The solo journaling variant works extremely well! I've been writing about the weeks of a small community of hedgehogs, who have made friends with manatee scientists and deer herbalists. I find this exercise every few days calming, and it is excellent to have a journaling campaign!
Still going, currently in the middle of Fall. A recommendation I have for solo play, as one doesn't have others to take on extra narrative load, is to alter the turn actions a little. So on a turn after playing out the card drawn you can choose one of
- grow or change a town feature, as before
- have a friend of the town visit as before but without someone leaving the town temporarily
- have someone leave the town temporarily
- prepare for an event, as before.
When an event does happen, that is a special week without a card draw devoted to the event.
Without these changes the game became too stressful for me as a lone player, even just journaling one turn at a time.
I'm still having an excellent time and will report back after winter.