2017 New Year's Resolutions
2016 Resolutions
Be more focused. I can be productive when I'm focused, and I used to be much better at this. I think part of this will involve facing my creative frustrations more directly. And part of this will involve being more discriminating with how I spend my time on the internet -- less taking the lazy/easy path of reading a fic or scrolling through tumblr (so many temporary highs), and more purposeful work.
B. Well, I pretty much stopped reading tumblr. But schlump time is necessary in order to recharge energy enough to enable focus, so... Ah well.
Do good for the baby, myself, and the fams. Rutabaga is dropping late March, after which is the physical recovery process which is so important for Chinese. Life will kind of take a break then, and in a way, reset. I'm hoping that the reset process will go well, not just for myself, but also for Jono, my parents, etc. I feel like this will be the primary focus for at least the first half of 2016. I'm not aiming for perfection or success, but I should make an earnest effort of it.
B. The first few months were hard in the "Jono doesn't like the baby and I'm wondering if I did him a massive disservice" sort of way. And then the next months were... actually okay? She slept through a lot of it. Now it's hard, because I want to do work and do creative stuff and socialize, and she has her own schedule. But I guess I just keep doing what I can, day by day.
Look at teaching opportunities. By this time next year, Rutabaga will be 8 months old! The timing is a bit awkward re: teaching job search, but I should look into part-time opportunities that maybe start in the middle of the next school year. And also start getting back in touch with school stuff and not just hiding in a corner like a shy gazelle.
N/A Eh, this turned out to not be a thing.
Diagnose the creativity problem. Is it that I don't feel creatively satisfied with comics in general? Is it an art rut or a storytelling rut or something else entirely? Does it mean I should experiment more? Or stick to my guns and finish what I've started? Is it simply a case of not being focused enough and not drawing enough? Or is there a larger creative sense of ennui that I need to ferret out? Anyways, I should try to diagnose this.
2017 Resolutions
Chew all that I have bitten off. I've been letting too many things slide. This resolution is twofold: one, chew more, and two, bite off less.
Create a consistent creativity "brand." I've dabbled all over the place. I think it's time to consolidate and be know for one thing (or a few related things), instead of a hodgepodge. Creating soupycomics would help. And also I've printed a few anthologies at this point, so maybe more of that, too?
Find satisfaction in creative work. This one sounds a bit nebulous, but what I mean is that my creative work should not be stressful. My time is so precious anyway, I should just do the things I want to do, and improve at a pace that feels comfortable. Sometimes I feel like I spend a lot of time doing creative-adjacent things, like organizing or managing. I'm good at that, but it's ultimately not that satisfying.
Optimize social interactions. This is related to the previous, which is that I want to make sure my hangouts and fandom interactions (exchanges, etc) are likewise non-stressful. There are many types of social interactions. I should aim for the ones that make me feel rejuvenated and not ones that make me feel tired or hollow.
Successful job transition. Get the company to a good place, wrap up the majority of the webapp, and find a teacher job that I'd like. ::knock on wood::