Chiseling Ambition to Sculpt a Successful 2014

 

My deadline-intensive client work should be completed by the end of today, which means back to frantic pitching and proposals for more work tomorrow  (though for those who are concerned for my career health, I have landed one regular bi-weekly gig). This also means I should have some more time to actually craft fresh posts on the site again. Though I do have a short story contest deadline galloping towards me I haven't started on, which is rather paramount for my chances of winning.

I have blue whale-sized dreams for the site and beyond. I want to review at least one new theatrical release a week. On top of that, have reviews for some of the new streaming movies. The plan is to return The Movie Breakdown to at least a weekly show and find new ways to improve and innovate the podcast. Start creeping into the short video realms along with trying some creative short film-like features. Devote some actual time to writing the novel and planned non-fiction pop culture book. Post a few movie news analysis pieces a week to justify my claim of this being a movie site. Craft other types of pieces for the site such as my adventures in parenting or open dialogue regarding my mental health. I also have long-promised movie review series for every MCU movie and Disney animated theatrical release. I also have vowed a serialized fiction that would be posted weekly.

And I could keep going with more ideas jumping around in my head.

I want to do a lot.

But I also want to be a good husband and father.

This means I need to devote time to my family, and put effort into planning various events with them. 2024 should be the year I started dating my wife and showing deep love to her again.

Another way of being a good husband and father is doing my part financially. This means right now I need to land more clients and put in the long hours to craft quality work to grow my business.

My far-off goal is to be able to make a decent chunk of my living from my creative projects like the site, podcasts, and books. But that is currently hovering around Pluto when it comes to how close to actual reality that is.

This means I only have so much capacity to devote to my mountainous creative ambitions. I can't allow them to gobble up hours needed to land more jobs and excel at the jobs that I have. I also can't allow it to sacrifice necessary time with loved ones.

So, the hope is tomorrow will be the start of Beyond the Balcony strutting its way towards my vision for it. But rather than just jump with arms flailing towards the distant shining star, I'm going to slowly chip away at the things I want on this site. 

My hope by the end of the year is most of the things promised will be implemented. I'll be reviewing various pop culture on top movies, but for now, I want to keep it smaller.

My promise is reviews of as many new releases as I can afford financially and time-wise, some thoughts on major movie news, and some sprinkles of personal anecdotes like parenting and mental health. If that starts to grow an audience and I find myself in a spot where it makes sense to launch a Patreon or Substack, then I'll start taking on some of my other more ambitious ideas. 

The goal is to create entertaining, fun, and insightful articles, reviews, and podcasts on the site, and push forward my drive to be a storyteller in various forms. But also, you know, not get burned out.

How does that sound?

As always, thank you so much for reading this site and listening to the podcasts. If you want me to be in a spot to start creating some of the other content much sooner then please consider donating through my PayPal.