Sooooooooooooo ….. May was a very light month in terms of builds, with a single Gframe figurine being my only published project. I wasn’t too worried about this, given how productive the rest of 2024 has been so far. And to be honest, I really did need to take a break from building in order to focus on some other hobbies.
But having taken some time to reflect, I also think there are few things that need to change going forward.
By the time you read this, everything on the blog looks hunky dory. But the truth is that I just published all the posts from now all the way back to the middle of April.
To be clear, all the builds covered in these newly published posts were completed within the timeframe that its respective posts were published. So for example, I really did complete the Full Armor Gundam 7th by April 28th.
So why did I wait to publish this content now? Simply put, it took me this long to write all the posts and take all the photos. I haven’t found either of those two activities to be very fun as of late. And since I don’t want me leisure activities to feel like work, I’ve been putting them both off. Eventually I got a spark of inspiration and motivation, but I’m afraid of something like this happening again.
Something has to give. Either I have give up on writing and photoshoots, or I have to find a way to make these activities more enjoyable.
Here’s what I propose.
Writing
I’m not going to stop writing, but I am going to cut down on the length. At this point I’ve built so many kits that it’s rare for any given part of the build to be truly unique from something I’ve done before. There’s just not much of a reason to lay out all the parts and go over the construction in any great detail. Heck, in some cases, there’s not even much of a need to photograph each of the sections individually.
What this means is that, at the very least, the build posts are probably going to be shorter, covering only the most interesting and insightful observations. I’ll still probably try to list out all the places where you need to paint or otherwise color correct, as I imagine that info might be useful to someone. But I expect to cut back on most everything else.
I may cut back on the detail in the intro posts. I usually enjoy writing those; what I don’t like is when I have to load up a DVD or Blu Ray disc and meticulously search for screenshots of the scenes I want to show. It’s not fun, and it’s more time consuming than you’d think.
Photos
I’ve already started cutting back on these. For instance, I’m not testing the articulation on models and taking photos of it. I just can’t be bothered, unless some bit of articulation is particularly good or bad.
Beyond that, I’m not sure what to cut down on. I have this mindset where I feel it would be a waste to spend so much time working on and detailing a model, only to just take a couple of standing shots and calling it a day. I want to show off its personality and pizazz. I just … don’t want to put in the work that’s required. Which is, admittedly, a huge problem.
Maybe the answer is to focus on a few really good poses, and just leave it that.
Future Builds
I have at least two completed builds that I haven’t written about. They’re both part of a set, so to speak, and I want to build everything else in the set before I write about them. It is going to be a rare instance in which I don’t backdate posts to the time of the original builds.
And I think that one’s going to have to wait a little while longer, as there is at least one other build, that’s not part of that set, that I really want to get to soon.
But hey, we’ll see how it all goes.