Goals for 2025

I discovered that I can code on Neocities on my iPad, so even during work hours, I can chip away at the work I want to get done here. Yay! That's wonderful news to me, but not the point of this blog post. One: I just really like the idea of making my own blogs, and being able to talk in my own space unfiltered. Two: I like reading my own posts from the past to see how far I've come.

Back to the point: I realized that I haven't really set any goals for this year. Since we're still in January (even if it is almost the end of the month), I figured I would at least get a small list of personal goals or wants done and see how many get done by the end of the year. 2022 through 2024 were some of my worst years ever, but I'm thankful that 2025 feels like a new chapter. Not necessarily an epilogue, but definitely the part in my story where I can breathe, for once, and not have to worry about any oncoming battles. I still face hurdles and challenges, but they're nowhere near as difficult as they used to be. For that, I'm grateful. I know the world around me isn't exactly calm, and the political climate is disastrous... but I'm going to make it through, regardless. I know I will.

That being said, my creative goals for 2025:

• Draw at least 1 comic page - I need to improve this skill, and learn how to place characters in environments. I also want to be able to visually tell stories or make short comic strips. I see other artists do it, and I'm inspired. I want to get there, or find the time to hone that ability.
• Learn to draw backgrounds - I have no idea where to start with this one, but I have to try. I see some other artists make FANTASTIC backgrounds, and they make it look so easy... even though I know it's not. I want to be able to draw the worlds in my head, so this is absolutely something I need to sit down and study from time to time. I feel like buildings will be the toughest to do, but no way to find out other than trying.
• Improve my singing skills and host a karaoke stream / party - I really, really want to be good at singing. I don't know why. I know I'm around the mezzo-soprano range. The reason I want to accomplish this is to prove to myself that I can overcome my stage fright. When it comes to singing, I have TERRIBLE stage fright and get the shakes... even if I'm behind a screen and not performing on a real stage. It's weird, because streaming comes so naturally to me otherwise.
• Work on my ToyHouse account and OC webpages - While I don't plan on publishing my stories professionally, I do enjoy sharing them. I do want to work on having pages for my OCs and their stories, their worlds, etc. and ToyHouse has been a great place to start. I do plan on eventually bringing that information to NeoCities as well, but I'll admit, I've enjoyed ToyHouse's features. (One of my friends basically said they're "playing barbies" with their OCs, and I cannot agree more with that... I am going to do WAY more of that this year!)
• Write, and actually share, my written works - I don't know why, but I have always been terrified to share my writing, especially my fanfiction... Usually because it's a very niche OC/Canon comfort ship of mine, and that's more for myself than anyone else. Then again, the only way I am going to find out if other people share my sentiments or interests is by being vulnerable. Being vulnerable is just scary. My writing is very precious to me and I love it a lot... So this is a fear I want to conquer, for sure.
• Draw more queer art - As a sapphic bisexual, I feel like this is mandatory. My love for women is radical and I want to show more healthy, happy relationships of WLW. My comfort ship is straight-passing so I want to draw more MLM and WLW (and NBLM/W) art in general!

I think that's all I can think of right now, with a solid list of things to work on for 2025. I may have to make a separate "checklist" webpage to monitor my progress and see how far I go this year. 2025 is the year of learning for me, in so many ways- not just with my creative endeavors. I'm excited and hopeful, and I usually don't get to say that!

For now, though, my job under capitalism calls.