2026 Update, 2025 Reflection, & Future Plans for Kay's Corner

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Kay's Corner!

Now that we've all settled into 2026, I thought it'd be worth giving an update on this site, mostly regarding my unannounced hiatus and future projects/plans. I'll also be reflecting on 2025, starting Kay's Corner, and how I'm going to approach it from now on. With all that said, let's get right into things with the reflection!

Truth be told, I'm honestly quite disappointed in my 2025 output. Even with all the struggles I faced in 2024 (from grief to mental health to my own perception of myself), it managed to be a very formative year for my writing style and approach. And while I'm proud of a few pieces from last year (the Kirby Air Ride article's probably my favourite), the long gaps and overall amount of articles were disappointing, and I'd like to apologise for that.

I also think my writing quality took a hit last year (at least regarding the site's original articles), and that's largely due to the pressure I put on myself. Without getting too personal, I wanted to treat Kay's Corner as my equivalent to a job or career; something I could be proud of and use to feel "productive". But as I learnt the hard way, after facing burnout and incredibly intense stress, that sort of lifestyle just isn't for me. I can't function in those kinds of conditions, and even if the experience was gruelling, I'm glad I learned that lesson.

But that experience taught me something: if I want to flourish and enjoy this hobby (and maybe someday built it into a notable career), I need to give myself the grace and breathing room to take breaks and refuel. When I'm fully charged and passionate, I can be quite the workaholic, but it's impossible to force that. If I don't have the strength or mental fortitude to write at that time, I won't get anything done, and forcing myself leads to a disappointing end product. Learning that about myself and embracing it was difficult, but I'll keep making progress, and hopefully get to a point where everything runs smoothly.

Unfortunately, this does mean the Wario Land article is cancelled for the foreseeable future. I'm proud of some of my work on it, but the circumstances of its production make it quite an unpleasant memory. Maybe it'll eventually be revisited (because I really do love that game and think it's quite overlooked), but likely not for a long while.

Moving onto a more positive topic, I'm happy to say that my hiatus is over, and I'll be getting back to writing! Things will undoubtedly be slower as I readjust and take the time to look after myself, but I'm hoping it'll lead to more polished work. In fact, since I'm feeling like it, I'd love to share a quick preview of two current articles:

I'm planning for my first article of 2026 to be about Mickey Mania, a fantastic little Mega Drive game from Traveller's Tales! Disney's slate of classic cartoons and features have been a major interest of mine lately, so I figured covering a game like this would be the perfect way to combine my passions!

And after that, I'm getting back to something that's been in my head for literal years. I've been wanting to write about Sonic Superstars since its release in 2023, but the sheer scope of such a project has always put me off. For now, I think I've found a solution - the retrospective will be split up into three parts, lightening my workload and keeping each article at a reasonable length. The first part (which will start with the announcement and prerelease, before analysing everything up to the sixth zone) has no release date, but I'd love to get it out in time for Sonic's 35th anniversary in June. Whether that actually happens is unpredictable, but I'm looking forward to the ride!

One last thing before I sign off, though: if you've ever enjoyed anything I've written, please never hesitate to tell me, whether that's through BlueSky, Discord, or any other means.

I'm not saying this because I want an ego boost, I'm saying it because it's genuinely important to me. A key part of being a creative is creating for yourself, yes, but an overlooked aspect is getting to share your art and creations with the people around you. It's exciting to finally reveal what you've been chipping away at, and it can be disheartening when it feels like you've got no audience.

Maybe it's not quite as important to me since I'm not doing this as a job or source of income, but that feedback and affirmation is the fuel that makes me want to keep writing. I love writing for myself, but what I love just as much is sharing my perspectives and hearing what other people think. And if I'm able to reach at least a few vocal folks, that's good enough for me.

 

And with that, I think it's time to bring this update to a close.

Thank you all for the support you've shown me since 2023, 2024, and especially 2025. Even though last year was quite slow (and a bit of a disappointment, at least from my perspective), I want to turn things around in 2026. I really think I've found my calling with this hobby, and I'd love to continue it for years to come.

 

-Kay