Resolutions and 2018 Blog Plans

It's that time again. time to review last year's resolutions and make new ones. And time to layout my 2018 blog plans.

2017 has been a rough ear. Rough politically, rough personally. My wife and I had our second child, renovated our house, went to live at my in-laws, endured a lot of drama and 5 month delay on construction (on what originally going to be only 3 months of work). Gaming went from biweekly to monthly to play by post to nothing at all.

To say I’m looking forward to 2018 is an understatement. I will soon be back home, the kids are sleeping better, I will have more free time with less outside judging about how I spend it, and my wife will be better able to contribute to the household tasks. Already the kids are sleeping better and next week my daughter starts daycare, guaranteeing 8 more hours of non-work time a week. So more free time, less stress.

But let’s look at last year’s resolutions and how I plan to go forward next year.

2017 Resolution Review

Diet & Exercise: I did not engage in more exercise though I’ve been walking more since summer. I did get serious about my diet again and lost over 10 pounds before the holidays kicked in. It’s hard to follow your own dietary plan while living in someone else’s house. Especially when they insist on doing all the cooking.

I feel more positive for this year. I have more time to work in exercise and I’ll again control most of the cooking.

Write Every Day: This was hit and miss. I had good months and bad months. I worked on more writing prompts and when I could ensured I wrote a little everyday. The 2017 RPGaDay challenge was pretty helpful. I tried to replicate the Q&A format for my personal writing but it didn’t work out. Again stress (of the house, of my in-laws, of the kids) overwhelmed me every couple of weeks.

Watch More Movies: I watched some more movies but not many. I did better on TV especially while we were still at our house. I think given full control of the TV after work that I’ll be able to catch up on the recent popular films and series soon.

New (or Renewed) 2018 Resolutions

Diet & Exercise: As I indicated above, I plan to keep up the diet and redouble my effort to lose weight in the new year. Fingers crossed, I hope to get to my 2016 weight by summer.

Write Every Day: With less day-to-day stress I hope the only barrier for this will be my own laziness. Additionally I had some success using the fractal method (link) to work on a long story in October/November. Hopefully I can complete it this year.

Submit something to a zine or gaming company: I really want to get my work out there. The trick is developing material for a system/setting for a game that I like and that I can sell/submit/distribute.

2018 Blog Plans

Last year I went to a weekly schedule due to a lack of time. Before this summer hit though I was starting to find the time to do more. I’d like to resume my twice weekly schedule at some point this year. That will depend on generating enough sustainable material but I think I have a rich vein in the reviews I’ve been doing lately. Expect more of them once I get settled back home.

The other thing I’d like to do is capitalize on some of my older work. To that end I’ll be reposting some of my older series on roleplaying games (with some revisions and perhaps more/better artwork). So if you want to read how Mage: the Awakening runs or find reviews on Powered by the Apocalypse games, I’ll be reminding you of my material as well as adding even more reviews, actual plays, and supplementary stuff in 2018!