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Let’s Close Out this Asshat of a Year, Shall We?

I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions a couple decades ago. They never worked and I really don’t believe in them. But I’m making some anyway. Why? I don’t know. It’s probably a fool’s game, but sometimes you just need to act the fool, you know?

2017 was a rough year. Come to think of it, most of the BS my family dealt with started in 2016, so goodbye, good luck, and good riddance to both years.

I try to be a positive force in my corner of the world, so as I’m waving goodbye to 2017 (with one finger), I’m heartily welcoming 2018 and all the potential awesome it might bring. It’s a fresh start. A clean slate. A blank page. And any other cliche you can think of for a new beginning.

One thing’s for certain, though: my blogging schedule took a beating in 2017. I spent a lot of time being exhausted and stressed out, and I didn’t publish much. That’s something I need to change. I’ve got a bunch of reviews and some other silliness in the works while my pile of unused pens continues to grow. Gotta start digging my way out.

New year. New hope. New plan.

Simply declaring resolutions won’t improve my chances of success (and I’m fairly certain that making resolutions will only catch the attention of the Fates and serve to decrease my chances). But these are the things I want to accomplish in 2018, so I’m tempting the Fates and writing them down anyway:

1. All Health’s Breaking Loose – Hey, hey, have you read the news?

Weight is up. Stress is high. Numbers are out of whack. I’m kind of a hot mess. This aging business is a bunch of crap. I know, I made it sound like I was going to focus on writing reviews, but I really need to improve my health if I expect to improve anything else. I figure if I can trim down, eat better, and get more sleep, I’ll have more energy to pour into this site. The good news is that I’ve already started this one. Around the middle of November, I cut out sweets and fried foods, drastically reduced my intake of saturated fats and meat, and forced myself to get to bed earlier.

Although I fell off the wagon over the holidays, I’m still down about 6 pounds (2.7 kg) from where I started. Getting back on track should be relatively easy, and if I can pepper in some meditation and a little exercise, I’ll be in good shape (insert rim shot here). Can I keep it up forever, though? Good question.

2. Whole Lotta Reviews

I started 2017 fairly strong, posting a number of reviews through April. But I about fell off the planet after that, only covering a few pens and notebooks over the last eight months of the year. I have so many pens sitting around, many of which I haven’t even inked up yet, not to mention a huge number of notebooks and several hundred inks. I really need to step up my game. I do have several pen reviews in the works, though, and my photography is already done for them. So it’s just a matter of cleaning up the images and writing the text.

I think I’m going to try batching things as much as possible so I can maintain some semblance of a regular schedule.

3. Welcome to My Journal, We Got the Fun & Games

I tried bullet journaling a couple times late last year and early this year. I loved it but found it hard to keep up with. If I got behind a few days, getting caught up was a chore. And if I was a few days behind as a new month rolled around, I had to get my calendar and trackers all set up on top of remembering several days’ worth of events. It was just easier to toss it on a shelf and say “the hell with it.”

But I’m trying something new this year. I’ve set up all my monthly calendars and trackers in advance, so I only have to worry about recording each day’s events and managing my to-do list. I’m hoping this staves off the feelings of being overwhelmed and helps me keep it going.

4. Rock N’ Roll All Nite, and Doodle Every Day

Okay, I admit it: this one is a long shot. I’m a terrible artist. Even my stick figures are lame. Earlier this year, I visited the Kinokuniya in New York, and walked out with a B6 Stalogy 365Days notebook and no idea what I’d use it for. For the sake of mindfulness, I thought trying to draw/sketch more often would be a good exercise, and using a 365Days notebook would be a great way to track a drawing every day for a year. I seriously doubt I’ll create a drawing every day, but it will be fun to try.

 

5. I Want it All. I Want it All. I Want it All. And I Want it NOW!

The vast majority of my posts are reviews. I need to branch out more. My Pen Pain posts have been pretty popular (please pardon the alliteration), so I want to do more things like that. Plus, I have a few other ideas that (I think) would make good reading. And in case you didn’t know, I’m part of the team organizing the new St. Louis Pen Show, so I’ll undoubtedly have some posts on that over the next few months.

What Do You Want to See from Me?

So that’s my plan for 2018. What would you like to see from me in 2018? Are you interested my bullet journal setup? Or my daily doodles? Are there missing pieces in my reviews that I should add? Or are they too long already? What should I add? What should I do differently? What should I stop? Is there something you’d like to see that no one is doing? Hit me up in the comments and let me know!