My 2024 Compulsive Creator & Contributor Year in Review

It is the time of the year for me to look back and highlight some of the year’s moments. All in all, I would say that 2024 was the year of renewed focus by being more intentional with my choices of tools and creative activities. What a busy year it was! Here’s a recap.

A month-by-month replay

• In early January, I completed one of my year objectives: moving out Adobe for my photo processing need. I spent more time than usual reading through Omnivore read-later queues.
• Near the end of January, I created a new landing page to replace Linktr.ee. All the details are here. My Linktr.ee subscription came to an end in December.
• I also updated the design of my blog with a brand new look that I think is cleaner and pleasant to the eyes.

• In mid-February, with the launch of the Scribbles blogging service, I decided to create Numeric Citizen Blips.
• Near the end of February, I started using a new blog on Micro.blog for hosting and sharing a portion of my Craft-based metablog. I wanted to gain RSS feed support POSSE capabilities and be closer to my online community. https://meta.numericcitizen.me.
• Still in February, I decided to move my reading notes out of Craft and use a dedicated notes application for that: Bear 2. Bear 2 tagging system and fast search capabilities are way better than what can be done in Craft. The move was completed in early March.
• I decided to switch to the Arc Browser on the Mac, and I think this could be one of the most game-changing decisions of the year. The browser might be my most-used application after Craft. No wonder why it is an important decision.

• In early March, I added a new changelog section to my metablog to document every change I make to my digital publishing space.
• In March, I still hadn’t shared a new podcast episode, which made me question my podcast creation pace and usefulness. I wish I had made more episodes.
• I worked on a blogroll for my blog, thanks to a new Micro.blog feature where users can build and share blogrolls on the website. This is mine.
• In mid-March, I joined the One-a-Month club using the Ko-fi plateform. Since then, I decided to use Ko-fi to share more personal tidbits about me and my journey as a creator but only for those who are supporting me. I’m curious to see how it goes.
• I officially closed my Smugmug account in the last week of March and wrote about it. So long, Smugmug.
• In mid-March, I started the “Now” post series on Scribbles. I like creating these early in the morning.

• On March 30th, I decided to buy a Nikon Zf camera with a 40mm F2 lens. This purchase and my exit from the Adobe Photography plan subscription prompted me to revisit my photo processing workflow, which is now based on Synology Photos for cataloging and Photomator for image processing.

• After getting this Nikon Zf camera and discovering that the RAW files coming off this device weren’t browsable from my Mac or iPad, I had to find a way to process those images. Converting them to DNG files is mandatory but make the photo processing workflow start on the Mac mandatory. In other words, I cannot bring only my iPad during long travels to process photos, a Mac is also required. This sucks big time. The search for a solution lasted many weeks during April and May.
• I got a new iPad Pro in May. I started experimenting with external display and Final Cut Pro for iPad because I couldn't do this with my 2018 iPad Pro. Both experiences weren't conclusive.

• In early June, I deleted the SDDCbox project. The website, built with Craft, was no longer being updated. I hate to delete content.
• In late June, I launched the Digital Legacy Management Guide on Gumroad. After the initial launch, I sold one copy of it. I should promote it more because I feel it's essential in today's world.

• July was a rather slow month for me as I was on vacation for three weeks and returned to my hobbies slowly.

• In early August, after having crossed many posts on Threads, I started to wonder if I should join myself. After some thought, I decided to resist.
• Last August, I made a timid comeback on Medium and started working on a new series of articles about contemplating the idea of becoming a freelancer in information technology.

• Early September: I decided to rename my newsletter the "Ephemeral Scrapbook Newsletter", which better reflects its content and purpose. This is the third generation of the newsletter. Previous newsletters were the "Monthly Numeric Citizen Introspection Newsletter" which was followed by the "Weekly Creative Summary Newsletter."

• In October, following the demise of the open-source read-later service Omnivore, I decided to revisit my reading workflow. For now, I will focus on the tools I already pay for: Inoreader and Readwise. I must admit that read-later services are probably not for me after all. I used to save a lot of articles to this kind of service, but the percentage of articles that I read is very low. So, why bother with this? Plus, the Inoreader redesign recently introduced does a great job at improving the reading experience of my RSS feed subscriptions.

