I still don’t like resolutions. I never really have, but it’s only been the past couple of years where I’ve actively campaigned against the concept in general. Regardless, here’s some things (just a random collection, odd assortment, kind of things – nothing official, really) that I hope to focus on in the coming year.

My art really improved during 2014. I can definitely see it clearly, even if it may not be all that obvious to the casual observer. Much of that improvement has to do with the fact that I drew A LOT. Not daily, by any means. But quite a bit. That squares well with the old adage that you really can’t get bad at something you do all the time. You can only get BETTER, and that’s my intention with my art. To constantly improve my quality, tools, habits, and style.

I ended up falling out of love with Arcadia towards the end. I’m terrible at sticking with long-term projects, which I’m well aware is a huge failure of mine in many respects. But even more than that, Arcadia just fell apart artistically and narratively. I was telling too little story per page, and it was dragging out WAY longer than it should have. I came to the realization that I have tons of stories I want to tell, but extremely limited time in which to dedicate to the telling of those stories. So I need to focus my attention on the projects that can A) allow me to continue to improve my skills through more complicated artistic layouts and styles, and B) be told in smaller chunks that can be delivered more regularly, allowing me to tell a greater number of stories in a shorter span of time (all of which could potentially be expanded upon in the future).

Clear as mud? My goal now is to dredge up a couple of other stories I have rattling around in my head, separate some small chunks of those stories, and create them, and see where things go from there. I have ideas. They’re just awaiting my ability to deliver on them.

In addition to creating more, I really need to read more. I only read a handful of books in 2014, and a lot of those — way, WAY too many of those — I abandoned because I couldn’t get into them. Oddly enough, while my heart has and will always will belong to the scifi genre, the books I did end up completing this past year were not genre fiction at all. Books like We Were Liars, Eleanor & Park, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson managed to utterly captivate me and hold my attention effortlessly with compelling stories. But I had a hard time getting into books that I really should enjoy (based on historical personal preference) like 2312, Caliban’s War, and Among Others. I’m not sure if it’s the fault of the stories, or…

(Actually, no complicated logic is needed there, I am the only part of this equation that requires solving. Solve for X, where X is equal to my own inability to focus on anything worthwhile for more than five freaking minutes.)

Regardless of where the problem lies, I’ve gone ahead and already stacked the deck against me for 2015 by compiling a list of books that I really, really should try to read — AND FINISH — this coming year.

Beyond that are the things that should be obvious and require no lengthy diatribes. Greater capacity for love for my family, my world, and myself. Health, wealth, and happiness. Nerd movies and comic books. Amen.