Tag Archives: updates

A late-year update post.

It has been just over 200 days since my last post. Very regrettable, though sadly not unusual for me. I always attempt to find a consistent posting schedule and stick to it, but it never works out for long. I’m in a much better mental state now, though, so hopefully this time around, I’ll be able to provide more frequent articles and posts for you all.

I actually have a lot to say, and I understand that some of you may not be here to read all of it. So I’ll split it up into sections. Click on one of the sections from the list below to skip right to it. (Or just scroll down and read the whole thing!)

Where I’ve been
What’s to come
Conclusion

Where I’ve been

This is a question I ask even myself sometimes. This time around, it has to do with my mental health. Due to some unfortunate circumstances in my personal life, I was in a horrible mental state from around the time I made my last post, to around late July; the entire summer basically. Then after that, I got a second job on top of the one I already have in order to cover more of my expenses. So I’ve been juggling the two different jobs for the past few months, only this new one is in the medical field. That’s taken a lot out of me; monitoring high schoolers one day and then taking people’s blood the next can take up a lot of mental energy, as you might imagine. I’m starting to loosen up my schedule though, so I can hopefully start working on making more content for you guys, among other things.

As I write this, I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve written a proper update post involving my personal life. A long while. I’ve privatized some for privacy reasons, but the last one that I can see that is still active was made in late 2018. I didn’t even realize that it’s been nearly as long! I think an update post is in order, one that describes everything that’s been going on in my life. Maybe I’ll write it in a book/play format to spice it up a little. Additionally, I think I might start writing update posts quarterly, if not monthly. No promises though; I tend to keep things a little more private these days, not to mention that that’s a lot to keep up with. Either way, I think it’s important to show a little bit of transparency with my readers. You can’t trust someone you know nothing about, right? That starts today, on my quarter-of-a-century birthday.

What’s to come

I’ve got a lot of stuff in the works right now. Allow me to discuss some of them now:

First, I plan to do some much-needed formatting changes/site updates. The former is particularly long overdue, as some of you have probably noticed; dead links, watermarks, font errors, etc. I also want to update my About page, as well as add some sections to the header and the main menu. I might even un-privatize some of my old posts, or at least revamp them and publish them again.

Second, I want to start posting poems and short stories again. The reason I stopped was because I wanted to save up a whole bunch of them and publish them as an anthology one day. But I don’t want money to prevent anyone from seeing my best work. Producing good literature and writing things that bring joy and evoke emotions has always been the priority. Though, there are some bigger writing projects that I have yet to announce. I’ll do so when the time is right, i.e. when I’ve gotten a foothold and have solidly committed to a single one.

Third, I want to start writing more reviews as soon as possible. The hardest part about it has been finding people’s books and albums to review in the first place, which is something I didn’t anticipate. One of my stipulations is that I have to get permission from the author or artist in question, which has complicated things a bit. I don’t want to dish out unsolicited opinions, so it’s quite necessary; but for some reason, creators have not been answering my requests, even if they usually accept feedback and criticism. There have been some plans that have fallen through, so I might try to revive those before anything else. I also take requests, if anyone reading this is wondering!

I do have one really big review planned for a more notable name in music. I normally only review works from smaller creators, but the plan has always been to include lesser-known works from more notable people as well. I’m not leaving you guys any time soon; I’m still gonna continue reviewing indie creators just as frequently, if not more! Know also that my review will be just as honest and impartial as any other.

I’m thinking of creating a name for my fans and followers. I’m thinking “the Loyal Few”, because though there aren’t a whole lot of you, you’ve remained faithful and kind! I also want to increase my social media following, because what I have so far has been so poorly neglected that it also makes me look unprofessional and amateurish.

Though I haven’t been as visible lately, I’ve remained as active and ambitious as ever. I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things and hear your feedback, which is truly valuable.

Conclusion

That’s about it for now. I have to get an early start tomorrow, so I’ll head off to bed. There might be minor grammar/formatting errors; if I find any I’ll fix them soon, and if I do, I’ll list them all below. I’m so glad to be back into the swing of things, and I thank all of you for sticking with me!

