The Year of Creation
I’ve known about the concept of yearly themes for a while, mostly via a Youtube video from CGP Grey. I even tried setting one a couple years (The Year of Refining). But at the end of last year I really wanted to make something; I felt like I was doing a lot of passive things (mostly watching Youtube), and I missed the feeling of having an end product for my efforts, like a webapp or a crafted thing. So I committed to the Year of Creation as my theme, with a simple driving ideal: try to work towards making something every day.
I committed hard enough that I bought the Theme System journal. I do quite like physical writing (shoutout to my emotional-support notepad on my work desk), and figured that even if I tried it for just a few days and fell off, those few days would have been worth it. Even I’m impressed at how much the physical object has helped, though. I mostly just use the daily pages (I tried the index but fell off and might backfill it), but it is incredibly satisfying. I’ve definitely found myself late in the evening more than once thinking along the lines of “I haven’t written in the journal yet, and I want to, so I better go create something so I have something to write about.” I was dedicated enough to fill the 90-page journal and order a new one for the new quarter of the year. Plus, I have been using it as a just a regular daily journal outside of the theme, keeping track of at least one positive throughout the day and some random notes about the day as I have them. Both are things I’ve wanted to keep track of, but was intimidated by the prospect of having to keep up with it. Now, they have a home. And the journal serves as a creative product all on its own.
Even in the first quarter of the year, the something of creation has been quite varied. The biggest sources have been the newest cube I’ve created, the Chromatic Composition Cube, and the various articles for this site, particularly the cube draft reports. I think without the theme I would’ve been quite unlikely to have kept them going, but I’ve put one out monthly for over half a year now. The need to have stuff for the draft reports has also kept me going quite consistently to cube nights, which has been good for me socialization-wise. Maybe I should have updating this now page slightly more often on my list of somethings to create.
The excess of writing has made me re-realize how much I enjoy it outside of the confines of academic writing, and I’ve started plotting out two ideas for fiction novels: a YA-esque cozy fantasy about the aftermath of a lit-JRPG, and a conversion of my hockey-themed DnD setting idea into a universe for a collection of aetherpunk fantasy hockey romance novels. I might try to convert one into a real draft in the rest of the year (even bought a book for guiding the process), but if not (or even if so), I have plans for them in my planned theme for next year. I know I could change my theme now, go from a Year of Creation to a Season of Creation, but I’m enjoying creation too much to pivot. I’ve even felt the effects of focusing on creation: I’ve noticed I ideate much more frequently in my daily life, and remember my dreams much more clearly, and have the forethought to jot them down as potential story seed crystals.
There are other things, too: I’ve really wanted to incorporate more screen-free creation, and had mixed success so far. I did finish all the unique Petitblocks from my dad, which I’ve wanted to do for multiple years. I picked beading up again briefly, made clay, and have supplies for trying out painting miniatures (to be repurposed into painting clay). I have the supplies, but the motivation has been in and out.
Reading
Reading was a secondary focus for the year; its not something I push myself to do every day like creation, but it is something I’m keeping track of in the journal, which has helped. I’ve finished 7 books so far, which feels exceptional given that since starting college I’d struggle to finish more than 5 in a year. I think the focus on just reading something has been very helpful. I’m very used to reading in huge chunks of 100+ pages or not at all, so shifting towards viewing reading 10 pages as a huge win has been a good mindset shift, I think.
Old School Runescape
The other big thing is that, at very nearly the same time near the start of the year, I was recommended a bunch of Old School Runescape videos on Youtube, and also saw one of my coworkers playing Runescape 3 on their phone. I was well and truly influenced, and have become quite hooked by the game. I love the questing system and how rewarding the rewards feel; you always unlock new things to do or ways to make the things you want to do easier, not just stat point boosts. I really enjoy how I can pretty much always choose how much energy/focus I want to give at any given time while playing and still feel like I’m doing something, while also having a chain of requirements that is super satisfying to unwind and follow to a given goal. The combat is just simple enough to be enjoyable for me. I have put a frankly absurd amount of hours into the game since starting it just a few months ago.
Music
I’ve been really into the idea of owning my music (digitally still, so not quite, but at least not just streaming and licensing it), and have been slowly working to build up my collection. This has made me go back and rediscover songs I tossed on playlists and never heard from again to decide if I want to purchase them or not, which has been its own delight. This has also made me listen to albums rather than songs for the most part, which is not something I particularly did before. Before, most of my music discovery was hearing a song somewhere, and if I liked it adding it to my playlist, without too much regard to seeking out more from the same album or artist. But because it is often way more cost-effective to buy albums versus individual songs, I’ve found myself tending towards listening to the latter first, which is an experience I know some people vastly recommend but have never done myself, and have been enjoying the experience so far.