It kinda got too easy after writing a few books and starting to speak to the plants.
It is still a pretty good challenge, though. I still didn't finish mine, but it is going pretty well so far. 2 maxed skills, social never actually got to a critical level and my sim also completed the painting aspiration (all four stages).
It reminds me of TS1 and TS2. I used to start with a 6x6 square house with no divisions for my sims, and then I would expand and build more rooms as my sim got more money. So nostalgic. I might try this challenge again but with a 6x6 room instead of a 8x8 room.