2018 Retrospective

2018 was a big fat garbage fire. I ended a long relationship, moved

twice, and like everyone else, dealt with increasing realization about inequality and evil in the wider world. I didn't publish any fiction in 2018, the first year since 2013 I haven't published a story. Also, I clearly didn't update this blog-thing.

But 2018 wasn't a failure. I released an album, so that's at least one check off the list. I did sell a couple stories, even if they won't be published for awhile. Most importantly, I didn't stop working. I wrote a lot of stories, and a lot of songs. I sat and worked on arpeggios and new chord voicings. I refocused my personal life into healthier habits around diet, drinking, and exercise. I made a lot of new friends (and reconnected with some old ones). It's easy to start to rely on external motivators as an artist. Increasing success leads to increased financial stability, increased turnout at shows, more readers. Those things are all great, and so it's easy to feel the vacuum when you're suddenly out in the cold again. But at the core, most of us get into art (regardless of your medium) for reasons that aren't financial, or externally based. We get into it because we have something we need to express. Something we need to put to paper. Something we need to share. It's nice sometimes, to have a garbage fire year, and get back to the things that really matter. To rediscover your passions and motivations. 2018 makes me extra excited for 2019.

Music is gonna be slammin' this year. I'll be touring a lot, playing with a lot of different musicians, and pursuing a lot of projects that I really feel passionately about. #vanlifeforever I'm excited about writing, too. Remembering that the volume of my publication has next-to-nothing to do with the quality of my writing is huge. Over the past months, I've written some of my best work, and I'm thrilled to keep pushing myself and growing.

I hope, in that sense, that y'all can also have a garbage fire year soon, if you haven't already ;)