Dec. 15, 2023, 9:41 EST: Made minor punctuation changes, added some clarification to the “Where I’ve been” section. I also removed the paragraph where I talked about the notable artist in question, in order stick to my “don’t reveal the creator until the review is posted” rule of thumb.

Announcing My New Album Review Series!

Hello all! As mentioned earlier, I have another series in the works right now. I planned to officially announce this a little earlier, but regardless, here goes nothing:

I’m adding a new review series to this website. It’s called Consummate Professionalism, and in it, I will be reviewing albums, mixtapes, EPs, LPs, and other similar compilations of music.

I was reluctant to delve into the world of music criticism. My professional experience is almost entirely limited to literature, and I wanted to avoid getting sucked into the music industry as a whole. I made up my mind for two reasons. First, music is art; it would be a tragedy for me to allow all of that art to go undiscovered and unappreciated.

Second, the world of reviewing and criticizing music is in need of an overhaul. The current top critics live in a cultural echo chamber, with values and preferences grossly dissimilar to those of the general population. In other words, there needs to be more reviewers whose analyses align with the average music listener–a role I intend to fill as faithfully as possible.

I don’t yet have an official release date for the first installment (each one will be called a Volume. Ha, get it?). I’m extremely confident I will have it up within the next month, though, if not less. If I don’t post it immediately after it’s finished, then I’ll announce its publication date on the Likewise12 Twitter page. Follow me, and keep checking back for more updates about this and other projects!

Shifting Focus: Why I’ve Been Doing Mostly Reviews Lately

Hello all! This is just a quick, impromptu update post to explain a slight shift that some of you might have noticed in the past few months.

Namely, my website posts have been almost entirely of reviews, with little in the way of quizzes, poems, or traditional articles. This may be an unwelcome change, as a lot of you come here specifically for my original content, and don’t want to be directed away from content that’s original to me. I want to stress to you that my original content is not going away. Rather, I want to explain why my content has taken this shift.

  1. I genuinely really like doing it. This is an often-overlooked aspect of writing and content creation that a lot of creatives encounter some time in their career, including myself. It’s easy to lose sight of your purpose, falling into a trap of creating content that you feel your fans want to see, rather than things you actually want to create. This is something that tripped me up for a while; I would spend months working on a few rather bland articles that would undoubtedly get a lot of clicks, but that were an absolute pain to write. I want to start creating for me just as much as for you again, and this is the most recent thing I’ve found that fulfills both of those. There is a lot of other content I genuinely enjoy making, but most of it is not posted here, for the other reasons listed.
  2. I have a vision for something bigger. While I love writing poems, especially as of the past year or so, I have plans for what I want to do with them rather than posting all of them here. The most prominent of which would be creating a poetry collection and publishing it, or incorporating my poems into some of my other works. Now, I don’t want to seem like a sellout who is just milking all of their content for a profit. If I could write full-time for the rest of my life without making a single penny from it, I would. Alas, in order to devote more of my time to my work, thus bringing you bigger and better projects, I somehow need to make more money off of all this. Rest assured that I see and understand your concerns. I plan to look into options for how I can make my future paid content more accessible for lower-income fans.
  3. It helps others like me. As an indie creator myself, I know how hard gaining exposure can be. In a lot of ways, getting your work into the hands of those who will enjoy it is the hardest part. How are people supposed to know how to chose your work, rather than anything else they may come across? I want to help others who are going through my same creative struggles. Writing these reviews may help some of them kickstart their careers, giving them that little push it needs to spawn a fanbase, an income, and a living off of it in the future. In simpler terms, I want to let people know about all the great undiscovered books* they should read (and which they shouldn’t, of course.
  4. Related to point #2, these reviews are perfect for this online format. Again, it’s important to find a balance. It’s best to find something that you both a) like to create, and b) earns you money, and c) exposure. These reviews accomplish all of these. I like creating them, and they generate a good amount of traffic, so they earn more money while also directing people toward my website, where they can learn about all of my other content.

