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"So you're all caught up. Now what?"

  • Writer: The Archivist
    The Archivist
  • Jan 9
  • 12 min read

Now what, indeed.


I mentioned my general plans for 2025 in A Happy New Year!, which was a good first step, but a first step is all it was. In this week's post, I think I'd like to dissect each of my 7 categories a little further, laying out a potential road map for taking actionable steps to reach the milestones of specific project examples. Even if our progress tracking styles differ, you may still be able to extrapolate some useful ideas to integrate into your current methodology and thus create a more holistic framework for remaining on track.


Keeping in mind that we're looking at 2025 as a whole, let's take those 7 categories...


  1. Develop Fear No More

  2. Read More Books

  3. Work on Skies Over Aefala

  4. Practice Japanese

  5. Improve Physical Health

  6. Start Composing Music Again

  7. Build a Drawing Routine

  8. Develop New Skills (AKA: Keep Learning)


...and look at the End-of-Year Objectives for each of them:


  1. Develop Fear No More

    1. Continue writing blog posts; have a fully designed & functioning site complete with logo, favicon, blog icons, homepage, W.I.P.s page, Portfolio page, etc...

  2. Read More Books

    1. Read 12 books at least before the end of December 2025

  3. Work on Skies Over Aefala

    1. Have the slice-of-life comic depicting Cael's and Valen's life in Willowdale well underway; be caught up on everything, notes included; plan & write any performances that arise throughout 2025; maintain consistency with writing journals/correspondence/transcribing/etc...

  4. Practice Japanese

    1. Have a solid understanding of N4 grammar, kanji, vocabulary, writing, etc...

  5. Improve Physical Health

    1. Jog a 5k in 30 minutes consistently; get to 20%-25% body fat; be able to complete pull-ups without resistance bands

  6. Start Composing Music Again

    1. Have a solid understanding of Dorico 5 and a complete set of 15-minutes'-worth of music composed for any instrument/ensemble

  7. Build a Drawing Routine

    1. Complete Draw a Box lessons

  8. Develop New Skills (AKA: Keep Learning)

    1. Have a rough skeleton of "The Lifa Tree" mapped out; upload "audiobook" versions of blog posts; choose a coding language to learn; whatever else interests me


It's enough to break you out into a mild sweat if you start parsing the nitty-gritty details of each category, isn't it? Well, dab at that brow, my friends, because we've only just begun.


If I were to rearrange my list in order of priority and then label each section, this would be the result:


  1. Work on Skies Over Aefala: Creativity / Professional / Skill Development

    1. Have the slice-of-life comic depicting Cael's and Valen's life in Willowdale well underway; be caught up on everything, notes included; plan & write any performances that arise throughout 2025; maintain consistency with writing journals/correspondence/transcribing/etc...

  2. Improve Physical Health: Fitness

    1. Jog a 5k in 30 minutes consistently; get to 20%-25% body fat; be able to complete pull-ups without resistance bands

  3. Develop Fear No More: Professional / Creativity / Skill Development

    1. Continue writing blog posts; have a fully designed & functioning site complete with logo, favicon, blog icons, homepage, W.I.P.s page, Portfolio page, etc...

  4. Build a Drawing Routine: Learning

    1. Complete Draw a Box lessons

  5. Start Composing Music Again: (Re)Learning

    1. Have a solid understanding of Dorico 5 and a complete set of 15-minutes'-worth of music composed for any instrument/ensemble

  6. Read More Books: Hobby

    1. Read 12 books, fiction or nonfiction, at least before the end of December 2025

  7. Practice Japanese: Hobby / (Re)Learning

    1. Have a solid understanding of N4 grammar, kanji, vocabulary, writing, etc...

  8. Develop New Skills (AKA: Keep Learning): Hobby / Learning

    1. Have a rough skeleton of "The Lifa Tree" mapped out; upload "audiobook" versions of blog posts; choose a coding language to learn; whatever else interests me


Much like how BestSelf's 13-Week Planner encourages you to choose 3 Outcome Goals for the quarter, I would say that numbers 1-3 in my list are my most important categories, with number 4 the elected honorable mention. Many of the skills I would learn in 4 can be applied to 1 and 3. The rest are more casual pursuits, so it's okay if they progress at the rate of a slug dragging itself across a college campus.


It's also okay if they fall by the wayside while I focus on the first few categories. What's most important is that I'm being honest with myself, and it's important for you to do the same if you create your own list. Are the listed projects ones you yourself genuinely want to pursue, or are they obligations you've fooled yourself into believing are yours because of pressure, either from surrounding family members, community, or even yourself? Especially yourself? I know in my case, there's a tinge of guilt that coincides with the music composition category, because I've hardly touched it but a handful of times since I graduated college, and it was my major! (Yikes.)


