On May 14, 2025, I posted the first poem of a wild idea called 100 Days of Inspirational Words. One word, one poem, every single day for a hundred days.
I thought it would be a small experiment. A way to stretch my writing muscles, maybe find a handful of readers who liked poetry as much as I do. What I didn’t expect was the way this challenge would carry me — through exhaustion, through joy, through doubt, through laughter (thanks to my dog Miss Monroe, who never once respected filming time).
And now, here we are: Day 100? Done!
What I Learned
1. Showing up matters more than being perfect.
Some poems came easily, almost like they were waiting for me. Others were a fight from the first line. But hitting “post” anyway taught me more about writing than endless polishing ever could.
2. Community changes everything.
The words you sent me weren’t just prompts. They were lifelines. You turned this into something bigger than myself. Each poem became a conversation, an echo of voices I never would have met otherwise.
3. Creativity isn’t endless, but it is renewable.
Some days, I honestly thought I couldn’t do it anymore. The last ten days were the hardest. I was spending nearly three hours per poem video, and other things in my life had to be left undone. But I also found a rhythm, a strategy for shaping the words into something that still felt true. Exhausting? Yes. Worth it? More than I can say.
The Numbers That Matter
When I started this challenge, I had 156 followers. Today, I have 505.
Not a viral success story. But that’s not what I wanted.
What I found is so much more valuable: a community. Readers and writers who stayed, who commented, who reminded me that words echo further when they’re shared. I’m proud of that. Proud of us.
The Last Word
It felt right to end with VIRUS, a word that ties into the story I’ve been carrying for 15 years: my YA dystopian novel The Last Girl on Earth. The poem became a bridge between this challenge and that story, One I can’t wait to share with you soon.
What Comes Next
This isn’t the end. You’ve sent me nearly 30 more words, and starting next week, I’ll keep writing: one poem a week. A slower rhythm, but the echo goes on.
And here’s something I didn’t see coming at the start: I’ve decided to collect these poems and publish them in a book. A way to hold them in one place. To turn this 100-day experiment into something lasting.
Alongside that, I’ll be sharing more about The Last Girl on Earth: The 23rd Pair, the first book in my trilogy. It’s the story of Eve, the last girl surviving in a world without women, fighting to stay hidden, and learning that survival is only the beginning.
Thank You
If you’ve been here since Day 1, or if you joined somewhere in the middle: thank you. Thank you for reading, for sharing, for sending words that pushed me into places I never expected.
One hundred days later, I don’t just have a collection of poems.
I have proof that words connect. That stories matter. That beginnings can come from anywhere — even a single word in a comment.
So here’s to the next chapter.
Weekly poems. A finished book. And the echoes we’ll keep making together.
— Mel (& Miss Monroe 🐾)
Disclaimer: Header image created using AI-generated illustration tools.
