Oh, look, it’s the end of the year. Cool. While a bit arbitrary it’s still an event happening, and is usually sued as a good point for recapping the past and for starting something new. That being the case, why not recap 2018 here on Xadara and put it all into perspective?
Let’s begin.
The year started strong. January was an active and rather diverse month for articles – a healthy, and steady, mix of content. In retrospect it all looks pretty good.
February was a little more rough. Fewer articles, certainly, but still enough content. I was still dealing with the side effects of the roughness that 2017 ended with, especially regarding space, and this was the month I finally let go of a chunk of baggage on the site, and in my enjoyment of space. It was quite relaxing but as a side effect it meant I had to delete a chunk of content from the site. No matter, I kept on going with content.
March, April, May, they all flowed the same way. Steady but a bit spotty. At this time I remember wishing I was writing more, but not getting around to as steady a publishing rate as I wanted. Still, the content mix was healthy.
June followed E3 early on, while switching gears later to be a bit more random – less game and more space focused, with some hints at my actual life and social commentary. I didn’t know it then but burnout was fast approaching.
July began a shift to more space articles while simultaneously taking more small breaks. I was clearly getting a little overwhelmed by my own project, but I kept going. By this time I had begun “The Cleanup,” a process where I began eliminating some old articles and related content that I felt no longer needed to be here. I’m still in that process as I slowly adjust what this site is to be going forward, but let’s not go into that now.
August kept steady, and while a more “natural” article mix it still was dominated by space – namely the Parker Solar Probe launch. I milked that for quite a few articles, and it was fun to write about it, but let’s face it – those articles don’t get hits anymore, while others about absolutely nothing still get daily hits. That’s how it goes sometimes…
September was where things got bad. I challenged myself to an article a day challenge, and really had to stretch to keep that challenge. I did it – I wrote an article a day for the entire month – but there was little substance to some of them. That month began a clear period where my burnout was taking effect. I had turned this website, which I did for fun, into work, and it wasn’t a good thing at all.
October is where things finally broke. I had a steady writing cycle that month and even being gone on a small trip and not writing over a few days, I managed to put out not only more articles than in September but more articles than in the past year and a half or so.
The problem was by this stage the content was mostly space related! I wasn’t writing as much about gaming or anything else that I really enjoyed. Yeah, I love space, but
Come November I began by trying to keep things going as normal, but by the 11th I had just given up. That’s when I took a needed break. In this time though I had gotten out a couple of articles regarding the PlayStation Classic and I’m glad I did, as during November and December those articles took off, and helped balance things out – I could ride the hits those were getting and really relax for a while. This is when I spent some time gaming for the first time in months (Red Dead Redemption 2 in this case) and really relaxing when not at work. I published a few articles here and there
December would get a few posts providing updates, as I like to be transparent
Ending the year by touching on gaming, that really kind of fits what was a chaotic year. Far more chaotic for me than it would seem. I do feel I learned quite a bit over the year about how I wish to express myself going forward. I’ve got ideas on how to make things more organized and how to clean up some of the “noise” on the site, and I’m planning on focusing more on having fun here in 2019 than in the past few years.
With all that being gone over, 2018 proved interesting, to say the least. Stressful, sure, but enlightening as well. In the end it began bringing about a change, but a change that is certainly needed around here, and in my digital life.
Next up, what’s coming for 2019!