My Journey as a Teen Business Owner (April 2023)

This month, I got a lot of things done, especially in comparison to the previous months of this year.

The burnout from the last few months is gone, and I finally feel like I can write without staring at a white screen or blank notebook page for half an hour.

Honestly, losing the ability to write for such a long time was incredibly stressful. The characters in my daydreams went on a little vacation from my mind without permission! But I definitely prefer a vacation over vanishing.

As usual, here are the three highlights from this month:

1. I was incredibly productive during my April vacation, and the productivity continued even when I went back to school.

Prior to my vacation, I mentally set the goal to get something published, posted, written, or conceptualized every day while I was off from school, and I truly feel like I accomplished that.

I definitely had a content dump on the week when I didn't have school, but it is what it is whether it's monthly or daily, and I'm really happy I did that since the discipline helped me get back on track with my work.

2. I entered a couple of Vocal challenges.

I entered two Vocal challenges this month, which isn't much, but I really put my heart into both entries.

The first entry was one entered into the "Passing Ships" challenge titled "The Drawing."

The entry is about the first time I made a story, and it was the small moment that made me realize I wanted to be a writer. I passionately felt (and continue to feel) that my characters couldn't just sit on a page, I needed to really see them somewhere.

The contest's prompt was to write a seemingly small moment in your life that had a big impact, and that was mine. I know that I tend to get a bit repetitive with the story of my first character and my first story, but it's just so magical to me. I've never experienced something so minuscule yet so impactful. It truly fascinates me.

My second entry was entered into the "Epistolary" challenge titled "From the Island."

This contest's prompt was to write a poem in the form of a letter. This entry was also brimming with my full attention and effort. It didn't feel like some sort of writing exercise or a piece made just to fit a prompt, it was really special to write.

3. My imagination is running wild the way it used to.

As I mentioned earlier, I lost my imagination for a concerningly long while and was way too involved in reality. It felt awful to lose that balance, and I definitely needed a break from both my real struggles and my writing.

Now that I've taken my pause and had the opportunity to exercise my talent through prompts and contests, I feel like I'm out of my stillness. It started with "I Thought I Lost You" and "The Scarlet Duck," and those two stories were the moment when my imagination started up again.

Writing prompts were really helpful to kickstart a better routine, and I hope that I'll be able to keep that in mind in the future.

Overall, this month was a net positive for my work. If I had to choose something to work on, I'd say that I'm hoping to develop better writing habits.

Going from writing once every few weeks to posting content multiple times in one day feels crazy. I'm not striving to have a perfect schedule, but aiming to post weekly would be much better than the "schedule" that I have now.

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