Thankfully, multiple categories connect with one another. I might work on my drawing skills (Draw a Box, for example) and in between each of those sessions applying those skills into projects of interest or priority (creating that slice-of-life comic or designing blog icons, as another example). If I decide to work on any compositions or record myself reading any of these posts for those who'd prefer listening to reading, it all funnels back into the development of Fear No More and the core value that underpins the site.


Let's continue to break these down further, shall we? Maybe start formulating a few more specific milestone posts. And for ease of reading, let's break each category off into its own section.


Work on Skies Over Aefala:

Creativity / Professional / Skill Development

  1. Maintain consistency with writing journals/correspondence/transcribing/etc...

    1. The day after a session, transcribe

    2. If the session ends an in-game day and there's a high-priority message Cael needs to send, write those first, otherwise

    3. If the session ends an in-game day, write a journal entry

    4. Finish with writing nonessential correspondence

  2. Plan & write any performances that arise throughout 2025

    1. Get a full picture of the setting & the spells at Cael's disposal

    2. Come up with a theme, which may or may not change

    3. Write the skeleton, including brief notes on the most important details

      1. The sort of shadow puppetry

      2. What memories they share

      3. What spells they use during

    4. Flesh out descriptions

    5. Find appropriate music

      1. Long-term goal is to compose my own someday

    6. Align performance to music with timestamps

  3. Be caught up on everything, notes included

    1. Import items into The Goblin's Notebook

      1. Journals

      2. Dream Messages

      3. Sendings

    2. Fill in descriptions for minor NPCs

    3. Fill in descriptions for towns/cities

    4. Fill in descriptions for major NPCs

    5. Fill in timeline of events

  4. Have the slice-of-life comic depicting Cael's and Valen's life in Willowdale well underway

    1. Finish reading "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud

    2. Write a list of different scenarios that could become chapters in the comic

    3. Research methodology other web comic artists use, since I'm new to this area

    4. Storyboard ideas

    5. Rough draft of page

    6. Final draft of page


Improve Physical Health:

Fitness

  1. Jog a 5k in 30 minutes consistently

    1. Knowing my limits, spring and fall are really the only times I feel comfortable jogging outside

    2. I'd jog on my treadmill...but it broke

    3. Try to best previous times

    4. Jog more often but at a lighter pace

  2. Get to 20%-25% body fat

    1. Follow nutritional advice from BWS program more closely

      1. Increase protein intake

      2. Eat more whole foods

    2. Keep to a strict intermittent fasting window

    3. Don't be an enabler for cheat meals (my partner and I are really bad at this)

  3. Be able to complete pull-ups without resistance bands

    1. Continue Built With Science routine as a 3-day split

    2. Orange band → Blue band → Green band → Purple band → Black band → Red band


Develop Fear No More:

Professional / Creativity / Skill Development

  1. Continue writing blog posts

  2. Have a fully designed & functioning site:

    1. Logo

    2. Favicon,

    3. Blog icons,

    4. Homepage,

    5. W.I.P.s page,

    6. Portfolio page,

    7. etc...

  3. Upload Projects


Build a Drawing Routine:

Learning

  1. Complete Draw a Box lessons

    1. 50% studies/learning/exercises/etc...

    2. 50% drawing for the sake of drawing

      1. Comic mentioned above

      2. Draw what I want if I had all the skills in the world, and don't be embarrassed by how bad it is


Start Composing Music Again: 

(Re)Learning

  1. Have a solid understanding of Dorico 5

    1. Complete all 13 lessons by Luke Carlson on Skillshare

      1. Lesson 1: 100%

      2. Lesson 2: 100%

      3. Lesson 3 - 13: 0%

  2. A set of 15-minutes'-worth of music composed for any instrument/ensemble

    1. Write down a description of the visual, character, or scene I want to capture

    2. Determine the instrument(s)

    3. Decide on the form

    4. Time signature, mode, etc...


Read More Books:

Hobby

  1. Read 12 books, fiction or nonfiction, at least before the end of December 2025

    1. "The Da Vinci Code" - Dan Brown: 100%

    2. "Empire" - Orson Scott Card: 0%


Practice Japanese:

Hobby / (Re)Learning

  1. Have a solid understanding of N4 grammar, kanji, vocabulary, writing, etc...

    1. Speaking

      1. Shadow spoken Japanese to get a feel for natural cadence and grammar implementation

    2. Writing

      1. Messages to friends

      2. Journals

      3. Future blog posts???

    3. Reading

      1. News articles using simple Japanese

      2. Short stories

    4. Listening

      1. Watching anime and focus on what's being said

      2. Podcasts:


Develop New Skills (AKA: Keep Learning):

Hobby / Learning

  1. Have a rough skeleton of "The Lifa Tree" mapped out

  2. Upload "audiobook" versions of blog posts

  3. Choose a coding language to learn

  4. Whatever else interests me


Sweating harder?



