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Here is some filler content about all my exciting(?) goals and projects.
Hello everyone!
Well here I am again, once again right on time. It seems that sending this out every other week has become a bit of a compulsion, which is great - I formed an actual writing habit, which was one of the goals I set myself for Q1. (Yes, I have become a person who organizes my life by fiscal quarter. Please kill me with this Capricorn shit.)
But Q1 is about to be over, so I am setting some new goals, which means that I am - for the millionth time - rethinking this Substack thing a bit. BECAUSE! There are some other goals and projects which need to be given priority. They are:
Writing fiction again
This is the next phase of the whole āgetting back to being a Person Who Writesā thing.
Iāve decided that by the end of Q2 (so end of June basically) I want to have semi-finished two short stories. This may not seem like a lot, but āshortā in this context can wind up being anywhere from like one page to thirty, and I also want this to include some revising rather than just vomiting out a draft and calling it done. And I know with these things you have to set goals that are ambitious enough to require actual effort (which is why one story is too little), but forgiving enough that you arenāt set up to fail if something else steals your attention for a bit (which is why three makes me wary). I correctly anticipated that biweekly Substack was the sweet spot for this last quarter, so good on me for knowing myself.
These stories are NOT going to be for Substack, unless I decide I want to share them; this needs to be a separate sort of writing endeavor. But Iām telling you because I think the accountability I create by publicizing these intentions is actually really good for me. So thanks for volunteering en masse to act as my unpaid personal life coach guys, I really appreciate it.
I do also want to keep up the Substack either by writing fewer posts or just making them shorter (or some combo?), since I do think the audience-facing habit has been good for me, and maybe Iāll have some other travel anecdotes worth sharing at some point. Natalie is also on me to write more about books and film, and sheās never wrong, so thereās that.
Iām gonna feel it out over the next few weeks as I see how much space the bigger priority stuff is taking up. Because another high-priority thing is:
A podcast
Claire and I are launching a podcast! We've been batting around the idea for a bit but it actually seems to be coming together. We have the concept nailed down and an experienced producer who is psyched, and are setting up a schedule to map out and record the first few episodes. I am not going to explain more right now because I want to wait until itās actually happening, which Iām guessing will take some weeks as it involves three people with jobs. But you will all be informed in great detail once itās ready because we will be thirsty for subscribers. And I KNOW you all want an excuse to hear my voice on a regular basis. And also Claireās of course.
Iām actually genuinely psyched about this. I think itās going to be rad and Iāve been wanting to learn more about podcasting for professional development purposes anyway, so what better way?
Career bullshit
Super lame, I know. But now that Iāve succeeded in the Q1 goal of working literal overtime to regain a tenuous hold on my finances, I need to circle back around to the whole āplotting the next phase of my careerā thing again. Networking. CV-updating. Personal marketing. Skill uplevelling. Blah blah blah. While also making enough money to live on. Ugh. Gross.
Canāt say this is what Iām most excited about, but itās gotta happen, because Iāve been stuck in this whole whole fuck-freelancing-Iām-so-bored-and-underpaid loop for way too long and I also do still think I want to leave Berlin in the next couple of years. Iām actually pretty content here right now but I donāt feel like this is going to be the place for my forties. Which are fast appearing in my sights [*~ominous music~*].
I did do all that preliminary brainstorming over the holidays though, so I have something to start from. And meanwhile I can take comfort in the fact that weāre about to have the first 20C and sunny weekend of the year and for the first time in almost two months I DO NOT HAVE TO WORK!
So Anyway
Thatās whatās happening. In addition to, theoretically, having some actual fun now that the weather is warming and Iām itching to be a bit more social again. I also want to get back to doing more photo again, but that may be a summer project.
Iām actually very proud of myself for keeping this up regularly forā¦ 3 and a half months so far, it seems? Thanks for, like, following along and not unsubscribing. I am grateful for each and every one of you.