9 Months In, aka Roasting My Progress
What's up, folks!
I hope the hurricane and typhoon haven't ragged on you too much. I'm a little worried since I'm "from" North Carolina, and many of my friends and family are still over there, but so far it seems like the people I know are safe and accounted for. I know that isn't the case for everyone though, so I'm really grateful for that. Hoping the floodwaters recede soon.
Moving on, I thought I'd take a break from posting art and revisit an older post I had written. And no, this isn't an obvious cop-out to distract from the fact that I have no art to share...jeez. ANYways.
So my second blog post detailed my 2018 art goals. Back when I was glossy-eyed and excited about the next 12 months. A lot has changed since then. For one, I didn't know that I would only have my job for 6 months, not the 12 months I was planning. That slashed my savings goal in half. I also didn't plan on the emotional, financial, and mental journey that was breaking up and moving into my own apartment. We're back together now, and while it's still been a rollercoaster trying to avoid the same mistakes as last time, I'm happy to say that currently things are much better. But, that was still a lot of up and downs that I didn't foresee, and a lot of mental and emotional energy spent, as well as the added time and gas cost of driving the now 30 mile distance between us on weekends, which is honestly down a lot when compared to the daily 60 mile round-trip commute I did to work.
Then there was my trip to Hawaii, another expense that I could afford, but didn't budget. I think the experiences were priceless, and the painting I did helped reinvigorate a lot of rusty art gears, but it still came with a price tag.
Then with regards to art, I wrote about wanting to squeeze in 40 hours of art every week, following some crazy posting schedule, drawing every day, working on two webcomics, and starting my first livestream. I promised 2 blog posts a week, refueling my Youtube channel, opening up an art store, and finishing that dumb online art class I started (the class isn't dumb. I'm just frustrated.) Overall, it was summed up as: draw more.
And did I accomplish that? Any of that? Well...40 hours a week? Definitely not. Even now, with literally NOTHING in my way, it's a struggle. One week I did great. Last week I did...not so great. This week...I'm kicking myself sooner than last week, but even then. Not great. I think there was one week where I went hard on the hours, but it was for a project with a deadline. So we'll mark this a no.The crazy posting schedule died off within a month of me making it. But it has since made a resurgence a few weeks ago, and so far I have been sticking to it. I think it helps that I have it written right in front of me on my desk's marker-board. I can't avoid it. Since it's only been a few weeks, I'll say this is a maybe sort of.Drawing every day? Do I have 260 drawings? Nope.
Working on two webcomics. Surprisingly, I have done this, although the second comic is not Portal House. I started a comic with my friend called Notice Me, and together we've been pretty on top of it. Was it created as an entry for a contest and we were racing against a deadline? Maybe. But we're still working on it post-contest, so I'm going to count this as a win.
2 blog posts a week? HAH! HAHAHAHA! HA HA HA AH ! Definitely not. I don't know what I was thinking with that goal. twice a week would require 54 blog posts. I've written...13. 14 if you count this one.And if you subtract 2 from 14, then you get the number of Youtube videos I've made this year: 12. 37 would have been the once a week number. So I guess...better than nothing?
One day I will livestream. One day I will open an art store. One day I will finish that online class. One day. It won't be today. Probably not tomorrow. But one day.
Basically what I'm saying is, I'm finishing off my 2nd month of unemployment with half the expected savings I wanted, and still not quite where I want to be art-wise, all on a truncated timeline.
So what now?
I guess the good news is, the year isn't over yet! Even September still has a little under 2 weeks left. Searching for what day of the year it was today led to the discovery that there's still 105 days left in the year! Trying to gather that second wind (or third, or fourth) is difficult, but it isn't impossible. When October rolls around I'll take stock again and revise my goals to something attainable in the remaining 3 months, but that's another blog post. For now, I'll focus on the rest of this month.If you want to talk about cheesy, I started writing motivational quotes on my big, non-desk marker board. Today's quote is: It doesn't matter how often you fall down. What matters is how often you get back up again.
So here's to regathering that motivation and making that final push. Life isn't a race, and time isn't real, but nothing gets our simple human brains going more than categories, limits, and measurable units. Finish 2018 strong so you can carry that momentum into the next construct that we call the new year :D
I wanna hear about you guys. What goals did you make? How far did you come in achieving them? Do you also need to reorganize and revise? Let me know in the comments!