End of 2023
Just like last year, it is that time of year again. Another year over, more than 144 articles written over the course of my blogging journey and my blog celebrates its third birthday. Yay!
Again, just like last year, it is that time again to do some reflecting on my blog journey. And I just find this self-evaluation necessary since you look back to see how far you already came which is something I personally find very important.
By looking back at what you did over the year, I find that some previous goals just become more clear since over the year, you initial goal or ideas might just be buried underneath all the new things. By looking back, you may find them again. You never know until you look.
This year I managed to write the most about travelling since four countries do give you plenty of things to write about and some weekend trips here and there make some great ideas to write about.
I, do believe that I could have done a better job of writing about new countries since I did delay the article writing to a few weeks after the initial trip which makes memories blurry and facts unnecessarily hard to remember.
Next time, I will try to write immediately after the trip so the memories are still fresh and I don’t forget the interesting things I wanted to write about. Or I could also write during my trip if I should find the time.
However, when you are on vacation, it is hard to get back from all the relaxing to write or do anything. I will try to do better in the future since I do want to record my trips as accurately as possible for potential travellers and me in the future to look back on.
Looking back, I can´t say I have written much over the past year, in comparison to the previous two years. It is the result of many unforeseen illnesses and unfortunate planning on my behalf. It is a stupid reason but let me at least explain.
This year I didn’t have concrete publishing as the years before which meant that most of the time, I didn’t know what to write about. If I had my publishing calendars sorted, I would have a deadline and my procrastination brain would have made an effort to see the article done before the deadline.
But that didn’t happen and this year, I haven´t been on the top healthwise so I had to excuse myself quite frequently. Then university came in between so all in all a rather stressful year for me. This led me to the faithful decision that I would only post bi-weekly so I could keep up with publishing schedules and give myself more time to write.
Last year, I did feel the pressure to write about… well… something but sometimes I have some creative slumps and being forced to write during those makes writing not as fun as it used to be. So to make writing fun and pressure-free, the decision will stand for quite a while.
Some day in the future, when I have time and ideas, I will probably reverse the decision of posting every second week but I don’t see much free time in my future due to a master’s degree and probably a doctorate so it probably won´t be anytime soon.
This year, I also posted the last part of my already-ended three-part dating series. Now I can officially let go of the topic of online dating since I don’t believe I would go anywhere near online dating anytime soon or hopefully ever.
Another main topic this year besides travelling is my childhood reflection series where I wrote about past instruments, comedy, Christmas and diaries. I do want to do more of those in the future since I found those rather peaceful.
This year, I also wrote plenty about things currently going on in my life such as the strike or my birthday party. However, I also dove into topics which just interested me and things I wanted to share over the years.
Unlike the previous years, I didn´t use this platform as much to share my designs and drawings since I barely found time to draw and write about anything. I do wish I could further explore it in the future but until then I want to focus on the current things.
Somehow after writing more than 100 articles and some manuscripts here and there, I still don’t see myself as a writer. I just feel like a person writing down my feelings, ideas, and experiences. Does that make me a writer? I don’t believe so to be honest.
However, then one could argue what makes a writer a writer. Does the simple act of writing make a writer or does something else make a writer? That sounds like an interesting topic to explore in another article.
This year, I did use some images I took myself and some images others took. As mentioned somewhen, I try to completely use my images instead of relying on other people´s work even though I try to credit them (I hope to credit them correctly as well).
Next year, I plan on writing about my bachelor´s thesis since when I am done, I would love to reflect on my university journey thus far and see where it could go in the future. I am so excited to see it.
I have some other topics lined up. Some have been there longer and some added rather recently. I will probably see what I am in the mood to write about since none of those are time-sensitive topics.
Another hobby, I started this year was reading and maybe in the near future I would write a review about the book I read over the holidays or have a collection of books, I would write a review about. I will have to see about that.
There are some other hobbies I would love to write about and I guess, I just have too much to do and too little time to do it. I will see about my time management skills but until then… see you next year.
With lots of love
Aurelia J Hunter