I kinda like doing start-of-month posts with a little bit of resolution and planning. Let's see if I can keep it up.
To start on a cheerful note,
signups are open at H/C-Ex!
I didn't do a single Fandom 50 post last month. I will try to do one a week this month! And I also have a number of recently read books and such that I haven't posted about yet. And I did plan to do some aviation posts for Biggles fandom as well! In December and January, I posted to DW almost every day, and I really enjoyed it. I'd like to manage something like that for March as well (assuming it doesn't draw too much focus away from writing - but in January, it didn't seem to). Anyway, I have plenty of things to post about.
February kind of fell down a hole (got sick, spent a lot of time in book revision hell, etc) but one thing that happened was that somewhere mid-month I decided to change my overall professional theme/goal for 2023 from "reliability" to "sustainability." It's related, but it also has to do with working on healthy pacing, giving myself time off, setting realistic expectations for myself and so forth. I feel like I really leveled up on my reliability goals last year (sticking to a project until I see it through, getting more accurate on my writing timing projections so I can set more accurate preorders, working on a series until I finish it, etc); I now feel like I can set up a preorder and feel confident in myself to hit the target as long as it's far enough out, which I did not feel AT ALL confident about as recently as 2 years ago. So maybe now I should look at combining that leveled-up ability to finish things with flex time and playtime and taking time off. I set my own deadlines, for the most part, and I don't want to be crushed by them. I need days off and vacations and hobbies and fun just as much as someone who works a regular day job. But it's not JUST taking time off! It's also using my work time better, so I'm not taking 4 hours to do a 1-hour job because of continual procrastination and/or getting distracted by shinier projects.
One change I made sometime last year, that is turning out to be AWESOME, is taking the first couple of days of each month for rest, reflection, and paperwork. This has helped hugely with not having a giant paperwork mess to deal with for tax time this year; I've been updating and organizing it as I go, so it's all in order this year! Who knew.
Let us end on a poll. What are your March plans?
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 37
In March, I hope to:
View AnswersStart a new fun project
6 (16.2%)
Write a fic
18 (48.6%)
Set a goal
7 (18.9%)
Go to a new place
5 (13.5%)
Do some socialing
10 (27.0%)
Sign up for H/C-Ex
7 (18.9%)
Sign up for something else
2 (5.4%)
Do something else which I will tell you about in comments
8 (21.6%)