And we’re back.
I have been quite tired, and more than a bit sad, and very busy, in that weird way that eats all your time while not providing nearly enough money that seems unique to freelancing/contracting/self-employment. Other freelancers will know what I mean. I find myself in an odd bind where I feel like being honest about this stuff will depress my readers, which I’d rather not do, and then I don’t write, which makes me depressed, and… it’s a nasty cycle, isn’t it?
Oh and there’s the absolute state of the world right now, the endless crises all domino cascading into each other and the way we’ve blithely accepted, as a species, that we will just kind of let the worst people in the world run everything, that occasionally we will wave some signs at them and post some snark online and then continue to let them keep running things. Oh and then there’s setting the world’s hard-won capital on fire in crypto minds and data centres in a hubristic, doomed-to-fail quest to build an artificial god.
Yeah. That gets me down, on occasion, which is to say, every day without fail.
Because it’s me, and after long acquaintance I feel like I’m getting to know this character reasonably well, I wonder if I am also selling myself short. While I’ve been quiet here, I have completed case studies, designs, videos, and a website build for a client. I have done all the Dad Stuff like looking after the kids and cooking the food and such, which I always feel doesn’t count towards my personal productivity score, but of course it should; the unpaid job you do at home is still very real work. And I have started a podcast with Emily Writes (we are three episodes in, two of which are available for public consumption). Here it is, on Apple and Spotify.
We also began a new series called The Brighter Future. This means a lot to me. Do try it.
The Brighter Future is a big deal for me; I wondered if other people were fed up with the endless procession of doom and wanted to script an alternative future, one that doesn’t absolutely suck. Turns out they do. So that’s nice.
In other news, I’m going back to daily blogging.
That month where I did things each day was the only time in… years? Decades? during which I felt like I was in some kind of control. Sure, I was flipping out, but it was more like aerobatics than the kind of uncontrolled spiral I feel like I’m in now. And when I made something small but tangible each day, opportunities just kind of… cropped up. I do wonder if I am constitutionally unsuited to doing this sort of thing; I often think my ideal job description would be “beachside hermit” but that is not the world we live in. And there is value to creating every day. Loathe as I am to look like I’m engaging in hustle culture, writing something (or making anything) sure beats an hour or more of aimless scrolling.
Don’t worry; I won’t be emailing you a post every single day. I’ll just make the posts here and send out a weekly digest. That way you can play along at home without me annihilating your inbox.
I’ve also done a bunch of Bob Ross paintings: once they have received the required additions and adjustments, prints will be going out to subscribers. Here is one I did today. Doing these helps keep the doom at bay, a little.
As always, I am taking recommendations on what I could add to the paintings.
Perhaps that will be an incentive for you to comment! Please do. The comments are always a highlight.
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