I hope that this change is not a difficult one. As I write this post, I have a few ideas for how I can create some new original content that’s better suited for this website. If they materialize, I’ll post the relevant updates. As it stands, I’ll continue writing more reviews, and even have a new review series that I plan on announcing very soon–and this one won’t be focused on books. Stay tuned, and thank you all for your support!

P.S.: Don’t mind any minor spelling, grammar, formatting, or other related mistakes. I plan to publish this page almost as soon as I’m done typing it. The date and time you see attached to this post are pretty much the same date and time I finished writing it.

Announcing My New Book Review Series!

Hello there! A short update from your friendly neighborhood wordsmith. After being missing in action for several months, I’m happy to announce Hayley’s Comments, a new series that I’m launching here on this website.

I’ve been meaning to do something like this for a while, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to. I knew that I wanted to support small authors like myself, and steer my blog to be more writing- and literature-focused. This new series helps with both of these issues, with other added benefits as well.

This series will be focused on rating and reviewing books from smaller and lesser-known authors. I’ll read these books cover to cover, then give an honest, in-depth, and spoiler free analysis, using a special rating system of my own creation. I’ll add a new section to the top bar with more information, and when I do, I’ll link it here.

I’m working on the first review, and though I don’t have a specific date will post it soon after it’s done. Look on my Twitter page for faster updates, and to leave me with any quick questions or comments you may have. Thank you for your support, and I’m excited to see what you all think of what I have in store!

A New Year’s Update

I have some quick updates for you all, and just in time before 2022!

First of all, I think I’ll be shortening the span of the types of articles I’ve written. I’ve realized that I’ve been unintentionally trying to branch out too far with what the topics of my articles I try to write, writing about topics I don’t know too much about in order to attract a wider audience and make people more interested. It’s to the point where I couldn’t keep up with that every-other-week article schedule, because I was stuck writing this one article that was really research intensive and I wasn’t necessarily interested in. But I was completely invested in it, struggling to meet my arbitrary self-expectations for what I should be writing about.
But somebody once said “if you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one”. So from now on, I will try my best to only write and publish articles that I’m specifically interested in, and that I’m personally invested in. I’m also considering focusing more on creative writing- and art-related ideas; though I am interested in more than just those topics, and intend to branch out and include some of my other interests in my content. Stay tuned to see what all else I have planned.

Also, I have a lot planned creatively and business-wise, but a lot has gone on in my personal life that has prevented me from progressing as much as I would have hoped. No matter how long any unintended hiatus may be, either in the past or in the future, rest assured that I’ve never forgotten about this blog or my viewers and supporters. I want to go more in-depth with exactly what’s been going on in my personal life in the future. For now, be on the lookout for new content, more projects, and different site updates in the coming weeks.

The Things That Have Happened, The Things That Occur

There’s a certain phenomenon that pretty much anyone who wants to do something experiences. What’ll happen is you’ll be experiencing something that you connect with. An artist will be at an art gallery, an athlete will be at a sports game, an actor will be watching a play. It’ll be the best of it’s kind, something top notch and undeniably appreciable. But you can’t stand it. But not because the product is bad, but because you understand it. It vibrates with you on a wavelength so perfectly in tune with your life goals and desires. You understand the content, and you understand the creator–and you realize that that person needs to be you. Your heart aches for greatness, to express your thoughts and to show people just what you’re capable of doing. But for whatever reason, you can’t. Maybe it’s needing to complete school, or waiting to make the team, or trying to score some more auditions or something. But something’s holding you back. You’re stuck there; you can’t move. And you resign yourself to persisting to try to progress while you watch someone else do whatever it is you love on a level you can only hope for.

I’ve been stuck in that zone for a while, a long while, and now I’m finally breaking through.

