Some things I accomplished this year
1. I ran a 5k, 10k, 10-miler, and a half marathon. I signed up for two triathlons but didn’t do either one. The first I missed for health reasons and the second was cancelled.
2. Traveled to India and Sri Lanka.
3. Rebooted my freelance writing and marketing career. I managed to get regular writing gigs at both Politico and New York magazine. I also picked up several cool corporate clients and am heading into 2019 with pretty steady work. As a freelancer, that’s about all you can ask for.
4. Launched my podcast The Business of Content and produced 36 episodes. The audience growth for it has been steady and consistent, and I’ve had a lot of fun doing it.
5. Donated to dozens of Democrats and helped flip a Virginia district from Red to Blue by knocking on doors. I feel like I played a small but meaningful role in flipping the House.
Of course 2018 had its share of failures. In 2017 I wound down all my client work and tried to launch a paid subscription newsletter, and by May of this year I had to admit to myself that it wasn’t growing into a sustainable business. Perhaps if I had more runway I could have made it work eventually, but I learned that subscriptions are a tough business to be in, especially when you’re the sole content creator.
I also struggled with my health. I’ve made it a major goal to get my Crohn’s into remission, trying a whole host of new medications, and I’m heading into 2019 with it still on shaky ground. This disease affects nearly every facet of my life, from weight gain to exercise to work productivity to simply being able to enjoy time with friends and family.
So looking forward into 2019, a major goal is to continue working on my health and finally get to a place where I feel completely normal again. I want to keep working on my podcast and growing that audience. I’m excited about my writing gigs and continuing to expand my audience.
I’d say my one stretch goal would be to find a book agent sometime this year. I have a few ideas knocking around in my head, and for as long as I’ve wanted to be a writer I’ve wanted to write books. Know of anyone?
