It’s been a little more than nine months since I quit my job and started working to build this blog as a business. That feels like a very long time, and I find myself wondering what I have to show for it. Encouraged by this article by Melody Wilding, I’ve decided to publicly celebrate the wins I’ve had so far:
- I have managed to take a collection of seemingly random ideas that have been floating around in my head for years and organized them into the outline for a book.
- I’ve been able to write chunks of that book from the outline.
- I’ve gotten more comfortable referring to myself as a writer.
- I discovered that I have celiac disease and that the effects of my body’s reaction to gluten has been hobbling my ability to write, probably for years.
- I have transitioned to a gluten-free diet and now feel much clearer.
- I published my word game Crystal Word Chain as an Open Artifacts project.
- I’ve written 60 blog posts which averages out to roughly 1.5 posts per week.
- For the last 3 weeks, I’ve managed to write blog posts every day.
- I have publicly made the promise to continue writing blog posts (Jim’s Notebook) every day for at least the next year. That’s a big deal because I’ve wanted to make that promise for months and only now feel like I can keep it.
- I’ve launched the Open Artifacts Initiative website, which is itself an Open Artifacts project.
- I’ve been home to help my daughter (12) and son (14) navigate the confusing mess that is middle school.
- I’ve been able to reduce my other daughter’s (4) time spent in preschool by 3 or 4 hours per day.
- I’ve been the support team for my wife so she could take the time she needed to be a great teacher for her students.
- I’ve walked over 300 miles.
- I’ve learned to play a half-dozen songs on the piano using the chord method.
- I’ve published my book of patterns as an in-progress Open Artifacts project.
Here’s to the next six months!
