Depth Year 2023

Forget new year resolutions. This is the year to tie up loose ends and go deep with your life and creativity

Photo by Engin Akyurt, Unsplash

I’m a chronic pursuer of Shiny New Things.

New projects. New online courses. New books. Getting them makes me happy, but it's gotten out of control over the years.

My books stare at me accusingly as they sit on the shelves, yellowing in the humid, tropical weather. I’ve spent thousands on online courses and many of them are not completed. Self Publishing 101, I’m looking at you.

So, this year I’m tying up the loose ends by having a Depth Year.

A Mastodon user told me about this concept, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

A Depth Year works this way: For one year, don’t acquire new hobbies, skills, books, clothes and yes, online courses. Look around your house, go through your hard drives and see what you have. Then, “go deep” by exploring them further. This concept was created by blogger David Cain. You can read more about it in my blog: Let’s Have a Depth Year.

My 2023 Depth Year framework

For me, “depth year” means tying up loose ends. So, here’s what I’ll be doing:

Writing

This is such a big one for me. I have so many unfinished short stories, memoirs and novels sitting in my hard drives that they literally haunt me. The biggest one would be my space opera series, Distant Stars. I’ve completed the first three-book arc, but am too paralysed on what to do next. I’d like to:

• Complete my unfinished short stories and novels

• Experiment with various ways to publish them

• Stop writing under the pseudonym “Tai Weiland” and write under my name. This scares the bejeesus out of me, admittedly.

• Create a sustainable and healthy creative practice for myself

• Dare to get paid on Substack. Yup, setting a paid tier!

• Document my experience in doing all this in Tai Tales

I still have no idea how I’m going to do (waves hands around) all of this, but I’ll be documenting my process in the newsletter.

Spiritual and physical health

I believe my success with the above relies heavily on this. My fiction work has been heavily impacted by real-life stressors. We often measure our creative “health” through our output or the money we made through it. I’ve spent far too many years burning myself out on the altar of toxic productivity and monetary metrics. This year I’d like to:

• Learn how to maintain my weight (this is a big one as my inability to do so has caused me to yo-yo wildly in weight)

• Lose said weight

• Sleep better

• Build a sustainable relaxation practice

Reading life

Tsundoku. The art of buying books and never reading them.

I’m an expert on Tsundoku. I live it.

This year, I’d like to do a very simple thing. I have two fantastic science fiction and fantasy series on my shelves. I’d like to finish them.

The Expanse series by James SA Corey. The duo have written up to 10 books (and several novellas). I don’t plan to read all of them in 2023, but the 6 I have. And I’ll be watching the TV series at the same time. I know! Crazy stuff.

Elantris and Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. Confession — I got them because the covers were so gosh-darn pretty. It’s time to see if the hundreds I spent on the series are worth it.

How about you? If you were to do a Depth Year what areas would you be focusing on? Tell me in the comments!

What’s new on my blog

2022: The year of disasters and discoveries — I feel almost guilty about saying this but 2022 was a great year for me. I’m really proud of what I’ve achieved. I think making 2023 a Depth Year will make it even richer.

Let’s Have a Depth Year — Where I explain the concept. If you’re going to have a Depth Year let me know!

What I read

The first book I completed in 2022 was We Are Marching Now: The Inside Story of Bersih 1.0. Like I hinted in one of my older newsletters, Lord help me, it's election time, Malaysia has some crazy politics. I’ve lived through some of the most tumultous times in Malaysian political history, and Bersih (Malay for “clean”), a people’s march that demanded for electoral transparency and fairness, was one of the most pivotal moments.

This book made me aware of the amount of work that went into this march. So many brave men and women made the whole thing possible. If not for them, where will Malaysia be?

As I read through the book, I’m left with bittersweet feelings. Some allies are now opponents, and some heroes have become villains.

What I watched

After months of hee-hawing, I finally got myself an Amazon Prime subscription, namely so I can watch The Expanse series now that it’s completed its six-season run.

Yet, I find myself gravitating towards … Fear the Walking Dead. I’m not sure why I love zombie shows, but there’s something weirdly comforting about watching the world burn down from a zombie apocalypse. No? Just me? Okay then! Lol.

There’s also Rings of Power, but the more I hear about what they did to the lore, the more I clench my teeth. I don’t think I’ll watch it — I’ll probably end up with a temper tantrum.

Outer Range and The Terror is next on my list.

I really need to watch a fluffy rom-com to balance things out! lol.

Other things

Meanwhile, a pair of sunbirds is building at nest right at my balcony.

This complicates things as I recently took in a stray cat to help him recover from his cold!