Was 2022 Way Less UX?
A year ago, I wrote something about a decision I made.
The saved-you-a-click version (if you didn’t click the link above): Way less UX, way more writing AND publishing. A year has passed. How did it go?
Well, 2022 was good and bad. Also, it was good and good. Which is weird. I think 364-days-ago Me thought I needed to do way less UX in order to do way more writing and publishing. Apparently not. 2022 was my busiest year with Studio VO. It was also my busiest year for writing.
UX
My guess is that when I made the decision to work less, what I really meant was that I was going to prioritize writing over work. Somehow, with more and bigger projects, I was able to make that happen. Which isn’t to brag. I’m shocked it happened. And, to be honest, a little sad I didn’t make it happen sooner.
With my dayjob activities, I had the opportunity to help with Research for Education, Healthcare, and Transportation clients, Service Design for a Fashion industry client, and Product Design for an Education client. I also tripled the amount of people I am coaching.
July through September were zero revenue months (and I know those months were slow for many), which was wonderful for the Writing and Publishing and less so for the whole “I still have to be part of Capitalism” thing. But even with only 9 months of revenue, it was still the best year since starting in 2016.
I had help, of course. Particular thanks to Ildikó for helping me deliver on one of the bigger projects. But, yeah, “way less UX” did not happen and 2023 is looking like it might be busier still.
Writing & Publishing
I wanted to write and publish 3 projects in 2022. I didn’t make that goal. I “only” accomplished publishing 2 projects. Which is great! And certainly more than I’ve done in a long, long time.
I published What Did You Get Me? and Poetry Works, Mostly.
The poetry book wasn’t on my original list. In Search Of (a novel) and I LOVE YOUR DOG (a picturebook) were meant to come out in 2022. For many good, reasonable reasons, that didn’t happen. But they will be published in 2023. I also have 2 other books in the wings for 2023: A Neighborhood of Dead People (picturebook) and It’s About Time (novel, working title).
And then, maybe, one other in 2023. But beyond that I have 11 books on my to-do list. And they are all partially baked, which is a good state for them to be in. I have a bunch more things on my list that are a title for something or a single line of dialog and that’s it. All of which is to say, if I publish 2 books a year, I have 5-6 years ahead of me writing and publishing—and I find that to be exciting. Which is a weird feeling.
What About Capitalism?
I still need to make money. And in a lot of ways, I actually need to do more UX over the next few years. Thank you, EIDL. Though, seriously, thank you, EIDL for getting me through 2020 and part of 2021. But that L in the acronym stands for Loan and the government would like its money back.
Why not make all my money with publishing? Well, lemme tells ya! I made $153.60 from selling my books. I’ve spent … carry the 17 … ~$3500 on the publishing process so far—most of that is for hiring editors for the novel.
Writing (creatively) will never (probably) be a way for me to sustain myself. I’m not Neil Gaiman. Then again, Neil wasn’t who he is now when he started, so…
A year ago, I wanted to shift to writing more and selling lots of books. As I got closer to publishing What Did You Get Me?, I realized that I’d be happy selling a few books. And I did. Conventional wisdom (and several people in the publishing industry) tells me no one buys poetry books, but, I put one out anyway and have sold a few copies. Which feels like enough of an accomplishment. I set out to do something and I did it.
That is a good thing. I’m not so much telling you that as telling me that.
2023: The Plan
The lesson from 2022 is: I can. So the plan for 2023 is: Way more UX and way more writing and publishing.
If you’d like to help me accomplish this goal (because we all need help in life) drop me a line for UX help and Coaching help and buy them books.
