First Post of 2018! Where Do We Go From Here?

Happy New Year, everyone!

I intended to have this post up yesterday, but time got away from me.

So!  2017's over, huh?  A bit of a mixed bag, to be sure, but more good than bad, overall, at least for me.  I hit some serious rough patches, but I got through them.  I completed two major projects on this very blog.  And this Christmas may have been the best that I can remember, thanks in large part to several very important people in my life.

I genuinely hope that your holiday season, no matter what (if anything) you choose to celebrate, was as great as possible.  But more than that, I hope that you left 2017 better than you entered it.  And whether you did or didn't, I hope that your 2018 is happy and fulfilling.

Speaking of 2018, I want to talk a bit about what the blog is going to be like going forward.  But to get to the future, we need to briefly discuss the past.

As I mentioned before, 2017 was a big year for me in regards to my own productivity.  Blogtober was the biggest project I've ever completed, and the fact that I was actually able to finish it was extremely satisfying.  I'm not convinced that it's of the highest quality that it could be, but that's okay.  What matters is that I decided to do something and I stuck to it, and I can do even better if I happen to do it again.  I still haven't decided if I'll be doing a 2018 edition of Blogtober, since it stretched me pretty thin.  But I have a while to decide, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if my Halloween spirit kicks in and spurs me into action.

December's Confirmed Kills project was nowhere near as large an undertaking as Blogtober was, but it brought with it its own set of hurdles to overcome.  Still, I (mostly) stuck to my plan, and I was able to finish it before the end of 2017, so that's another writing project down.  Sure, in the grand scheme of things, these two projects don't amount to the biggest accomplishment in the world, but I'm suitably proud of myself for finishing them all the same.  But on the subject of Confirmed Kills, that's actually the first change I'd like to talk about.

On the whole, I think the Confirmed Kills project this December was a success.  In retrospect, however, I think I'd like to change the approach to it from here on out.  Don't get me wrong, I love reviewing the games.  And I honestly think that focusing on games that pull me in organically is the correct decision, rather than necessarily whatever is newest at the time.  I really enjoyed having a wide range of time represented.  The biggest problem comes from trying to do them all at once, long after I finished them.

Take, for instance, my first review in the set, Mega Man 2.  I finished that game back in February, and here I am reviewing it in, what?  November?  That was a great game, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but do you have any idea how much media I consume over the course of one month, nevermind ten?  And don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware of the fact that I have a problem with focus, but I think the finer details of my experience playing that game would have been hazy nonetheless.

And so, with that having been said, I've made the decision to alter the scope of Confirmed Kills.  I'll still be focusing on games I've personally finished for the first time, no matter when they came out, rather than what's new and popular at the moment.  I don't see that aspect ever changing, since that's more in keeping with one of the major reasons I originally started the blog.  But rather than shotgunning them all out at the end of the year, I'll instead be writing and posting them as soon as I've finished the game.

This creates a twofold benefit: it allows me to write the reviews with the game fresh in my mind, and it lets you keep close track of just how often I finish things.  That way, if you follow along, you'll be able to see just how unusual it is!  It will also leave me without a project ready to go come the end of the year, but whatever.  That's for December me to worry about, January me is shaking things up!  Controversy creates cash!  Chaos is a ladder!

Okay, that got away from me, but I'm back in control now.  So let's talk a bit more about why I originally stated the blog.  If you've been following along since the beginning (which four whole people potentially have been!), you know that the main reason was just to make myself write, and that is certainly true.  The purpose of the blog is, first and foremost, to give me a casual outlet to get my creative juices flowing, by way of a platform I feel obligated to contribute to.  This, in turn, will ideally lead to me being better able to channel that creativity into my own original fiction.  My dream has always been to make a living as a writer, and that's what this is all about.

But that doesn't mean that the blog is an afterthought.  In fact, the other major reason I started the blog was actually in an effort to salvage an idea that didn't come to fruition.  I had, at one point, been planning to start a YouTube channel.  This never happened, mainly because I couldn't justify spending the amount of money it would've required for me to have a camera I was happy with.  But less important than the camera is what the channel would have been about.

I've talked about this before, but when I really get into something, I really get into it.  I tend to dig as deep as I can, and this usually leads to me discovering some really obscure things.  I love this aspect of being a fan of something.

Take something like Star Wars, par example.  We all know Star Wars, right?  Well, I could review Star Wars, sure, but that wouldn't do you much good.  So instead of that, I could review an early 90s PC game based on Star Wars.  Hey, that's much better!  Oh, but wait, there's a novella based on that game, even better!  Oh but wait, there's an audio drama based on that novella!  Three of them!  Now that's a winner.

So that's a very extreme case, but there's a veritable treasure trove of things from your favorite fandoms (or at least my favorites) that you may never have known existed.  And that's what I want to start spending a bit more time on.   I'm not necessarily saying it's going to become the main focus of the blog, but it will most likely be the most common thing for a while.  I'm really excited about it, and I hope you guys like it going forward.

Beyond that, I want to dedicate this year to really going forward with my original fiction.  I would really like to have something published in the first half of this year, most likely through Amazon Kindle.  Either way, I'll be posting excerpts and samples of my fiction here and there on this blog, if for no other reason than to make me actually do it.

As of right now, I don't have any solid plans for a release schedule for any of this stuff.  I have a shortlist of things I'd like to cover for my first few "obscure stuff" posts, and I have at least two games I could finish any day now, thus leading to some Confirmed Kills.   I'd like to have at least one post a week, but I'm hesitant to promise anything just yet.

Still, this should all lead to more (and more varied) content from here on out.  It's some very exciting stuff, and I genuinely can't wait to get started.  Here's hoping that 2018 leads to some really special places!

Until next time!

Current interests:
Listening - Various
Playing - Final Fantasy IX (2000)
Reading - Star Wars: Princess Leia (2015)
Watching - Bob's Burgers (2011)