Stepping into the New Year with New Goals

Time to work on my craft!

Hey there, friends. It's been awhile since I last checked in with you. It's been a super hectic second half of 2021 for me. But I'm sure it's been the same for many of you. Covid is still wrecking havoc on a lot of our plans and we're all still trying to make life as normal as possible. The silver lining amongst the chaos is the opportunity to work from home. Not only does it offer me more time to spend with my family but it also offers me the opportunity to work on podcasting, reviewing, and expanding my horizons. With that opportunity now there, it's time to step up my game. Time to step up my podcasting goals, time to improve on my reviewing skills, and time to let the creativity flow. Today, I took in additional step to getting better.

The Dragoncast Podcast is something that co-host Brian and I have been working on for YEARS! If I remember correctly, I believe that The Dragoncast is going to be 10 years old! Man... that's a long time. Mind you, the podcast lacked consistency. The only constant there was Brian himself. The show has had a slew of cast members and when the show first started, it was difficult in getting all of the schedules to mesh. On top of that, life got in the way of being able to consistently contribute to the show... so I ended up stepping away from the show for a bit. 

But now that we are all in a better place and the show has been fairly consistent for the better part of 2 years, it's time to step up my podcasting game. I recently purchased a Tonor condenser microphone. It's done wonders on making the show sound better. Just today, I received a boom arm microphone stand for my desk. I felt that I needed something a little extra to make me sound better on the show. I noticed that my microphone would sit on my desk and if I moved just slightly, my voice would die down a bit during the show. With the mic arm, I should have a more consistent sound coming from my end. I can't wait to give it a test run on next week's podcast episode.

As for reviewing, I decided to, "start over." I used to be all over the place with reviews and it felt a bit chaotic. Ha! Like the rest of this website isn't chaotic!!! lol Anyways, the goal here is to try and keep reviews to a few select industries. I haven't decided on which those are, just yet, but I'll definitely keep doing tech reviews. I'm thinking of expanding to anime reviews and possibly movie/TV show reviews. I'll definitely continue to review The Otaku Box and will start doing YouTube videos on those, but I think that'll be it. I don't want to overexert myself and then start feeling overwhelmed. If I can keep focused on fewer reviews, not only would I be more consistent, but the quality should also improve.

And last but not least... the launch of The Domain. Brian is spearheading a project that will bring together some great minds to create a brand that is being called, The Domain. We've had a few talks, and a meeting or two, about what The Domain will consist of and what will be expected of contributors. The Domain brand will have a website, a podcast, streaming channels, and several other social media outlets. And yes... The Dragoncast Podcast will be finding a new home at The Domain. The podcast will be rebranded but it will essentially be the same show. It's exciting times and it'll fun to jump into a new endeavor!

So that's the game plan for this year, friends. 2022 is here and I don't really like doing resolutions... but that doesn't mean I can't have goals that I would like to strive for. These goals are set to not only better myself but improve the skills that I have building for the better part of 14 years. It may seem like quite a bit of work, but if we tackle it one task at a time, we should be able to build something awesome. 

So what are your goals for the year? Personal or professional? Let's hear it in the comments, friends!