Even considering that this is a look at 2025 in its entirety, it's a daunting list to behold, and it's not one I would ever want to view for any length of time on a computer screen, which is why each category has its own dedicated page in my planner. Talk to an author, a symphony composer, a game developer, and they'll nod knowingly at how daunting it is to look at writing an entire novel (or a series!), a symphony and all its movements, every single line of code that let's you move a character on screen. They have their whole, they have their "year", and then they deconstruct it into the milestones they can complete.


Until this year, I've worked solely through a quarterly mindset: I have a 13-week journal; I will set goals for this journal; I will pursue those goals this quarter. Then, the quarter ends, and I'm left wondering what to do with myself. Well, kind of...catching up has been a time consuming process, but now I'm in a good position to keep the wheel turning.


With the whole year planned for 2025, now I can look at those categories, and decide, "Okay, I think this will be feasible for this quarter. At the end of this quarter, I can reassess and mark my progress."


So, as a final exercise, let's look again at my list of 8 categories and decide which sections are most feasible/important for the quarter.


Work on Skies Over Aefala:

Creativity / Professional / Skill Development

  1. Maintain consistency with writing journals/correspondence/transcribing/etc...

    1. The day after a session, transcribe

      1. Takes approximately 1 day out of my week

    2. If the session ends an in-game day and there's a high-priority message Cael needs to send, write those first, otherwise

    3. If the session ends an in-game day, write a journal entry

      1. Will typically take 1 day to write, 1 day to edit

      2. We usually take up multiple sessions for 1 in-game day, so in a month I may have 2-3 of b, c, and d to write

    4. Finish with writing nonessential correspondence

      1. Takes a couple hours

  2. Plan & write any performances that arise throughout 2025

    1. Primarily work on it in the mornings, sometimes at night if my mind is wired

    2. This category is uncommon but time consuming. The performance for Shipton downtime took me 9 months of consistent planning, while writing another one for Cael's professor took 2-4 weeks. I'm currently working on one right now for their father, and it's giving me trouble, so I anticipate it'll take me at least another month or two to complete. It's priority #1 on days where I don't have to do 1. from above or write a blog

      1. Get a full picture of the setting (100%) & the spells at Cael's disposal (90%)

      2. Come up with a theme, which may or may not change: 100%

      3. Write the skeleton, including brief notes on the most important details: 20%

        1. The sort of shadow puppetry

        2. What memories they share: 40%

        3. What spells they use during

      4. Flesh out descriptions

      5. Find appropriate music: 70%

      6. Align performance to music with timestamps

  3. Be caught up on everything, notes included

    1. Import items into The Goblin's Notebook

      1. Journals

      2. Dream Messages

      3. Sendings

    2. Fill in other info on NPCs, places, etc... as sessions continue

      1. The day I transcribe each session, it wouldn't take more than an hour or two to extract the important descriptions and add them to my notebook; I've just neglected doing so for too long

  4. Have the slice-of-life comic depicting Cael's and Valen's life in Willowdale well underway

    1. Finish reading "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud

      1. Does this count toward my "books read" goal?

    2. Write a list of different scenarios that could become chapters in the comic

      1. My partner and I can do this as an activity together


Improve Physical Health:

Fitness

  1. Jog a 5k in 30 minutes consistently

    1. Knowing my limits, spring and fall are really the only times I feel comfortable jogging outside

      1. So roughly the end of the 1st & 3rd quarters, though around February is about when the temps are comfortable enough for me

    2. Try to best previous times

      1. C25K ~3x a week

    3. Jog more often but at a lighter pace

  2. Get to 20%-25% body fat

    1. This is mostly hands-off and just adjusting my weekly meal planning accordingly

      1. Creating a meal plan takes maybe an hour on Thurs. per week, and I can tweak it a little bit at a time

      2. I'm fortunate in that my partner likes to cook, so I just need to suggest recipes

      3. Follow nutritional advice from BWS program more closely

        1. Increase protein intake

        2. Eat more whole foods

      4. Keep to a strict intermittent fasting window

      5. Don't be an enabler for cheat meals (my partner and I are really bad at this)

  3. Be able to complete pull-ups without resistance bands

    1. Continue Built With Science routine as a 3-day split

      1. Still takes ~1.5 hours for the workout, which is frustrating because

      2. it takes ~1.5 hours to walk between 8k - 10k steps

      3. 3 hours of dedicated workout time is not how I want to spend my afternoons, so I need to solve my treadmill dilemma

