Cresting This Wave of End-of-Year Creativity Surge

When your brain decides it wants to write, listen! 

I have always written for as long as I can remember.

Any Kenyan will tell you the impact that “Hello Children” had on them, and to me, it was the book that inspired me to start writing.

In fact, all of the first characters in the stories I wrote as a child were the Kamau family. However, I would put them in different adventures from their usual school-home routine in the books, like taking them on a long-distance bus ride to Western Kenya!

I then wrote what I thought was a novel at about 13 or 14. I say I ‘thought it was a novel’ because, looking back, that book was best described as a novella. I don’t remember the title, but I do remember the premise - a man hides his enormous family wealth from his wife, until she inevitably finds out and all hell breaks loose.

In the years that followed, I would hop, step, and jump through several attempts to write another, and this ultimately culminated in “The Wayward Retribution”, a piece of work that, after its completion, made me go, ‘Hey, maybe I can actually do this and get paid.’

Lol. Joke’s on me. I have never gotten paid to write fiction. And that book has sold exactly zero copies over at Amazon. Maybe because it’s not very good, but who’s to say?

Since then, I have struggled creatively over the many past years, but still managed to bang out a coming-of-age drama and romance titled “Black Rose,” but that was it. (No, it’s not on Amazon anymore because I think it needs more work)

I wrote very little of my own work over the past, um, seven to eight years, maybe. Instead, I put all of my efforts into the writing that paid me a quick buck, freelancing here and there, and getting paid just enough not to die so that I can be available tomorrow to write more how-to guides again.

However, toward the end of last year, something happened. I woke up on a morning dreary, and pondered, weak and weary, “Is this what I wanted my life to be? Just to live day by day while wasting away behind these four walls?”

No, was the answer.

So, I forced myself to begin getting creative again. It was unpleasant, trying to string together words without a deadline hanging over my head like a noose. Trying to crank my creative engine and get it running was like walking through a bog, just - bleh. My vocabulary was dusty and full of cobwebs, and my story library was sinking into the ground, leaning on its side, threatening to tip over.

So yes, it was brute force just to get myself to rebuild my creative abode and restart my creative engine.

But I did, and from that period came my current work, “Son of No Man”, a story that attempts to answer the question, ‘Can a man escape his past and become a better person without confronting it?’. The first draft of this is done, so that’s great!

But that was not all. Throughout 2025, I have written several short stories, brainstormed several novel ideas, and written countless passages here and there of stories that I don’t even know where they are going, and done so much creatively that it feels as though I have lived a thousand years’ worth of life over the past 12 months. I even managed to get something published at Africanwriter.com, something that had never happened before. Yaay!

Heck! I even revived my blog - Kirakaderrickm.blogspot.com, where I also put some of my other wandering thoughts to paper, and also covered some football, because why the hell not?

And it is this blog that has led me to perhaps my best creative period in years.

On a random Friday on November 21st, I asked myself, ‘What would it cost me to update my blog daily for the next ten days?’

Nothing! That was the answer. So, I set myself on a #10daysofbloggingchallenge.

Let me tell you, Maina. This has been the most rewarding, pleasing, and creative period of my life. Never had I ever had so many story ideas, brilliant passages, beautifully woven words that were funny, profound, pleasant, and chill as in this period. It was like a week where my brain decided to surge my body with all the creative juices a single man can endure and told me, ‘Go cray cray!’

The days from November 21st to November 30th have been the most rewarding period I have had in close to a decade. In this timeframe, here is what I conjured:

The Eye of an Angel (fiction) - A story about two lovers walking home at night as they are stalked by something out of this world in the shadows.

Barcelona vs Bilbao (non-fiction) - Writing about the emotion of watching Barcelona hammer Bilbao at the Camp Nou after almost two and a half years away was cathartic!

The Guardian Angel of Riaruka (fiction) - A story of a young girl walking home alone one night and encountering a stranger who isn’t what he seems to be at first.

Of Flowers, Air Fresheners and Processed Juice: A Broken Love Story (fiction) - This is a scene that I hope to add to ‘Son of No Man’. It explores a breakdown of the marriage between Eliaquim and Ovelia, our two main characters, in an argument about flowers, air fresheners, and processed juice.

This Little Room of Eternal Regret (fiction) - A man attending a Christmas party finds himself trapped in the toilet, unable to leave, as he gets haunted by dreadful, torturous visions and memories.

I am Tired! Flickball Made Me Euphoric - Now It’s Killing Me! (non-fiction) - This was another football post, which I wrote on the frustration of watching Barcelona limply fall to the feet of Chelsea in a crunch Champions League clash.

Are You There, God? (fiction) - Another very challenging story to write, owing to the shift in perspective, this story is about a man who is at the end of his rope and ready to end it all.

The Sparkles of a Budding Romance and That Quiet Voice of Doubt (fiction) - This is another scene I came up with that I hope to add to ‘Son of No Man.’ It shows our main couple falling in love over a game of Scrabble, but Eliaquim expresses doubt at the genuineness of Ovelia’s love for him.

Ardour! Oh, To Love and Be Loved (fiction) - I cheated a bit here, as this is an excerpt from my first novel attempt, ‘The Wayward Retribution.’ But in my defense, this was a really long and busy day, and it was either I did this or not post at all. I wasn’t going to break my streak!

Barcelona vs Deportivo Alavés (non-fiction) - Yet another football post, I wrote this post on November 30, a Sunday, and the final day of my challenge. I wasn’t exactly dripping with creativity, after a long day of watching football and doing a whole lot of nothing, but I felt it was a fitting end to the challenge - just a laid-back, chilled write-up celebrating a routine win of my favorite team.

As you can see, the writings were varied, not only in topic, but also in quality, I guess. But I tried not to overthink during this period, and that was very freeing. It was the most creative I let myself be, without the pressure of wondering, ‘Will people enjoy this?’ ‘What if it’s not good enough?’ ‘What if they don’t get read enough?’ Nope. It was just me bleeding on the keyboard for ten days straight, and let me tell you, never has blood tasted so sweet!

I have enjoyed my #10daysofbloggingchallenge, and I think I will make it an end-of-the-month thing, but perhaps five days instead of ten, just to see what I can come up with.

I end this year high on opium - ahem, sorry, I meant, high on optimism, and I hope to carry this creative surge into next year as I plan on taking my writing to the next level. Perhaps for the first time ever in my life, I will get paid to write fiction next year! But until then, let me crest this end-of-year creative wave to wherever it will take me.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post, and I hope, if you are a writer, or any other creative, for that matter, you also find that creative surge. Trust me, it feels euphoric once you find it. Good luck!

Until next time, bye!