It’s 2019. Yay, I guess.
Sorry for being pretty lousy when it comes to writing and updates and all that jazz. 2018 was pretty awful for me on a lot of levels. I got fired at the beginning of the year. I found a new job, but had to move to Las Vegas for it. I found a little writing momentum during the downtime between those events, writing for The Fandom Post and Crunchyroll, but the move to Vegas took a serious toll on me mentally and emotionally. The financial stability was a relief, but I was away from friends and family and really struggled making friends in Vegas. Online interaction only gets you so far, especially when your work hours keep you from being able to interact with the peeps who could help fill that vacuum created by leaving behind everyone you care about.
I had these grandiose delusions of turning a new leaf while away in Vegas. I figured my downtime during my three day weekends would give me ample time to devote to writing and creating all the goofy, weird stuff I love. That just wasn’t the case. I got into a serious funk, and it took all of my mental and emotional energy just to maintain things without exerting anything else into creative endeavors. That juice just wasn’t there for that sorta thing, which in turn made me feel even worse.
It was a seriously nasty downward spiral that fed itself the longer I was there. Fortunately, I was able to get a transfer back home. The new site was a bit rough at first, since I was learning something new that was even more physically tasking than my previous job, so I needed some time to adjust.
Around the beginning of October, I started feeling like myself again. My work schedule still keeps me away from some of my friends whose free time coincides with the days I work, but other friends can get together on my days off, and being around my family helps a lot too. I can get my RPG and board game fixes. I can relax at the movie theaters I enjoy. I can hit all the local joints that are a part of my routine. I’m me again. Maybe a little better, maybe a little worse, but a hell of a lot better than the “new me” I sought out in Vegas.
New Landon was even worse than New Coke.
I took on a little project in October over at Letterboxd. I watched a bunch of Halloween-themed movies and wrote short reviews about them. That got my creative juices going. Not enough to get back to writing at my blog (although I did manage one post on Demon City Shinjuku), but it was something. I’ve kept that up ever since, writing short reactions to all the movies I watch. Call it rehabilitation or something like that.
It worked, and with a little time I feel like I can get back to writing on a regular basis. It just so happens that all of this coincides with the new year. New start, new goals, same old, but rejuvenated Landon.
I’ve set some goals for myself writing-wise. I’m gonna try to get back to some semblance of a schedule here. At best I was hitting a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, and I aim to get back to that. It may not work out perfectly, but it’s better to aim for something “big” and end up getting a little less than setting the bar too low and settling for nothing.
I’ve also set up a Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/landonhexx
I initially set this up early last year, thinking I would slowly work up to launching it or whatever, but the aforementioned events kept that from happening. I decided to jump right into it. I’ll be writing Patreon-exclusive things that only patrons can see. $1 gets you access, and $5 lets you tell me what movie/etc to write about. I’m not sure if anyone cares enough to pony up any cash, but I won’t know until I try.
I already have one Patron-exclusive thing up. It’s a piece on Fujiko as a femme fatale that Crunchyroll opted not to publish for understandable reasons. I figured it didn’t need to go to waste, so I decided to use it as an my initial Patreon piece. I’ll be aiming for at least one Patreon piece of writing each week. Maybe more if peeps take to it. I’ll likely post fiction stuff on there too, and will likely get something along those lines up within the week.
Hopefully this is the start of something cool. Hope y’all dig it.
SHIN MECHA GUIGNOL 