With this being the last post of the year (and I look towards 2017), it’s easy to want to fall into the standard retrospective post. And there will be some of that.
Initially, I planned to keep this relatively short, but that didn’t work out. But I tried to make it as much of a quick read as possible. That is, everything is in a bulleted list.
Here’s what I’m going to cover:
- There are a few things I want to mention regarding the past year. Nothing too deep or analytical, but just some of the highlights.
- There are plans for 2017 that I’d like to share that may or may not be of interest to you that I’m going to share.
- I have a few future endeavors around writing (on a different platform, no less!) that I will share.
Now that you know, you can decide whether or not you want to read more or not. So here goes.
Towards 2017
I guess it doesn’t sound all of that groundbreaking regarding things other people publish, but that’s okay. It is my site, right?
As far as long posts are concerned, I’ve already had my fair share of those throughout the year and there will naturally be more to come. Consider this just another lengthy post.
So that’s my preface. Now from 2016 and forward.
2016
- I attended more WordPress conferences this year than any other year and met a lot of people that I’ve interacted with online in some form or fashion. If you’ve not attended a single WordCamp, then I highly recommend it. And don’t be a stranger – people are very nice when you meet and hang out with them. (Speaking of which, I’m hoping to be at WordCamp Atlanta – what about you?)
- I grew Pressware by two contractors. This is notable because I never set out to do that. Instead, I thought it would be me, and that would be that. But thanks to natural growth and the input from my parents (who have been running a larger business for over two decades now!) and a few other friends, adding two to the team has been fantastic. I really appreciate Eric and Toby, and I’m looking forward to 2016.
- I achieved my fitness goals of 11 months of 5 – 6 day-a-week workouts that I’ll discuss more in a future post.
- I was honored to be invited to a number of online discussions such as The WP Crowd and OfficeHours.fm, podcasts, and other events for which I’m extremely grateful.
- I published nearly every single day on this blog, I started a new blog, and I published almost 50 tutorials on Tuts+.
I’m not a huge fan of writing about me. I like writing about development and tangential topics, but when it comes to this kind of stuff, I think it’s okay to reflect on accomplishments.
The above isn’t meant to highlight “successes” so much as just “what I’ve done.” There were failures, missteps, and mistakes. And if that’s worth reading, then let me know via Twitter; otherwise, everything above includes the highlights of what I’ve done so far.
2017
- I’m looking to completely re-design this site (thanks, Array!).
- I want to introduce a different form of partnerships and monetization that’s more attractive and beneficial for readers. I’ll have more on this in a future post, but if you’re interested don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll have a more professional document on partnerships produced in Q1.
- I plan to continue writing about professional WordPress Development but I might expand to a few posts here and there about physical health as this is something I don’t see discussed in our industry enough.
- I want to get more involved in other aspects of social media like Instagram, which I’ve already started because it seems fun. And sometimes “fun” is a good enough reason to see what’s up. You can follow me here if you’re interested (and I do try to follow back!)
- I’m planning to continue working with the Volt Planner (and perhaps some other tools) to focus hard on some other things to make my day-to-day easier, my mental health more positive, and managing my business more streamlined. This runs in tandem with my other blog on productivity, as well. If you’ve not checked it out and it sounds interesting, check it out.
- I need to say “no” more often. That is, I need to time-block activities, reserve time for things that are related to work, my family, and myself. I was great about this for a while, but I fell back a bit this year.
There’s a lot more that I could say related to all of this, but these are the high points. I’m looking forward to the coming year both for this blog, for my work with Tuts+, and for my work with Pressware as I feel that I’ve clarity around a number of things that I’ve not had before.
Perhaps this is a natural part of growth in work, business, and in one’s personal life. Or perhaps it’s a natural byproduct of trying to aim a bit higher than the year before consistently.
Regardless, I’m eager to look back on this post in one year and see what’s transpired.
Increased Writing
I’ve wavered for a long time on if I want to get involved with writing on Medium. The platform is intriguing to me, and I think it’s worth examining what competing products are doing for a variety of reasons.
But, as of late, I’ve been increasingly interested in data security and privacy (though I digress on the reasons why). So I’ve decided to start documenting my journey through this on Medium.
The idea of writing about privacy and data ownership on a third-party platform is beyond ironic. Even still, why not? At least I can export my data.
The first post will land on the first Monday of the year. So if you’re on Medium (or even if you’re not), you can follow what writing here. I don’t know if I’ll stick with it, and I talk about that in the post, but I think the topic is niche enough that it will stand on its own for some time.
But that brings the total number of public blogs for which I’m writing up to three (or four, if you count my writing on Tuts+).
At any rate, I’m eager to see how it turns out. Though I will say, after studying Medium for some time and the community within, it’s very important to pick the people you follow and the publications you read.
Otherwise, you just get confirmation bias and lots of complaining. If that’s your thing, go for it (seriously!). But I’m interested in other things that are less susceptible to the same things I can find on any other social network.
I just want something different.
Conclusion
With that said, whether or not you’ve occasionally been reading, or you’re a drive-by reader, or you’re a long-time reader, I sincerely appreciate it.
For those who are interested in developer fitness and stuff with Pressware, those posts are coming. For those who aren’t, who cares, right? 🙂
And I wish you and yours a Happy New Year (because 2016 has been a beast), hasn’t it?
So I look forward to writing both here on a few other sites and hearing from you wherever you read. And if you opt not to read, that’s cool with me.
I hope 2017 is good to you. 🎉