2018 can be summed up with two words: fucking chaotic. There were only a handful of things that transpired over the year that I can say were definitively positive: I got married, I honeymooned in Europe, I saw Harry Potter & the Cursed Child on Broadway, I went to Switzerland, I went on the Writing Excuses Cruise, and I made a whole bunch of friends in the writing community. Besides that…? This year was a wash. A messy, painful wash filled with far too much death and misery. That said…
2019 feels like it’s going to be a much better year all around and I’ve decided to tap into that positivity to keep myself from going insane as December crawls towards its end. These last several months have help me put things into perspective, specifically where my mental health and career path are concerned. So, I present to you my list of goals and desires for 2019:
- Improve my mental health. I’ve started therapy, I’ve started exercising regularly again and I’m slowly learning how to keep myself from letting anxiety triggers drive me to snap at people. I’ve also cut caffeine from my diet as much as possible. I only drink decaf coffee now and the lack of caffeine has been extremely positive for my anxiety.
- Improve my physical health. Several years ago I was working out at the gym five, sometimes six days a week. That’s been a bit hard to accomplish over the last couple of years for a variety of reasons, but I’ve started on the path to establishing a regular routine and I’m already feeling much better.
- Start a new job. My wife and I want to have children, we want to be able to save more to afford things later in life. I feel like this one is pretty self-explanatory.
- Hone my skills as a graphic designer. I was identified as gifted in art all the way back in first grade, so it’s not really a shock that I’m interested in graphic design, specifically book covers and interiors. I work primarily with Autodesk Sketchbook and a tablet and I’d love to get better, to the point where I can start working as a freelance cover designer.
- Hone my ability to design books. This ties into the above but focuses more on the interior formatting of a book. I work in Scribus, an opensource desktop publishing application similar to Adobe InDesign. I find the process of formatting a book interior fascinating and challenging and it’s something I want to be able to offer in addition to cover design.
- Self-publish VULTURES and it’s sequel. I’m by no means deciding I’d rather self-publish everything for the entirety of my career. Far from it. My reasoning stems a lot from having gotten to know a lot of indie authors in the Twitter writing community. Everyone is so incredibly supportive of each other and the books they churn out are spectacular, both in content and presentation. It gave me the confidence I needed to pursue the avenue for my first two releases. I’ve always had a DIY attitude and VULTURES gives me the perfect opportunity to put my skills as a writer and designer on full display.
- Write the sequel to VULTURES. Because duh.
- Write a draft of my story about a-hole bird gods and death as a commodity, tentatively titled WE DEAL IN DEATH.
- Read so much more than I did in 2018.
- Read more self-published work. I’ve made friends and I’m going to support them.
There you have it, friendos. Happy New Year’s Eve Day. See you…wait for it…
NEXT YEAR! 🙂