2026: 10 Year Anniversary and Beyond

by benmweilertNo Comments
In 2016, I started my websites as a place to store my thoughts, ideas, and experiences for photography and writing. Since then, the writing is the only thing that has continued to stick. Sure, I still write reviews over on BMW the Critic (and will continue to do so this year)—but that's mostly to catalog my thoughts about books, movies, and video games. The true creative space that I keep coming back to is here with the stories I produce each year. I've occasionally gone back and looked at my long-term plans for my writing. Some predictions came true, while others were pushed out further in favor of ideas that came fully formed to the front of my mind that screamed to be let out. While 2026 will be lighter than some of my busier years, I'm also looking out into the future and making near-term plans that will influence what I work on this year. If anything, these aren't...
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Striving for 2025-ing

by benmweilert1 Comment
Now that 2024 is over, I'm glad to see my creative calendar lighten up significantly. Last year, I had something to work on for every single month. While many of the tasks were easy and only took a couple days to complete, others expanded and took more time than I expected. Having sat down and worked through what I want to accomplish this year, I'm glad to see it's slower than usual. Of course, there's a lot of moving parts in multiple projects, so here are the broad strokes of what I want to accomplish in 2025. The $1,300 Alphabet With last year's release of Bountiful Bunnies, I'm on a bit of a children's picture book kick as I continue to work with artist Nancy Anderson to illustrate this year's release, The $1,300 Alphabet. I am convinced that if kids can memorize the Latin names of dinosaurs, then they can also learn "$50 words" like "Akimbo" or "Defenestrate." This book has been...
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