enjoyed them immensely. This way, I will have the opportunity to review my thoughts on them in the future. It also helps with my forgetfulness. Combining this with my love of writing was not difficult at all for someone who keeps quick digital records on a daily basis.
Let's start with the articles that I have published on Medium.
Maintaining a presence on this site has proven to be quite challenging. As my old followers will know, this is the third account I have had to set up because of Medium's incompetence. Many accounts were closed without proper explanation due to Medium's incompetence. Although I shared all my Turkish and English articles on my site, the ones here were lost. I didn't give up, though, and started again. I re-uploaded the articles I had edited. However, when I experienced the same situation again shortly afterwards, I lost my appetite. As writing regularly has become second nature to me, though, I decided to continue, perhaps for the last time.
After these experiences, I changed how often I wrote. I went from writing every day to every other day, then every three days, and now I write once a week. That's why I noticed that I wrote more frequently during a certain period in 2024.
While I completed 89 articles in 2024, that number dropped to 51 in 2025 (including this article). This difference arose because I wrote every three days until the end of May 2024. Providing nothing changes, I intend to continue writing on a weekly basis in 2026. Based on my experience, I have learned not to be definitive about such matters. Also, this is my 267th article in total. Easier said than done.
The topics I have written about are as follows: Literary techniques, personal motivation and psychology, reading and writing processes, culture, digital–analogue comparisons, the impact of technology, literary genres, themes and elements, authors, classics, events, awards, cultural reflections, personal experiences, special days, philosophy, art, music and archiving.
My poems and prose are in order. I find it easy to accept these two as a whole.
Looking back, 2024 was sadly lacking in terms of these literary genres. The situations that inspired me to write were either our decision to collectively write on a theme or our Creative Writing Club activities. As our club was only established at the end of last year, we were only able to hold one event, whereas this year we have held six.
While writing this article, I realised that I need to be more organised. If my records are correct, I have written six poems and three pieces of prose in 2024. Fortunately, I still enjoy reading most of what I've written.
This year, I've picked up the pace considerably. I haven't neglected poetry books this year and have increased my output in these literary genres. (Again, if my calculations are correct), I have produced a total of 53 poems and prose pieces. Nine of these are prose pieces (five of which are from Creative Writing activities), and the remaining 44 are poems (one of which is from a club activity). I wrote three of these with a friend, which I would consider to be a subcategory of collaborative poetry. Eight of them are in English. This total averages out to 4.4 works per month, mainly due to my increased output towards the end of the year. I am pleased to have achieved such productivity.
As I mentioned in my article on 29 September, I set myself the modest challenge of writing a poem or piece of prose once a week. Although I exceeded my target in September October and November, I was unable to find the time in December due to my busy schedule. Rereading this piece, I realise how much has changed in such a short time. For this reason, I am quite satisfied with the situation overall.
By the end of the process, I had finally shaken off the dead weight that had held me back for years. I compiled 45 of my poems and prose pieces (six from 2024 and 39 from 2025) and sent them to a publishing house. After receiving a positive response, we signed a mutual agreement, and hopefully my book will be ready for readers in April 2026. So, even though I couldn't publish it before the end of the year, I did make an attempt. Once it is published, I would like to share with you how the process worked and help you with a relevant article.
Stories are always a challenging subject. This is because they take up the most time. I prefer to finish most of my writing in one day, no matter how long it takes, and that's what I do. Poetry and prose are similar, but I've got into the habit of skimming most of what I read. Occasionally, I make changes. However, stories have a more comprehensive structure.
When I write them, I also prefer to finish them in one day. It's not because I want to get it over with as soon as possible; I simply prefer to channel the excitement and inspiration I feel into my work effectively. However, perhaps because I enjoy writing at length, I don't always manage to do so. As I mentioned regarding my poems and prose, I edit as I go along, even with the stories I do finish. Sometimes I come across genuine spelling mistakes, repeated words or sections that don't flow well, or that I feel have errors in their sentence structure. Ultimately, it seems quite natural to me that they take time to mature. As you can understand, our emotional and fictional creations are open to changes and revisions. However, I don't see articles or the review pieces I'll mention shortly as falling into this category.
Undoubtedly, the activities of our Fiction Club are the biggest inspiration for my stories. In 2024, two out of four of my stories were inspired by the club. The following year, this number increased to seven. It seems that I have adjusted my fiction production to align with our events, which occur every two months (on one occasion, I submitted two stories). This undoubtedly increases the value of our club in my eyes. Whether it's the poetry and prose that emerge from our spontaneous productions or our fiction projects based on themes, the vast majority draw inspiration from our monthly readings and interpretations of cinematic works. Thus, the impact and benefit of our literary and artistic community, İlkgüz, is clearly visible. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed and show them my respect. After all, what we produce reflects who we are.
2024 and 2025 Stories and Word Counts
Finally, in terms of reading and interpretation, I will talk about my book and film reviews before concluding with some thoughts on writing.
I challenged myself to read 48 books a year, but I ended up reading 49. More than half of these were read through our book clubs. Unlike the books we read for the clubs, I read these purely for enjoyment, without the pressure of meeting a deadline. Since I started taking regular notes at the end of last year, I have ratings and reviews for all the books I have read this year. However, this does not apply to the 30 books I read in 2024.
I did the same for the 53 films I watched. As you may know, I have also been writing my monthly film reviews continuously since 24 September, without interruption or omission. This has enabled me to document these works properly and write reviews that reflect my general thoughts on them, rather than just jotting down a few notes about what I was thinking at the time. The other day, while organising my bookshelf, I noticed an obvious difference: after finishing some of the books I read in 2020, I made brief notes that were hardly comprehensive. This year, I refined this approach, adopting a less critical perspective. As I am neither a critic nor an academic, these reviews ultimately reflect my personal preferences and ratings.
It was a year filled with reading, writing and watching. My heart would certainly like me to continue in a similar vein, even if I am unable to do any more. However, none of this should be forced. Otherwise, it merely becomes a move aimed at increasing numbers. Artistic expression and creative pursuits should not be devalued. That would be self-deception and a waste of time. It's important to remember that this isn't a competition, and reading or writing more doesn't make someone better than anyone else. Everything should be produced and consumed with as much enjoyment and dedication as possible so that it has true value and meaning. For this reason, failing to achieve set goals should not be disappointing. On the contrary, the effort made in this direction should be recognised.
Along with everything I have mentioned, I wish you a year in which you encounter films that delight your heart and books whose pages you will never tire of turning. May you not despise the work of your hands this year, and may you be involved in projects that help you grow.
Thank you all for reading, following and sharing your comments. I hope you have a year filled with literature, art, and most importantly, good health! :)