Happy New Year everyone!
First week of 2024 has been pretty productive, mostly sorting out my plans for the year and how to make sure it’s better than 2023. Last year was certainly not the best, but there were some upsides. I did manage to finish writing book 3 which is in the editing phase now (hopefully to be done soon) and I did improve a lot as an artist. But truth be told, 2023 very much felt like a fog when I try and think back on it.
Part of my struggles with last year was the fact that I spent a lot of time just killing time essentially. I look back on 2023 and realized how unfocused I was but not necessarily why. I had goals and ambitions but I found myself not working towards them as much as I should have but necessarily in the way one might think. It was only really in the last few months of 2023 I realized that it’s not just the quantity of time spent working towards your goals, but the quality of that time as well.
To sum up 2023, I realized it was a far more art focused year for me. I was very focused on learning and improving on my artistic ability so I could draw my characters and book covers better. I spent a lot of time trying to learn how to draw better and how to colour better using free resources on the internet. I’m sure there are people that can thrive from those resources but I came to discover that I am not one of those people. In November I ended up taking courses from Coloso on how to do character art and illustrations, two very important concepts for me to create better book covers. What I learned in those two courses and how much I improved in the past two months was dramatically more than I had learned in the other 10 months of 2023. I learned so much that I had spent weeks and months struggling to comprehend. It was a great experience and very eye opening.
Time is a struggle in that it’s so fleeting and hard to make the most of it. There’s so many things demanding our attention and focus that are just easier and hit that dopamine rush a lot faster than longer term goals. But I find that those goals that truly matter have a far better and more lasting positive feeling that stays with you. Publishing my first book and knowing people are buying and enjoying reading it is far more satisfying than anything else I’ve ever done or accomplished. One of the core highlights of my life really and I want to focus more on those kinds of goals. Those art lessons made me realize that I need to plan out my time better and more carefully rather than “spend x hours” writing, drawing, reading etc. I need to be more intentional and deliberate with how I spend my time.
This year I want to focus on writing and planning out my stories better. My goal is to publish book 3 in the next few months and finish writing book 4 by the end of this year. I also want to keep improving on art so I can make better book covers and draw my own characters as that helps me to write them better. But I also want to improve how I market my books and get them to people. While people are buying and reading them, it occurs to me I’m only doing the bare minimum and more can be done to get my stories out there.
A lot of this requires that I spend my time more focused and dedicated, but just like those art lessons it also requires that I spend that time efficiently. I don’t want to spend months and only end up maybe 5% towards my goals when I could’ve planned it out better and done so much more. Hopefully I can make 2024 a better and more focused year.
Good luck with all your goals this year!
– Raphael
Raph's Cozy Musings 