    2. Blue band → Green band


Develop Fear No More:

Professional / Creativity / Skill Development

  1. Continue writing blog posts

    1. Trying to keep it to Wed.

    2. Takes at least 2 hours, usually a good portion of the day

  2. Have a fully designed & functioning site:

    1. Blog icons

      1. Once I'm finished with the performance for Skies Over Aefala

      2. Multiple to design for use depending on the type of post

        1. I know it's fun seeing pictures of the cats as preview images, but they don't really illustrate what each blog post is about, do they?

        2. Want to keep them simple but workable for a time until my skills develop to redesign them better and more quickly

        3. Will probably take a few mornings to design just a single one


Build a Drawing Routine:

Learning

  1. Complete Draw a Box lessons

    1. Once I'm finished with the performance for Skies Over Aefala

      1. 50% studies/learning/exercises/etc...

      2. 50% drawing for the sake of drawing

        1. Blog icons


Read More Books:

Hobby

  1. Read 12 books, fiction or nonfiction, at least before the end of December 2025

    1. An activity my partner and I both enjoy

    2. I was also reading more often before my treadmill broke...

      1. "The Da Vinci Code" - Dan Brown: 100%

      2. "Understanding Comics" - Scott McCloud: ~60%

      3. "Empire" - Orson Scott Card: 0%


Practice Japanese:

Hobby / (Re)Learning

  1. Have a solid understanding of N4 grammar, kanji, vocabulary, writing, etc...

    1. Listening

      1. Watching anime and focus on what's being said

        1. We're currently watching "Pluto"!


I'll admit, even looking at the overall quarter can ratchet up some people's anxiety, which is why, as a final breakdown from quarterly to weekly/daily, I'd like to reintroduce this:


Top Left: Month; Top Middle: Week; Top Right: Day; Middle: Doing; Bottom: Done!
Top Left: Month; Top Middle: Week; Top Right: Day; Middle: Doing; Bottom: Done!

Why yes, yes, that is washi tape dividing each of those sections. So kind of you to ask.


I clear off the Done! section every week and put it in my planner.


I had to swap to smaller Post-Its because the big ones were too massive for this planner, and I gotta say, I love how compact these little guys are.
I had to swap to smaller Post-Its because the big ones were too massive for this planner, and I gotta say, I love how compact these little guys are.

Review it weekly, set up the most important task(s) for the next week, and voila. Sweet, sweet progress. Ride the waves of those accomplishments~


And at the end of this quarter, we'll see how badly I've derailed.


Such is life.


Other Notable Accomplishments:

  • Transcribed Session 105:

    • 2.7 hours

    • 13,000 words

  • Wrote, edited, posted Cael's journal for the 18th of Nudon:

    • A whopping 3,400 words

    • No wonder I didn't finish it before New Year's

  • Fitness:

    • BWS: 3 workouts

    • Was having a good time reading and walking on my treadmill to attain my 8k steps, but alas, after 9 months of use, the rear roller broke, rendering the tread useless

  • Finished reading "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

  • Wrote 8 session synopses for the player who's returning to the table on Monday, assuming the snow doesn't impact travel

  • Wrote message correspondence between Cael and some other characters:

    • ~1,240 words

    • Cael's shaping up to becoming the Shadow Broker of this universe, I swear, except more as an information collector than an information seller

  • Planned out Flink's floor of the castle for our campaign as a 'welcome back' surprise to the other player

  • Wrote & mailed a thank you letter to my aunt

  • Imported some recipes from Cronometer into the BWS+ app for easier tracking


Questions for Contemplation & Discussion:

  • If you've planned some projects of your own you want to accomplish for 2025, what's your breakdown for each of them? What's that daunting list look like?

    • How does it look if you then narrow that focus into a single quarter?

    • What's your weekly outlook?

    • Daily?

  • Most of what I wrote about above is me maintaining my momentum on projects I started long ago. Keeping that in mind, I've really only added a few other tasks I'd like to move forward with, each of them requiring just little bits of dedication here and there (reading, blog icons, etc...). If your schedule is already jam-packed of things you do daily, what is something you can add and/or take out to make room for those dream projects of yours?


This Week's Obligatory Cat Pic: Qiri


"Fear my teefs!!!"
"Fear my teefs!!!"

 
 
 

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