Week 340

I last wrote two weeks ago and not much has happened since. But it’ll be a couple more weeks before I write again — next week is definitely a holiday for me — so I thought an end-of-year post would be in order now.

2009 has been my first proper year of work for some time; the previous six months were almost entirely dead, work-wise, and the two years before that were focused on the acting course, with only small amounts of work squeezed in.

This year my two biggest projects were Shownar and Misfits, with various smaller ones between them. I’ve learned some new things, I’ve worked with some nice people, and I’m on course to meet the very rough financial target I vaguely set myself for 2009/10.

But… I didn’t set out to specifically learn the things I learned this year, or set out with the aim of working on those kinds of projects. There’s nothing wrong with what happened at all, but after being my own boss for several years I’m feeling the lack of any aims. I feel directionless. I’m lucky that stumbling from one project to another has resulted in working on good stuff with good people but I would like a sense of trying to ultimately achieve something, of working towards it.

It could be I need to change how I work. Maybe start collaborating with other people on a more equal footing, devising and working on projects together, rather than merely being a gun-for-hire. Or maybe create a website (or something) that can be an income-generating business I can develop (I have ideas for sites but the “income-generating” part is, of course, the tricky bit). I wouldn’t rule out getting a full time job, although there are very few places for which I’d want to give up my current flexibility.

Hopefully, 2010’s summary will be more up-beat and I’ll feel like the year has involved progress. I hope it’s good for you too.

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22 Dec 2009 at Twitter

  • 9:43pm: Behind with my sums, so trying to catch up.
  • 6:57pm: @neb Mexican breakfast in the Mission sounds awesome, yes! Oh, I'm in London. Oh well, have some for me :)
  • 5:33pm: 5.30pm and now *really* about to start work. Maybe I should have told myself this week was a proper holiday.
  • 12:28pm: Cleaning dried soup off a motherboard.
  • 9:51am: @pixellent Don't have breakfast until tonight and you'll get loads more things done before breakfast!

22 Dec 2009 in Links