S. W. Raine

Happy 8th blog anniversary to swraine.com!

Eight years. At this point, this blog has seen every version of me—beginner, overwhelmed, determined, burned out, learning, rebuilding… and still showing up. What started as a way to hold myself accountable during the early editing days of The Elemental’s Guardian (back before The Techno Mage, when TEG was called Elementals) has grown into something much bigger than I ever expected.

But this past year? It felt different.

Not in a big, flashy, milestone kind of way—but in a quieter, more uncomfortable one. Because somewhere along the way… I think I got a little lost.

The Year I Tried to Grow My Blog

Last year, I made a conscious effort to grow my blog. I wanted to reach more readers, bring in new eyes, and make my posts more discoverable. So I started writing differently.

I leaned into more structured topics—guides, reviews, lists, explanations. Posts that were easier to search for, easier to share, and easier to categorize. On paper, it made sense. These were the kinds of posts that are supposed to perform well. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

But somewhere along the way, my blog started to feel less like a journal… and more like a series of essays.

The Shift I Didn’t Expect

At the same time, the posts that still felt the most like me—the behind-the-scenes updates, the chaotic writing challenges, the reflections, the moments where I just sat down and let the words flow—those were the ones that came easiest. The ones I enjoyed writing. Those were the ones that felt like me.

And I didn’t fully realize what that meant until I looked back at everything I’d written last year and saw the split clearly for the first time.

On one side: polished, structured, “useful” content.

On the other: the real, messy, ongoing story.

The Reality Behind the Scenes

To be fair… there was a lot of real, messy story to tell this year.

The biggest one was the launch of The Gatekeeper’s Portal. None of it went the way I planned. I sent it to my editor late, got it back late, and somewhere along the way, emails between me and my cover designer disappeared into the void, which pushed things back even further. The paperback wasn’t even ready by release day (and technically, neither was the ebook…), and at some point, I had to come to terms with the fact that the launch would flop.

And it did.

That was a hard pill to swallow after everything that went into it. But if there’s one thing this year made very clear, it’s that I never want to be that close to the wire again. Lesson learned—thoroughly and permanently.

And yet… even with all of that, I still launched it in 2025. Just like I said I would. Even if that meant December 30th. It exists—and that’s all that matters.

New Directions, New Challenges

Because apparently one form of storytelling wasn’t enough chaos, I also started exploring screenwriting this year—and I did not expect it to feel so different.

With novels, you get to live inside the story. You can explore thoughts, emotions, motivations, and backstory directly, giving the reader a complete experience exactly as you intend it. With scripts, you don’t get that luxury. Everything has to be seen or heard. Every emotion has to be translated into action, dialogue, or something visual. It’s not a finished product—it’s a blueprint.

And I love it.

It’s challenging in a completely different way, and it’s forcing me to think about storytelling from a new angle. The weekly One-Page Challenges in a Discord server I’m in have been some of the most fun creative experiments I’ve tried in a while, and they’ve reminded me what it feels like to play again.

What I’m Still Building

The work hasn’t stopped. If anything, it’s just evolving.

Right now, I’m working toward the French translation of Rise of the Sky Pirate for its 5th anniversary, hardcover editions for The Elemental’s Guardian and The Gatekeeper’s Portal, a steampunk choose-your-own-adventure short story series, and Project Spin-Off 2—the next adventure after Rise of the Sky Pirate.

And alongside all that, I’m continuing to explore screenwriting, with the goal of writing a short and entering it into a contest this year.

So no, things aren’t slowing down. They’re just shifting into something a little bigger than what I originally planned.

What Year Eight Feels Like

If I had to sum up my blog anniversary in one word, it would be exhausting. But it also feels different, like something shifted.

The past several years carried a kind of weight that I didn’t fully understand while I was in it—pressure, constant internal work, and pushing through things that didn’t come easily. And if you follow astrology, you’ll understand this immediately: Uranus just moved out of Taurus and into Gemini, ending a seven-year cycle that hit fixed signs especially hard.

And yes. As an Aquarius, I felt every second of that.

This past year also felt like a lot of quieter, internal work—the kind that doesn’t always show up on the outside but still changes how you move through everything. If you follow the Chinese zodiac, this was the year of the wood snake, which is very much about shedding, growth, and inner transformation.

And now, it feels like I’m stepping into something new. Way faster. A little more decisive. I don’t know exactly what the next few years will look like, but for the first time in a while, it feels like forward motion again—like the kind of change that actually moves things in a big way. (I even bought a Golden Healer Quartz flame to mark the year of the fire horse, because it felt like that kind of shift.)

Finding My Way Back

Looking back at everything I’ve written last year, I don’t think the structured posts were a mistake. They taught me a lot about how my blog can grow, how readers find my work, and how to create content that reaches beyond the people who already know me. That kind of visibility matters, and it’s something I want to keep building.

But what I realized is that it’s not about choosing between structured posts and journal-style entries… it’s about how those posts feel.

Somewhere along the way, my structured content started sounding more like essays than like me. More polished than personal. More “here’s the information” than “here’s what I think about it.” And that’s the part that didn’t fit. Because this blog was never meant to be a resource hub on its own. It’s a space for thoughts, reflections, behind-the-scenes moments, and the kind of storytelling that feels a little more like magic and mischief than a perfectly formatted guide.

So moving forward, I’m not stepping away from those kinds of posts… I’m just bringing them back into alignment with everything else I’ve built here. More voice. More personality. More me.

Still Here

Eight years in, this blog is still one of the few places where I can pause, reflect, and actually make sense of everything—not just the wins or the plans, but everything in between. Because that’s what this space is for.

And clearly… everything that happened this year didn’t break me.

Thanks for being here—whether you’ve been reading since 2018 or you just wandered in recently.

Here’s to eight years of showing up, figuring it out as I go, and continuing the adventure… even when it doesn’t go according to plan.

Raine