Focusing on what matters most

Dec 7, 2023 | About 2 min reading time

For the last year or so, I've been spreading myself increasingly thin, trying to juggle multiple projects at a time. Twitch streaming, my YouTube channel, improving my art and taking art commissions, learning to code both for my own websites and for Toyhouse HTML templates, my interactive fiction novel, and some other projects I haven't mentioned here.

I tend to pick up a lot of projects and creative pursuits, but this is probably the worst it's been in a while.

Some things have to go, and there's no way around that.

So first: I am no longer streaming on Twitch. Which feels frustrating to say, because I've been literally $12 away from the payout threshold on there for over a year, but quite frankly, it's not the most important project to me right now and it's not something I want to focus on anymore. Maybe at some point I'll return, but it won't be on the same channel - I'll probably start from scratch if I end up coming back.

Next, my YouTube channel is not going to get much more use either. It already wasn't being used very frequently, but I'm making it official here and pronouncing it dead. Maybe I'll return to YouTube at some point, but it will be a different kind of content and on a different channel.

When it comes to coding, I have sort of mixed feelings. I am still quite proud of the websites I've built, and making HTML templates for Toyhouse got my Ko-fi quite a lot of followers. However, I've also received some transphobia, and outside of the 32-Bit Cafe, I honestly don't feel super comfortable in web revival communities. I mean, I have a lot of social anxiety, so I don't feel comfortable in most communities, but I've seen a surprising amount of toxicity in the web revival community in particular. Bad-faith arguments, stuff like that.

I also have seen my website get... a surprising amount of views and followers, honestly, considering I came to Neocities being like "Ooh, it's like Carrd but I can play with the HTML/CSS/JS." I didn't expect anyone to actually care too much about my website. While this has been great in some ways, it's also been nervewracking, especially when I've gotten dragged into drama (and often misgendered in the process). Or had my views completely misrepresented no matter how clear I try to be about them.

I will keep my websites up, but I'll probably only be updating my main website about once a month, and I might make some edits to the submission process for the Art Hive studio to make it less stressful to deal with. I think I'll also respond to applications for the Acing The Internet webring about once a month.

I might also cut down on the amount of pages on my main website, too. That will hopefully make it easier to maintain.

For Toyhouse layouts, I'll probably still release one or two of those each month, but no more than that.

When it comes to my art, I'm still pursuing my art-related goals, but I might try to make my practice more frequent and more sustainable by working on more small sketches.

Interactive fiction, and writing in general, is going to take more priority. Writing has been a major part of my life since I was young, and it makes me incredibly happy. I want to pursue more of what makes me happy, I think. If something stresses me out more than it makes me happy... it's not worth it.