Shayan Afzal

A Year of Unbounded Expression

As I look back on 2024, I see a year where my writing flourished like never before. It wasn’t just the quantity—I wrote more than I ever have in previous years—but the quality of my relationship with the process that truly transformed. What sparked this change?

In the past, my writing adhered to a strict structure, almost as if confined by invisible rules. But this year, I gave myself permission to write without boundaries. My goal shifted from creating polished works to simply letting thoughts flow onto the page, like a form of journaling—but with a twist. It wasn’t about chronicling events or emotions in a conventional sense. Instead, it became a way to think out loud on paper, discovering insights I hadn’t realized before.

This unstructured approach brought a kind of clarity. Thoughts that once felt scattered began to coalesce as I wrote, leading to realizations that wouldn’t have emerged otherwise. Writing became both a process of exploration and an act of understanding, a map of my inner world unfolding word by word.

The San Francisco Travel Blog

One of my most fulfilling projects this year was my San Francisco travel blog that you can read here, born from a trip that left an indelible mark on me. So far, I’ve shared 16 posts under this category, weaving together my prose and photography to capture not just the city’s landmarks but its soul.

The combination of writing and photography has been a particularly rewarding creative endeavor. Each photo acts as both a starting point and a complement to my words, allowing me to explore artistic and psychological nuances. Together, they form a narrative tapestry that feels uniquely mine, an experience I’m eager to continue expanding into 2025.

Prose Over Poetry

While I dabbled in poetry this year, my true focus has been on prose. My writing style leans heavily into the poetic, not in a sentimental sense but in its depth and complexity. It’s a style that doesn’t cater to the impatient reader, and I’m okay with that.

For me, the details that matter aren’t the obvious ones—the prettiness of a flower or the colors of a sunset—but the psychological, historical, or artistic threads that tie an experience together. It’s about the way a sunset might lead me to ponder existence, history, or human fragility, layering thoughts upon thoughts until they form a whole.

This stream-of-consciousness approach feels like a puzzle that reveals itself only upon completion. It’s a niche style, one that demands patience and close attention, but it resonates deeply with those who are willing to engage.

Looking Ahead to 2025

As I continue this journey, I’m committed to deepening my exploration of unstructured writing and nuanced prose. My San Francisco blog remains a work in progress, and I’m eager to see where it takes me. More than that, I want to continue refining my voice—one that isn’t afraid to delve into the psychological and artistic intricacies of life.

If 2024 was the year I broke free from structure, 2025 will be the year I build something meaningful from the freedom I’ve found.

Questions to Ponder:

• How do you balance structure and freedom in your creative pursuits?
• Do you find that writing reveals insights you hadn’t realized before?
• What role does patience play in the writing or reading process for you?

Let me know your thoughts below!