When Real Life Gets In The Way

Face, meet desk. Desk, face.

When I first started this blogging I updated this site once in the first nine months. When I came back to it, I set myself the goal of using my time more productively and gave myself the challenge to update this blog twice a week, once on a Monday and again on a Thursday. But at times, even that modest target has been difficult to meet consistently when life demands attention.

“No problem,” I initially thought, “Twice a week is nothing. I’ve updated websites daily professionally for a number of years.”

And therein lies the problem. It was easy when I had the full working day to dream up engaging content, create relevant images, get the SEO on point, schedule the social media, and actually write something. Doing this in my spare time is a bigger issue because, well, frankly I don’t have much ‘spare’ time at the moment! At work I’ve been busy working on a variety of projects including attempting to make politics easier for people to engage with, giving young people with special education needs or disabilities a say in the services they access, and working on an app to improve communication between young people and people with dementia. On top of my full time job which often consists of evening and weekend work, I’ve got other commitments and hobbies I need to consider.

I’ve just recently agreed to help out at Cubed3 – a videogames, film, and technology news website – where I have agreed to update the news feed on a semi-regular basis as well as contributing features as and when I can. The situation came about utterly by chance after a LinkedIn invitation to a name I recognised from when I used to be active on the website led to a discussion about possibly contributing. I’m really happy this haphazardly occurred though, as I have been looking for a platform where I can challenge myself to write (almost) daily news for a specific audience and on top of that Cubed3 is a very respected website and a great addition to any portfolio. I’ve also been involved in some way, shape, or form since 2003 when the message boards were first launched so it almost feels like I’m coming back home.

Basil the big ginger oaf!
Basil, one of the cats I’m looking after this week!

This week I’m also house and cat sitting for my parents as they are away in Bergamo and Venice enjoying fine Italian wining and dining. This leaves cats Molly and Basil under my supervision and, while they’re no bother at all, I like to make sure I spend enough time with them and give them a bit of a fussing so they don’t go stir crazy! There’s other house sitting admin like watering plants and feeding fish which I need to make time for also.

Then there’s Project Arklay, the new Friday ritual of watching Twin Peaks with friends, trying to make sure I can still spend time with my friends, and also trying to get to the gym three times a week as part of a massive diet/lifestyle change. I’ve struggled with my weight since I left university so trying to take control again is a struggle, but unbelievably worthwhile and I’m already seeing the benefits and changes.

On top of this, I’ve got some freelance work I’ve been finishing up, a mixture of writing and graphic design. Self development also comes into play here. My showreel is six or seven years old now so I’m trying to create new content to create a more up to date version and at the same time putting the finishing touches on a home studio so I can do more voice over work – an area I’m really wanting to take forward and do more of.

And finally, there are bigger picture plans. Schemes, if you will. Thinking ahead to projects I want to work on in the not too distant future and putting things in place now and trying to figure out the logistics, there wheres, the whens, and the hows.

So as you can see, this week has been a bit busy. And that explains this blog post and why it’s so different from the rest of my posts but I thought I would share some of the things I’ve been working on. Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!