• In early November, I learned that Apple had bought Pixelmator, the maker of the popular Photoshop alternative Pixelmator Pro and the Lightroom competitor Photomator. I was initially in disbelief but realized I often wondered why Apple didn’t buy the company. These apps could have been, or should I say, should have been, created by Apple.
• Later in November, I upgraded my M1 Mac mini to an M4 Mac mini with the M4 Pro CPU configuration. It was quite an upgrade, and the M4 Mac mini could be the best Mac I ever owned. Coupled with my Apple Watch Series 10 upgrade, iPad upgrade, and iPhone 15 Pro Max upgrade, all in the last 12 months, I think I’m okay for another year without upgrading anything.

• In December, I focused on completing the most important projects I had in mind when I started the year. Writing this personal write-up is one example. Writing other year-in-review articles about Apple and Craft was another project to complete and publish.
• In mid-December, I spent some time tweaking my offerings on Gumroad to better take advantage of my experience and knowledge of Craft. I’m well-known in the craft users community because I spend quite some time answering questions on Slack and Reddit.
• In late December, I started a small design project around Craft, where I tried to reimagine some aspects of the app to make it more useful for a broader range of use cases and users. This is a fun little project where I try to use my imagination my experience in using software and using apps like Apple Freeform, Keynote and Craft itself. It was rather entertaining. It's getting some attention, too on Reddit and Slack.

Socially speaking

From a social networking perspective, my usage levels remained relatively consistent, but I expanded my presence in a broader range of platforms. While Micro.blog continues to be my primary social platform, Bluesky usage has significantly increased. However, I can still access my Bluesky timeline and interact with people there through Micro.blog, I sometimes prefer to be on the platform itself because I enjoy the native feel of the interface.

From a photography perspective, Pixelfed took the lion’s share of my photo-sharing activities but Glass somehow took over near the end of the year, thanks for the introduction of the photo series. Pixelfed is a member of the fediverse landscape, but its erratic development roadmap makes me rethink my dedication to this platform. The attitude of its main contributor makes me pause and reconsider if my time investment on this platform still makes sense.

Things that didn’t work

Reflecting on 2024, I can’t help but feel that podcasting doesn’t come naturally to me. I’m still trying to figure out why. I’ve only managed to produce four episodes so far. Maybe it’s because I find it difficult to express myself through audio or spoken words. I prefer visual mediums for expression, such as images, videos, and written words. After all, I’m a visual person.

The place of AI in my digital life

Generative AI has played an increasing role over the years. ChatGPT is my AI service of choice as a paying subscriber. In June, I started recording all my prompts to ChatGPT. I wanted to learn what my prompting habits were, what my use cases were, and which tools or clients I was using. I recorded about 150 prompts covering about four months. While focusing on ChatGPT, I use different clients for the service, like Raycast AI or Craft. I stopped using MacGPT at some point because the ChatGPT Mac client kept improving faster and mainly offered the same experience as the web version of ChatGPT. The most common use cases were enhancing my writing, generating ALT text descriptions, and content summarization. I don’t expect this to change much in the next year, and I expect my use of generative AI to increase with the continued deployment of Apple Intelligence.

Looking ahead

For 2025, I want to focus even more. I want to be more intentional. I want to continue developing The Craft Bible with more content. I want to produce more videos for my YouTube channel. I also want to spend more time making the Ephemeral Scrapbook newsletter. This means spending more time reading and gathering interesting information tidbits. Lastly, Micro.blog will continue to be my go-to place for the social web and microblogging, but I expect my Bluesky usage to increase and find an even more prominent place in my digital landscape.

As I near the end of this article and the year draws to a close, I reflect on my accomplishments with pride. While many of my achievements were visible to readers like you, others remained hidden. Throughout the year, I maintained a consistent writing habit, which, while its quality outcomes varied, remained a constant presence in my life in 2024.