The past several weeks have been eventful for me, and insightful. Both in the way things have played out and the actual things that have happened. I’ve been tried and tested and had several firsts and learning experiences. And I’ve wanted nothing more than to divulge it all on here, to freely express my thoughts on one of the best platforms on the internet for doing so. But, running a website like this, you sort of become a curator at the same time. Your site is a museum and you decide the pieces, the exhibits and everything. You work so hard on it and you try so hard to please; you don’t want to muck it up. So you filter out a lot of the stuff that you wish so sincerely that you could show, because you think it’ll make it better for everyone. For me, it’s taken the form of filtering out a lot of the personal stuff I wish I could post, for the sake of quality control here on this blog, and the desire for it to be about more than myself. But I feel now that that makes the whole thing feel a bit too impersonal, and while I will maintain this quality control, I’ll keep you more informed about my life in the future. For now, here’s a quick rundown.

I’ve been super busy with life recently, focusing a lot on myself. Financial problems due to my parents’ divorce has caused a lot of personal changes that have had varying amounts of ramifications throughout my life. Especially starting late last summer, money for me has been tight, and I’ve had to save and improvise in areas that I haven’t before. Financial freedom is something that has been different for me. Without going into too much detail, a several different factors have caused these difficulties, and although I’m working hard to fix them, they’ve taken their toll.

The first eventful thing that happened was that I got a job at Target. It was okay, besides my shitty ableist coworkers. I got fired a few weeks afterwards, but it was deeply unjust, so I decided to sue the company. That’ll be a whole other post on it’s own, though; you can rest assured that the issue will get it’s own post once the issue is settled. I also rekindled relationships with several friends. I’ve started talking with those that I used to talk to a lot, those that I never thought I’d talk to, and those I never thought I’d talk to again. Both friends and enemies alike, old issues were brought up and settled. Some of these issues will be brought up again in the future, too.

This has also marked a huge era of progress and recovery for me. Record lows in depression, loneliness, and other things that I’d been known to suffer from. But one of the biggest things in my life these past few weeks has been my plans for this website. I plan to turn this into something much bigger and better than what I ever thought it could be. You’ll know exactly what I mean very soon in the future, but I’ve been investing large amounts of my time into it. I have to, in order to fulfill that burning desire mentioned at the beginning of this article. Ideas, thoughts, and all my hopes in life will all come together in one project–although calling it a “project” seems like an understatement.

Lastly, my birthday is happening on Monday. I will turn 20 years old. One thing I’m prone to is trying to scramble to do 1,000 things to prepare, because I feel like I have to commemorate the event. No longer a teenager, I feel like it’s especially important to do that now. What I want to do is this thing, a practice wherein you write a letter to yourself in the future, so your future self can read it and see how much you’ve changed. I want to do some form of that, but for varying lengths of time. Like one for 1 year from now, one for 5 years, and so on. I want to also start some sort of birthday tradition, too. As you can see, memories are one of my best friends.

More content and important information should be coming up soon, so watch out for that. And to clarify; I feel fine and all, I just definitely have to get some things in order. I’m sure you all have been itching to see more, and of course, I will deliver. Hang tight and stay sane, and just to let you know, your thoughts are real.

An explanation, rather than an apology

78 days. That’s low long it’s been since the last time I posted here. I’m sitting here typing and thinking about how many days that is. If you started learning a language from nothing, after 78 days you’d be pretty much conversational. If you planted a field full of cucumbers, you’d be able to harvest them all 78 days later. And, more topically, if I had started working on even one of my minor projects 78 days ago, then I would probably be done by now. And I can’t get over that now.

My lack of transparency has been quite regrettable, I feel like. I’ve neglected giving a ton of updates in order to avoid having my content being too focused on me, but I feel like that’s been detrimental.

Once I get things straightened out, I’ll definitely be posting a more lengthy update to explain everything and the (positive!) changes that are soon to come. Until then, I’ll try to post a few things here and there that I’ve done. I just thought it’s only fair to let you know instead of just suddenly posting content again without saying a word.

Anyways, I’m perfectly fine, and things will hopefully ramp up soon! I appreciate all of the support.