Here’s What The Schedule Means
So I wanted to talk a little about the expected stream availability, and what I see myself doing this year. Here is the planned availability, as mentioned a few times and listed on the channel:
Sunday - Game Day
Monday - Off
Tuesday - Making Comics
Wednesday - Making Comics
Thursday - Off
Friday - Making Comics/Game Day
Saturday - Community Day
Each day I plan to go live will be a day that will actually be scheduled. This way, it would always be known what day I was going to be live and what I’d be working on that day. I could very naturally just make a recurring schedule of these things (and likely it’d be easier than what I’m trying to do), however I want to plan my weeks properly, even given my penchant for spontaneous “I’m not streaming today for this reason.” I’d rather something be there for that day so that it felt more like I gave myself a schedule and plan for work rather than just a commitment to be at a certain place and time. The stream schedule really is more for me to know what I’m doing and working on than it is for anyone else, really, even if some days have recurring themes.
Sundays are game days. That’s it. A day to relax and wind down, where I can play my favorite games with no real goal in mind other than to play them (and hopefully finish them). I was thinking about what other games I would play once I’m done with the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games, and I think that list would include Octopath Traveler I and II, and maybe even Star Ocean. However, I don’t want to lose the point of a game day: it’s just to sit back and relax and have a break day for my brain, and share my favorite game experience with folks. I can even see me picking up Stonehearth again (Stonehearth Sundays were absolutely a thing and I miss them dearly!).
Tuesday and Wednesday are all for comics work. These two days have been dicey for my availability, only because of whatever happened during the workday that exhausted or energized me. The trick will really be maintaining good energy to want to sit myself down and get into work on those days, and that work is planned work for pages usually. But sometimes I really just need to not be live and for that, I want to have a third workday that’s more of a pick-up day.
Friday is the pick-up day! I wasn’t sure originally what I wanted this to be: extra game day or extra work day, especially if I already put in good stuff on the prior days. As in, Tuesday and Wednesday were great days for getting work done and I’m almost through this week’s workload. Let’s come back on Friday and try to wrap it up! Or, if there’s something I know is going to take a little bit to get through, I can plan for it and say that Friday will be that day. Think of being at the end of a game and needing just one more night to get through it, or even on the last push through page work and needing just a little extra time. That’s Friday.
Saturday I want to be a community day. This won’t always be a streaming day, sometimes it’ll be a Discord hang-out night. As the community grows, it’ll be more and more needed, but for now it’s a wild card day. I look at Saturday and think of fun things I can share of finished work. It could be an unveiling of some new art, maybe a check-in on something I’m reading (there’s lots of comics in my stacks these days), or even a music day (yep, talking about music streams again, which would be fun in general). Again, planning for growth, I want this to be just a normal little hang-out day with folks. Nothing special so it may not even be an official “on-day” if it wasn’t for me wanting to turn it into a wild-card stream day. I honestly could just be not live, as well, opting instead to quietly get work done on Discord or just hang out at home with the Arfy and the cat.
I’m locking in my days off as Mondays and Thursdays. Mondays I just want as a Me day where I do nothing at all related to art. Private game day, maybe, but never any art stuff unless I’m just aimlessly doodling. I might go read a book just to get away from the computer and any other screens. Thursdays I’m studying. I’ve mentioned I’m preparing for the GRE, and Thursday is one of three days when I’m doing that (the others are Saturday and Sunday mornings), for about three hours each day (expanding that to four in the new year). It’s also the perfect day for a mid-week break, especially with music practice during the week.
If anything I really know how to keep myself busy! There really is always something to do during the week and the trick is to give myself the right amount of off-time. That’s why I’m not so worried about having a stream on Fridays and Saturdays, so I can just take the extra time if I need it. However, I want to make it clear that streaming is just one method I’m using to hold myself accountable to the work I’m doing to get my comics developed and build my art skills. Even a Saturday concert once a month is meant to help me track my progress with my flute while also sharing what I’ve learned. As mentioned, this schedule is more for me, but I hope that by keeping it well-regulated, folks can count on there always being something happening over here.
Anyway, that’s all. Thanks for reading!