I don’t know about that.

I try not to get too invested in the statistics associated with either my blog posts or my creative writing series, but it really is a crap shoot for what will get any attention, and what will flounder with one single, individual view. I can not find a rhyme nor reason as to what draws people’s attention and what doesn’t. I have had to make a concerted effort to not pander to topics that catch on (in regards to what I would consider to be a good viewing day) vs. Stuff I enjoy writing, or feel like blathering on about daily. In all honesty I don’t write for the views, I’m writing because I made a decision to do a little of it every single day, regardless of quality nor the contents of each post.

I like to discuss family, working as a freelance graphic designer, home DIY projects, sculpting, woodworking and being a stay at home, part time working dad. Followed up by chaotic absurdism, or achingly real melancholy. With no real content strategy. Would I enjoy tens of thousands of views and a potential short story writing career? Yeah sure, awesome. But I’m not currently building towards more work in my life, rather having a fun and fulfilling creative outlet. My goal was the try to reach a cumulative 100,000 words, using the 59,000 word head start from 2020/2021. That feels like an obtainable goal for me.

I also want to sculpt more this year, and do more furniture restoration, or building. I have my eye on some shop infrastructure projects to better utilize the space, and to make setting up for milling my own lumber just a bit easier. Wheeled cart, wall hanging cubby for nail guns and pin nailers and charging hand tools, as well as a peg board for exposed tool. Mixed in there will be a live edge water fall coffee table, and any dressers or tables I tackle refinishing this year.

Our farm has a smallish metal trailer that needs tending too, as once we have to start watering crops by hand, a wheeled trailer i can put a rain barrel with hose in would help immensely. I need to strip off the rust, bang out some dents and twists, reform the tongue portion on the trailer, sand and paint it all. Will be a loud project with all the hammering needed, but could be a lot of fun.

Oh yeah, the front door needs to come off again, get sanded once more, primed this time around, then repainted properly. Took me half a day last time I did it, several years ago.

One of the next steps for exterior house work is adding a rain barrel under one down spout, with a hose attachment point, and a shut off valve for that hose. Then, in the near future, I want to add some solar panels to the roof, so that we have energy saved up when we get those summer time rolling black outs, due to aging infrastructure, and our local population being too dense and heavy for the amount of power our town has available. I think a portable generator would not go amiss either. Losing the contents of our fridge over the summer power outages is getting to be a real threat.