2022 Year In Review

 A bit of a different format for the year in review this year, as it has been a lot of fics and not as much other stuff, but busy nonetheless. Here is the post wrote for the M.S. Illustration patreon, that also applies to all you lovely readers here. Thank you for being here and supporting all the silly fic ideas that are come up with at the odd hours of the night, the good the bad and the ugly realistic portrayals of disability in forms that sometimes hit a little close to home, and all the rest of the chaos that occurs.

With love, from the disability diaries team- Max, Sarah, and Jack

Continue reading for Max's yearly patreon year in review post:

 

Happy weird time between the holidays and new years, I hope it's treating you all well and you had an enjoyable holiday!
Since 2023 is in only a couple of days I thought now was a good time to wrap up the year with some thoughts and looking ahead ideas, and to of course say thank you for all the support. It has been a bit of a rough year between school, the ongoing pandemic, getting diagnosed with an ultra rare (but thankfully rarely life threatening) cancer, and life in general. That said, at the end of it all this year allowed me to really grow in a number of ways, in art, in business, and as a person, and your support through it all means a lot.
Looking ahead to next year I've had a few ideas and they can be summarized in what I think my words for the year will be:
1. consistency: I found that the patreon mail themes were a little all over the place last year with printer issues and other things arising at unneeded times, so this year patreon mail has been all made up and ordered in advance to better plan the themes, Januarys mail went out today and feel free to shoot me a message if you'd like your tracking number, I'm rather excited for it! I also found that getting back into writing on a consistant basis was something I really missed, and that even doing silly mini fic ideas provided by friends in the small hours of the morning ended up helping my mental health, I'm planning to participate in flash fiction february again in 2023 and have a number of fics, character references, and longer stories queued up on my writing blog for next year as I continue to slog through my prompt lists for this year which I'll continue to finish up in the coming months.  Doing inktober and swordtember was a different kind of consistency that burned me out a little, so in 2023 I might chose one or the other, or do only a few prompts based on how I feel
2. experimentation: This past year I experimented a lot in a number of ways, with product ideas (the advent calendars ended up being my most popular product and that was done on a whim!) with table layouts for my first real farmers markets, with what I might like to do post college with majors and minors and all kinds of changes there, and with art and trying new mediums. I discovered I hate oil paint unless it's digital (and that I am most likely allergic to it) and traditional art school type classes aren't my thing, but also that I am in fact semi capable of painting landscapes when I put my mind to it, and find things that are interesting to paint and not...a bunch of laundry tubes curled into weird shapes. Over the years I've amassed a collection of art supplies and next year I want to give myself the freedom to experiment, to play, and to even make "bad" art if I so choose. Not only will it hopefully help improve my skills with certain mediums and subjects, but it should hopefully clear some space in my art space, which is tiny as it is.
3. exploration: Similar to the last word, I want to give myself freedom to explore and try new things, last year I moved halfway across the country (and am prepping to go back in a few weeks!) and that opened a new world and perspectives I'd never seen. While I am not fond of the open hill-less plains of the midwest (or their lack of bagels) it has been an interesting experience and place to explore. I'd love to explore a new place or two, near or far if possible, and try something new- even if it is just showing up to a club I've never been to, or setting foot into the campus gym to try and work off some of the steroid weight and get even a little stronger. I'd like to explore ways to interact with and build this community as well, as it has grown little by little over the past year, and would love to hear any and all ideas, I've been thinking about maybe a stream or two?

If you have read this far just know I appreciate you and am so excited to see how this community can grow and evolve next year, thank you for being here.

Until next time,
Max