I’m making a list and once that list is finished I will be checking it far more than twice. The list will be a list of goals for 2018. See, 2017 is almost finished. It has been a pretty good year. I’ve been able to watch my little boy grow in continued health. I’ve supported my wife as she follows her career goals. I had an amazing year teaching and working at camps. And (allowing of the art to be finalized) will be putting out my second novel before the end of the year.
That is a lot of good stuff. Then why do I feel like I haven’t made enough forward progress, especially as an artist? In writing, in podcasting and in music I can’t shake the feeling that this year hasn’t been the best one I could make it. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. I can’t be sure.
One of the reasons for that is my not making clear goals for 2017. It was all rather nebulous. Write. Produce. Play. Sure. I did all of those, but did I do it enough? I don’t know. Because I never gave myself a clear image of what is enough.
That is what I am working on now. For some reason the number 30 keeps repeating. For 2018 I want to put out 30 new installments of King and Bard. I want to make Bloody Tokyo a reality and put out 30 episodes of it as a narrative podcast. And perhaps an ebook collection or two. With my co-host Lydia I want to produce 30 new episodes of Brent & Lydia Talk Starman. Maybe 30 new episodes of Living Japan as well. Oh, and if there is time I should also write a new novel. That all sounds like a fair goal, right?
That was the aspirational part. This is the shameful part. The part where I ask for funds. Out of all the things associated with writing and creating, this is the area I am the worst out. Partly because the bottom line is that I’m going to do my best to make all of those goals a reality whether or not I get more supporters. Still, getting a little tip in the jar does help justify the time it takes to create.
I have a Patreon site. Patreon lets you sign up to pledge a monthly donation to help me continue my work. Currently there are five Patron levels from $1 to $5. Each level comes with a reward set from access to Patron only posts, to being thanked in any published work, to getting the Thomas family New Year’s Card, to getting neat Japan swag.
Of course, the biggest benefit is that you get the warm feeling of knowing that for roughly the price of a cup of coffee you can support me and my art. And that would be awesome.
And just in time for the holidays!
But why am I saying $17 dollars? Because that is the amount needed to reach my first goal. That goal is to be able to guilt free publish the Bloody Tokyo narrative podcast starting in January. (Again, that guilt is all apart of using my time to work on art instead of, say, washing dishes.)
So, there you go. My best pitch for why you should give to my Patreon account. If nothing else, give it a look. Cheers.
If you enjoyed this post, please like my Facebook author page and become a patron through Patreon. Thanks!
Deadly Troubadour 