Goodbye 2017... Hello 2018!

Photo by @sazzleb on Unsplash

Hello everyone!! It's me again, the sometimes-blogger who often tells the world how she'll “blog more from now on” and then invariably... doesn't. Honestly, I hate to buck a trend, so I'm going to start this post by again apologising and telling you all that I promise I'm going to be more active here from now on. Honestly, honestly, hand on heart!

Honest.

I hate starting a new year with a post talking about the old year, but I really feel like I owe it to 2017 to write a few words about it. The world around us had a tough time, and a lot of people are justified in their desire to say goodbye to 2017, but truthfully, from a personal perspective, I've had a pretty great year, all told. So much so that I'm going into 2018 with a huge dollop of optimism and wide, starry eyes.

In 2017 I...

… celebrated my seventh anniversary with Moose, in a gorgeous apartment in Bristol, scoping out the city we'll hopefully soon call our home.
… went ice skating a lot!
… broke my wrist ice skating, which saw an end to that!
… sold art at my first ever MCM Birmingham in March, which was so good I did it again in November.
… attended Rezzed and played a whole lot of video games.
... said a very sad goodbye to our favourite pub, The Hobgoblin, in Bath.
… sold art at the London Video Games Market.
… helped out Just Fur The Weekend as a dealers liaison and tabled there as an artist as well.
… attended the an AMAZING Secret Cinema event - Moulin Rogue!
… Attended Bristol Anime & Gaming Con – would love to sell there someday but it's always sold out!
… Sold yet again at MCM London in both May and October.
… Dressed up all pretty for the Vintage Nostalgia Show in Stockton.
… Went to London Anime Con for my birthday weekend in London!
… Attended Hyper Japan and thoroughly fell in love with it for being such a different type of show! I plan on selling there at some point in 2018!
… Broke a huge record at MCM Manchester and really levelled up in terms of confidence and pride in my art.
… Cosplayed Yuri at Kitacon, had the most AMAZING time with the most amazing people!
… Spent a couple of days at Alton Towers with Moose and completely fell in love with 'Th13rteen'.
… Attended UK Ponycon and spent the weekend with my dorky pony family.
… Had an amazing week in Bristol with my favourite people from all over Europe <3
… Finally got to a carnival, which I haven't done properly in years.
… Saw Hamilton on its very first week in London!

2017 was the first year I think I can safely say I actually worked between conventions at being an artist (as opposed to not drawing much for weeks and then panicking in the eleventh hour, heh.) I managed to produce at least one art print piece every month. Thanks to MCM Manchester, I was also finally able to pay off my ever-looming overdraft, which has been a financial hurdle to a lot of things for a very long time. I took on a few extra hours at my part-time day job, which I always considered a backward step in my quest to being an artist, but has actually given me so much back in terms of stability, freedom and flexibility. It has allowed me to take larger risks, and it has taken the pressure off from the daily hustle that being an online artist can be.

There's a lot I'm looking forward to in 2018. I don't have another convention to sell at until March, so I'm spending the next two months working on new products and new prints, and re-arranging my display a little bit for the new year. I plan on buying a banner to better promote my table with at conventions, as well as changing up my display a little to offer a bit more variety in what I sell.

2018 is the year I think I'll finally be able to gather some actual savings, which is handy as it's also the year Moose and I said we'd make a conscious effort to move in together. As of this month, we've been together eight years, and while I'm a complete home-bird that adores living here in my comfortable, safe, surroundings, it's really getting to the point that he and I need to fly the nest. Only a little, though. I'm only moving an hour away. My parents can't get rid of me that easily.

But that means 2018 should be a year of tremendous, and, frankly, terrifying change. Exciting, though, as well! I can't wait to set up an art area, to decorate our own little home, to have a nest I can call my own (well, our own, I guess, haha). It'll be surreal waking up next to the man I've dated long distance for eight whole years. I can't wait to have friends around for gaming evenings or long Netflix marathon sessions. One of the very first things I want to do is actually cook (I don't cook) a big fancy meal (I really don't cook) for my parents in my very own kitchen! Did I mention I don't cook? 2018 is going to be a year for learning a whole lot of things. Best remedies for food poisoning may well be one of them.

Shorter term, however, 2018 is off to a really exciting start with a short break to Amsterdam! Moose and I usually do something a little fun and different for our anniversary in January – and a trip away is a really fun way to shake off the post-Christmas blues. I'm not really sure why we settled on Amsterdam as a city to visit, but I'm looking forward to exploring it and taking on a few canal dinner cruises! Now we've discovered how cheap a European city break can be, I think we'll be doing a lot more of them in the future. The world is very big, and there's so much I want to see.

Resolutions? I know some folks really hate them, but I love making them, even though I'm fully aware each year that I probably won't stick to them. Because everyone else seems to hate them, though, I've taken to calling them 'goals', which sounds less guilt-laden to me. A resolution sounds like something you have to start in January and stick to, whereas a goal is something, anything, tangible you can achieve. I've set myself a bunch of resolutions, or goals, for the year – small frivolous things to larger, more exciting things, and things I downright know I won't achieve. There's lots, mind, but I figure, if I list a whole bunch of things, I'm bound to achieve at least one of them, right?

In 2018 I'd like to...

… move out with Moose (and probably Luke too, haha) into our own little nerd nest.
… continue drawing at least one print-worthy piece of art each month.
… revamp my Patreon, Ko-fi and Redbubble accounts to make them exciting and great value for my wonderful fans and supporters.
… revamp my commissions too and drum for business without the stress of actually needing it. Becoming so reliant on commissions was so stressful and horrible. I'm so glad I can now try and take on private work without that angst.
… Save more money!! Now my overdraft is paid off, I can focus on other things.
… lose weight. ha. ha.
… have my art in a zine! That'd be a fun goal. I adore fanzines so much. C'mon, me. Do the thing.
… get 1000+ Twitter and Instagram followers. C'mon, I said some of these were frivolous.
… blog more!! Hey, this is a good start, right?
… use my Youtube channel again! For vlogs, art videos, book hauls, anything. I know, I'm rolling my eyes too.
… read 20 books. I know, that's such a tiny number for a lot of bookworms, but I am a terrible, lazy person who spends every evening in video games. Speaking of...
… get rank 7 on Rakan in League of Legends.
… stream? Art? Gaming? Anything? Bueller?
… actually scrapbook the year. And catch up on the past years too. I've got several unfinished 'Project Life' scrapbooks here with half a year of memories in them. I need to sort that out.

I think that's everything I'd like to achieve. It's all the enhancements I want to make a regular thing in my life, really, not just a few limited to 2018. I really hope I can look back on this post in a year and cross off at least a few of those things, but who knows! I know resolutions don't really matter and it doesn't matter if you keep them, but it's sure fun making a list of goals anyway. Or maybe that's just the bullet journaler in me. Oh, maybe that should be another one. Start bullet journaling. Brilliant.

I'm sorry for this post that has become a major wall-of-text – call it a make-up post for all the posts I should have made throughout 2017. See, I'm already on good standing with one of my resolutions up there! At any rate, I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and I hope 2018 is kind and fruitful for you all. Make this the year you achieve the best you. I know that's my goalest goal of all.