I do a lot of things. Like seriously. Let’s be honest here. I have my hand in tons of different creative outlets and I enjoy doing them all. Really, it’s not so much about doing lots of stuff to show off but its more for the sake of just doing things and learning as much as I can because I can. I’ve said it before, I love learning and I love a good challenge. Those are my main reasons for doing all that I do. Plus, not to mention I find all the things I do incredibly fun. I wouldn’t be doing any of it if it were not fun.

Some stuff has been on my mind as of late though. I’ve reached a stage in my career in which I’ve honestly never experienced before, and that’s the fact that lots of the projects I’ve worked on have actually, finally….. launched? That’s weird for me. If you know me, its kind of a big deal. Its a bit embarrassing to say but lots of the “work” I’ve done over the past few years have all been pure hype. I’ve never had much luck with following through on my product launches or projects in general. But really its all because I’m learning as I go. I build lots of hype around stuff I’m working on because I genuinely feel excited about what I’m working on. One thing I always tell myself is that if I can’t get excited about my own projects, how do I expect anyone else to get excited about it? It just doesn’t seem right to me if I’m just working on something without that certain spark.

A successful project to me needs lots of excitement coupled with lots of hype, followed by a clear plan of action and a streamlined launch with a well thought-out follow-through after its out in the open. Sadly, up to this point, I’ve only been able to get the first part right. I’ve never had much luck with the launching and follow-through stages. I’ve known this for awhile but never really talked about it to the public. Mostly because it’s a bit embarrassing and it seems like I’m all talk. But in reality, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Well, actually.. no. Thats not true. The real reason why I’m not good at following through is because of… MONEY!!! Oh…. and TIME!!!

I don’t have enough of those. I wish I did. We all do.. I think. Except for those who have a ton. Well no. Thats not true either. They probably want MORE.

Ummm. Anyway. Like I was saying, lack of time and money have been huge contributing factors as to why I haven’t been able to launch projects how I really want to. It’s just not fair. Take AetherAeon for instance. The PRIME example of how an amazing idea with great planning, great excitement, great hype, with hardly any follow-through in terms of actual product launches. And can you guess why that’s the case? Right. Because I had no money to print merch and not enough time to work on it. Granted, AetherAeon was a huge project for any one person to take on alone. Everything you have ever seen about AetherAeon was all me. Every last bit of it. And it was tiring. Dead tiring. So tiring that I stopped working on it 4 times in two years because it was just too much to handle. I ended up overworking myself to the point that I lost all excitement and enthusiasm with the project and it ended up feeling like a chore to maintain it.

After awhile, I knew it was time to ditch that project and free myself of that unnecessary weight I felt I was carrying on my back. And as a result, I actually feel much freer and able to do more with my time. Kind of like I’m not tied down to any one thing anymore. Like I’m free to do whatever I want. Which brings me to the main point of this post. What do I do now? Its been a few months since the official end of AetherAeon and since then, I’ve launched my own type foundry, launched the store section of this site, launched the 50 Blends Project prints, launched the Los Angeles Type Project prints, and launched the Of Pen And Purpose illustration project.

Those print series’ were what has taken up my time since then and now that they are launched and out in the open, I had to ask myself, “What do I do now?” I have a few more things planned that I want to work on but really, I don’t have a clue as to what exactly I should focus my attention on for the next phase in my creative season. I have a new print series that’s been 4 years in the making that I want to work on at some point. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me talk about a book I started writing. But yes, I can confirm right now that I have started writing a book that I plan on finishing sooner rather than later. I don’t necessarily want to talk about what it will be about exactly yet because I’m at the early stage in writing that I have 2 possible directions in will end up going in. I can tell you it’s definitely NOT a novel. I suck at making up stories about stuff I know nothing about. This book will be definitely related to art, design, and possibly the creative process. Not sure yet. You’ll have to find out later when I get frustrated and start ranting about it on Twitter.

But that’s where I’m currently at. Struggling to write my first book. Its something I’ve always wanted to do and I think now might be the best time to do it. I’m at the end of a few successful product launches and have nothing major I’m currently working on so I think now is the right time to get to work on this damn book. Over the years of juggling projects, I’ve learned how to properly manage and prioritize my time with individual projects so that I get the most out of the little time I have outside of work. Which is why I am excited. This method of working on stuff seems to work for me and if I do this right, I should have a completed book within the next few weeks.

Well anyway, if you made it this far, thanks! Now keep my new project on the d-l. Only cool people who read the crap I write on my dumb blog deserve to know what my new projects are. :]