This is the decade of being brave.

In 2007, I started making art on the internet because I had an office job and I wanted a place where I could share some part of myself that wouldn’t be controlled or manipulated by other people.

I had no expectations of it beyond the fact that it would be somewhere that I could escape to each and every day for a few minutes at a time and create, without any interference. It would be a place I could talk to myself, outside of myself, and people I could no longer talk to.

It was naive, innocent and incredibly productive and I think part of that was the fact that, while I did have a long term goal of eventually collecting everything I did into a book (which became the first I Wrote This For You book), I focused on the simple easy steps in front of me.

I told myself,

“I can write one poem today. I can write one short story or just one sentence. They might not be the best, they might be terrible, but I will try and if I fail, I will try again tomorrow.”

It is January of 2020 and I am trying to look not just at the year ahead but at the decade ahead and where I want to be and what I want to do.

I am paying even more attention to the individual steps I will need to take to get there, to what I want to do with my time and the days I have.

I want to connect on a deep, meaningful level with my friends and family, with the people around me, and my readers.

I want to make beautiful things that matter and move people, and move myself in the process.

I want to lose myself in good work, in talking about the things that we all need to talk about.

I want to learn and I want to grow and I want become more me.

I wish you all the same, and success, and growth, and intimacy and less fear and more love.

P.S.

Something I’ve been using since last year is, Skillshare (I get a few dollars in return if you sign up for a free trial through that link). Whenever I run into a creative problem, there’s always something on Skillshare.com that’ll inspire me, or show me how to accomplish what I’m trying to accomplish. It’s great and if you want to try it out for a while and January hasn’t been kind to your wallet, you can use it for free for three months and see if there’s something in there that inspires you to do more with your days in 2020.

P.P.S. All my books, artwork, clothing and everything else are now available in one place, here and if you want to support me, this is a great place to do that. You can also help me spend more time writing by making a small donation every month on Patron.