Everything I do on the Internet…and beyond.
January started out relatively well, but then life and school intervened a bit. And although I am slightly behind for my 2026 goals, there isn’t anything out of my reach. The trick is not to stress about what didn’t get done and look forward to the things we want to do. Learn from the past, but don’t dwell on it.
It’s funny; every time I set some realistic goals to be productive, the universe says, “Not today!” This week, school started and took the majority of my time, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And if I remember right, the first week of the last semester was haphazard as well.
This week was a bit north of busy, but I managed to keep most of my projects in check. This especially includes my goal to write a million words before the end of the year. Given all of the things I do in a day, it’s still one hell of an accomplishment. However, next week will be the true test of my time management skills.
Since I began recording all of the words I write and publish, I haven’t hit one million words. That’s mostly because most of my income nowadays doesn’t require a lot of writing. But in 2026, I am setting my sights on hitting a million words and then some, and all of it without the use of AI slop.
Every year, I try to motivate myself by creating a theme that inspires me. For 2026, I’m going with “The Year of Action.” It’s similar to the Year of Effort I did a few years ago, but I have a lot of goals that focus more on being more active in my career as a freelancer, blogger, YouTuber, author, and home care provider.
After a tad more than two years, Shadows of Atlantic City comes out today on Amazon for eBook and this weekend for printed copies. It’s easily one of my better books, according to myself and feedback from beta and regular readers. I’m quite excited for this one and look forward to continuing the story.
The last few weeks have been quite busy, both on and offline. And despite the chaos that makes up the vast majority of my life, I’m quite close to getting a lot of things done. I just need to keep squeezing out every minute I can to keep moving forward.
It’s almost funny how things in my life shift so rapidly. A scheduling plan that looks amazing in Asana can quickly become haphazard and obsolete. I’ll need to come up with something that works if I want to challenge myself in 2026, though. It’s going to be a bit rough.
Now that the beta readers are done and comments made, it’s time to wrap up Shadows of Atlantic City to have it published in the next week or two. It’s about a month later than I wanted, but at least it’s virtually done. Just a few minor tweaks and a test print of the cover to go.
It’s been 22 years since I was in college. Back then, I was aiming for a degree in Computer Animation/Graphic Design. I had to drop because the financial aid department of Westwood, and many of the other staff, made continuing exceptionally difficult. Bottom line, I didn’t have the money to pay tuition.