Okay, yes, I’ll admit it’s been a very short “week” since my last post (in fact, it was yesterday), but I’ve just about kept on track with Blaugust and my personal target: five posts for the month, ending with this one, which will be an epilogue of sorts. Writing weekly has been quite the challenge for me, as it’s about twice my usual speed, and has really pushed me into balancing my writing here with other responsibilities in life. I’ve only been posting weekly, so I commend everyone who has done the daily challenge – I genuinely don’t know how you’ve done it, and I’m very impressed! This fifth and final week of Blaugust is “Lessons Learned” week, so I’m going to look back at my targets at the start of the month, and see how well I’ve done for each of them. This month of more intense and condensed writing has also taught me a few lessons about how I’d like to progress with this site, which I’ll expand on below. This will be more of a brief post compared to my previous few, as it’s mainly just to wrap up my thoughts from this rendition of Blaugust. Right then, let’s get started, shall we? Looking Back Firstly, if I return to my initial Week #0 post, I had specific targets in mind for Blaugust this year. My decision to sign up was certainly partly due to the sad passing of Belghast (the founder of Blaugust) this year, and wanting to do something to recognise his contribution to the world of writing and blogging. Yet on a personal level, it also allowed me to challenge myself to see if I could improve my writing, and my tendency to spend far too long ruminating on my posts before publishing them. By testing myself to post weekly for a month, it has motivated me to write in a more efficient way and not spend too long on the details of my posts – especially in my game reviews, and this is an approach I can bring to future posts too! My two reviews for Cassette Beasts and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond this month are proof of this – both are less extensive than my reviews for say, Hades II or Pokémon Legends: Z-A, but they still get my main thoughts across, and I’m happy with how they turned out. Considering I had to write each of them in in a matter of days (not weeks), they’ve been successful, and it feels positive to take them off my list of posts to write. My target was to write multiple reviews this month, and I managed this, thanks to the motivation of Blaugust behind me. I’ve got plenty more screenshots to share for this game Speaking of, this is another positive – being able to write posts which I’d been planning for a while, and had kept putting off. The weekly themes for Blaugust often help me to align these ideas with particular weeks – such as my posts about Why I Write or The Games That Shaped Me (inspired by the Bonus Stage Blog)! I find it very satisfying to finally take these out of my drafts and notebooks, and into the world via this site! It also clears my mind a bit, and lets me start to form new ideas for the rest of the year. There’s still one relatively pressing review I’d like to write (for Pragmata), and at least one Gaming Photo Album on the way too! Advice to Myself Furthermore, the other positive takeaway from Blaugust is how it’s changed my outlook on how I’d like to write. To start with, it’s shown me that writing weekly is just not sustainable for me, as between Blaugust, work, and social plans, it’s been hard to fit everything in. This is evident by the fact my weekly posts got continually later on in their weeks, until the latter posts ended up a bit late. It caused this situation where my Week #5 post is being written a day after my Week #4 post, just to make sure I hit my target of five posts for the month. I’m not critical of myself for this, as I’m honestly just happy I managed to post everything in August – but it shows me that not only is it difficult for me, but it starts to add stress to my writing when I think I’m running out of time. The happy medium is to take the lessons of the successful posts this month, and combine them with the more relaxed posting schedule of once every two weeks (as an approximation). As I just mentioned, it’s also been good to discover the themes of post which connect most with those reading this site. The aforementioned post about Why I Write (for Week #1) really seemed to resonate with people, and I received some lovely words about it. I’ll keep this in mind for future posts – I’m glad to know that such personal posts can be enjoyed by those who visit this site! Whilst on this topic of advice, I’d like to take part in the group project for this final week of Blaugust! If you didn’t know, there are optional group project prompts for each week and theme, and taking part is one of the contributing factors to earning the Community Builder award. I’ve found myself too busy with each post so far to take part, but for this final post, I’d like to join in! This had me searching my brain! As you can read above, the prompt is themed around advice – which is apt, with the theme of the week being “Lessons Learned” Whilst I’m very bad at remembering words and advice word for word, and I’m not sure I can pinpoint one thing as the best advice I’ve ever gotten, I can offer some general thoughts which come to mind. I was once told of a saying about how some people radiate energy, and some people drain it, and it’s important to be the former. The wording is harsh, but I’ve found the essence of this in my professional history at previous companies. As a designer, you don’t always get things right creatively, and you sometimes have to endure words of criticism when people don’t like your work. However, if you’re kind and positive, and a good addition to the human side of a company or group, this can add to your value in the team. I feel that sometimes – especially in my early days in the companies I’ve worked for – this has helped me to get my feet under the table, even when making mistakes. I’m not saying I’m always a delight to have around (I’m sure I have my bad moments too), but my intention is that I’m a positive presence. This diverted into offering my own advice, didn’t it? Again, I struggle to think of one thing as the best advice I’ve ever given. Yet, something I often tell people is that if you’re looking to build a hobby or project, consistency is important. If you can maintain a regular schedule, whether it be a podcast, blog, or something else, then you might be surprised how quickly you grow an audience. I’m not some superstar, but I see it on this site – if I post at a regular cadence, the interactions and views go up, as people know when to expect my posts to appear, and they’re more encouraged to follow my writing. Also, the time goes past scarily quickly, so if you’re doing anything at a regular frequency, it can build up fast into an archive of creations! Taking Score Finally, before I end my contributions for Blaugust 2026, it’s time to look at the list of Blaugust awards and which of them I managed to achieve! When I set out on Blaugust this year, I was aiming for the Bronze award of five posts for the month – and if you’ve read this far, you’ll likely know that I’ve managed to achieve this, with one post for each week and theme of the event! The list of possible awards is below (via the Nerd Girl Thoughts website): Newbie Blogger Award – You did it! You joined Blaugust for the very first time and we are extremely happy to welcome you into this raucous community. As a result, we are going to recognize your efforts just for signing up. Bronze Award – You made at least 5 posts during the month of August 2026. (Completed) Silver Award – You made at least 15 posts during the month of August 2026. Gold Award – You made at least 25 posts during the month of August 2026. Rainbow Diamond Award – You beat the original challenge and posted 31 times or more during the month of August 2026. Plus, with my participation in the Group Project this week, it brings me to my third objective to qualify for the Community Builder award (again via the Nerd Girl Thoughts website) too: Make a post on your blog on or before August 1st, 2026 inviting other bloggers to participate in Blaugust. Make sure you link the signup form. Make at least 5 posts directly inspired by a post by another Blaugust participant. Make sure you provide a link back to the post in question. Engage with other Blaugust participants at least once per week. Read posts, leave comments, join discussions in the Blaugust Discord and share posts written by others on social media. Guest post on another Blaugust participant’s blog – or have someone else guest post on yours! Create or join in a group project – choose a topic, find some other bloggers, and each post your own take on that topic on the same day. With that, I think it brings me to the end of my Blaugust writing for the year. It’s been an intense but enjoyable process, and I’m now excited to go and take a breather until my next post, which will be sometime in September! I’d again like to send my thoughts out to Belghast and all those close to him during this time. The contribution of Belghast is clear to see in the many people still writing for Blaugust, and however the event proceeds (and even if it doesn’t), I’m glad I took part this year. Until next time; I’ll catch you in the next post!