Follow along with my WorldEmber progress!

I promised you a look over my shoulder this month as I bring a vague and disjointed collection of ideas together into a cohesive piece of world-building. These resources will help you keep track of my progress through this month-long marathon challenge:

• Haly’s Official WE Progress Report — each participant gets a page that automatically collects their author information and all WE-eligible articles across all worlds into a single, shareable package.
• Haly’s WorldEmber on Argentii Index — an on-the-fly journal page and handy sidebar displaying only new Argentii WE-eligible articles.

An Amazing Accomplishment: 200 Posts

Joining Substack when I did was a huge gamble.

It was mid-June 2024, and I was right in the middle of prepping for WorldAnvil Summer Camp. It felt crazy to be taking on yet another thing, and one that I wasn’t even sure would pay off. After all, I’m not a social media maven. I don’t care to push forth the same old manipulative marketing tricks that have taken over nearly every platform with the sort of pervasive patience usually only seen in cacti awaiting rain.

Now, more than six months later, I’m staring the end of the year in the face and looking back at months and months of writing every single day and sharing it with the world, regardless of whether or not I think it’s perfect.

I’ve gotten valuable feedback on my writing. I’ve made friends among the amazing fiction writers on this platform. And I’ve planted seeds I hope to nurture into a thriving and vibrant worldbuilding community.

Beyond that, I have 200 pieces of writing — some better than others — that can be ironed out, polished up, and submitted to places like

Worldbuilding Magazine

and the WorldAnvil blog.

Year End, WorldEmber Wrap

Even though WorldEmber runs through January 4th, tomorrow will be my last WorldEmber-themed post. Beginning January 1st, I’ll be going back to the usual magazine format with a weekly theme and different columns or features for each day of the week.

Manic Monday

Monday will be the new day for the weekly theme drop. I look forward to writing more at the beginning of the week than I do at the end of the weekend, so my enthusiasm for the topic will carry over and make for a more Manic Monday experience.

Twisted Tuesday

Subverting the topic and twisting it on its head will remain the focus of Tuesday’s column. This is one of my favorite columns to write because it touches on my twisted, counter-cultural, revolutionary heart.

Worldbuilding Wednesday

Of course, Wednesday will remain #WorldbuildingWednesday all over Bluesky and Notes. And “Ask the Bard” isn’t going anywhere. (Certainly not if

D.W Dixon

has anything to say about it!)

Throwback Thursday

Thursdays are going to take on a retro feel as I pull out an old — but relevant! — article to share. I’ll add some new thoughts, polish it up, and publish it for those of you who didn’t get to see it the first time around!

Feature Friday

Features are moving to the end of the week. Fridays are going to be a fabulous mix of worldbuilding gold. Interviews, reviews and recommendations, continuations on the theme, follow-ups to Worldbuild Wednesday conversations and conundrums. It’s all on the table!

Quick Six Saturday

There’s no way I’m going to stop delivering your weekly booster pack of W5H inspirational goodness! Creativity thrives when it’s driven in new and unexpected directions, and every week y’all tell me how these prompts make you think about that perfect thing for your world.

Sunday Digest

NEW! The Sunday Digest will be a new section especially for those of you who love what I’m doing, but wish I was doing it just a little less often. Every Sunday, I’ll put together a digest of the week’s posts, along with a few final thoughts on the theme and a teaser for the next week.

Plus, because this will be it’s own new section, you will be able to opt out of the Monday-Saturday emails and only get the Sunday digest!

New Year’s Ambitions & Goals

You and I know that resolutions suck and they don’t work. In my own experience, a resolution is more likely to turn me off of something than encourage me to follow through. People who suggest using the new year as a starting gun for a whole new lifestyle are lying to you, most likely to get you to buy something.

This year I have had a great deal of success with examining my passion-fueled ambitions and setting goals based on the path to achieving those ambitions. Rather than ditching a habit that’s been working for me, I’m going to continue build on that momentum.

I don’t just want to be paid as a writer; I want a career as a worldbuilder. To that end, I’ve assembled a three-step plan to achieve this lofty ambition!

1. Practice worldbuilding, every day.
2. Find people/companies who need help managing & growing their lore.
3. Show them that I’m the person to do the job.

It’s not a detailed plan, but it’s a solid place to start! Many amazing stories have started with less of a firm foundation, and so I shall barrel ahead full speed and ignore all internal pleas to stop.

Wrapping the Day

What are your goals for the new year? How have you plotted out your steps to achieving them? Where do you see yourself at the end of 2025? Drop your thoughts and plans in the comments!

Don’t forget to send me your questions for this week’s “Ask the Bard” column! I’ll be writing it tomorrow afternoon, so make sure to message me ASAP if you want the whole world to read the answer this week!

I’ve almost achieved my WorldEmber goal; as I write this, I have 41,913 words toward my 50,000-word goal. With less than 9,000 words to write, and almost five full days remaining, I’ll hit 50K in time. The question is…can I do it before the new year?!

Stay tuned! And don’t forget to include your creative friends in the fun! Send them this newsletter so that they can subscribe and be a part of all this weird worldbuilding fun!!