So, last January I decided to make myself focus on just one area of what I do per month, so I’d stop flailing and bouncing from thing to thing and just get shit did. Overall, I think it worked out well, I had one focus fail and one focus stretch over two months. But man, life gets busy and I was doing stuff in those those times, just not the focuses.
And really? I moved and wrote a book this year, took a class and made some cool things. I think I rocked it. Here’s a little rundown:
January: Month of writing. Started The Audacity Gambit and wrote a decent number of short stories, sorted some things out. Probably my most productive month.
February: Month of comics. Pencilled the pages for a mini comic. Done while packing to move and doing it finished a long-stagnated project (or getting closer to doing so, I’ve still got to ink the dang thing).
March: Month of sewing (for the home). We moved and I did up our house with little stuff like curtains and kitchen things.
April & May: Month of nails. This was a total fail. A lot was happening in my personal life, so I extended the focus through May and then pretty much failed it. Which is fine. I guess I am human.
June: Month of photography. Mostly finishing some projects and taking a picture every day that referenced one from my giant Flickr archive. Probably my second most productive month.
July & August: Month of craft room. I cleaned the attic space that I use for my “studio”. I was taking a class at the time and we were going to shows a lot, so that I got anything done while also having fun is pretty great.
September: Month of optics. Playing with the various lenses and things that I have, revisiting the goggles and eyepieces I used to do. Didn’t get as much done as I’d like, but I had fun.
October: Month of illustration. Making pictures to go with stories I wrote in January. Though I didn’t get much done this month, I made some things I really liked.
November: Month of changes. I re-did how I browse the internet after losing Google Reader and prepared the attic space for my sister coming to stay with us for a while. This is the busy season for me at work, so it was nice to have something that felt like it was getting done.
December: Month of presents. This was fun, though I wish I’d done more for more folks.
Huh. It felt like I didn’t get much done, but I think I did? And what I did do was more focused and I felt less guilt over what I wasn’t doing. I fully plan on continuing this focus month thing. I’m sure that I will make next year even better.