My 2017 theatre and blogging resolutions

Wow, I know I am cliche, but this may just be overdoing it – don’t you think? Oh well, it’s my blog and I’ll write what I want to…as the saying goes.
I only began this blog in June of this year, so I am still very much new to the blogging game. Though I’m not sure why it’s called a “game” – does everything have to be so competitive? I feel like the girl in Mean Girls everyone laughs at. You know, this one:

There seems to be so many rules about blogging: how often to post, making sure you have an aesthetic, connecting and being professional, the number of tweets you can tweet per day… I did try, at least at the beginning, to be these things, but slugging towards the end of the year I thought: Why? What am I doing this for? Instead I’m going to try and be myself rather than have a sheen of “blogger” about me, and write how I feel instead of trying to adhere to some complicated and invisible rule book.

So that’s resolution number one:

Write how I feel instead of crushing my opinions into lovely sentences which make for a bog-standard review, almost identical to how everyone else writes. I want to delve more into opinion articles about theatre as opposed to sticking with reviews. Mostly because I feel like I reiterate what everyone else says, so now I want to feel like I contribute to wider conversations.

Next up, which I suppose applies to my life more generally, is to stop being self-deprecating. I quite often brush off my blog when in reality I am very proud of it. On the odd occasions I have been invited to events I am often quite overwhelmed and feel unworthy to be there. Obviously, there must be a reason I am there, otherwise why would I have been invited? In 2017 I need to take myself a bit more seriously and be proud of what I do. I aim to have a logo designed for me and to create business cards, too.

The range of shows I see is rather limited. Though I live in London, I tend to see lots of West-end musicals and shows at big venues like the National. So in 2017  I want to start seeing shows at smaller theatres and by new companies, as well as to support my local theatre company here at home in East Anglia. Feel free to tweet me recommendation of great companies or venues!

Content is always a massive thing to think about for creators at this time of year – do you stick to what you’re doing or try something new? For me, my aim per month is to write:
– As many reviews as possible
– One ‘think piece’/longer article
-An ‘In Case You Missed It’ round-up

Side-projects-wise, I do a lot of things at my university which I have to keep up with alongside my blog. I will still be editing the ‘London’ section for our magazine, CUB, as well as taking part in QMTC’s plays. However, myself and my friend, Conor, will be hosting our own radio show, ‘All That Jazz’ on the student radio station Quest, which will be based around musical theatre, so I’ll be over there talking about that medium, too.

I always talk about this, but I kind of want to start YouTube (again?). I want to make it a side-channel to this blog where I can do three-minute reviews, vlog day seating and events, as well as talk about theatre with friends. Since vlogging for the Barbican Centre I’ve become more experienced in using cameras and editing, but my only issue is that those things are expensive and I am but a poor student! So I may have to set up a Patreon page in order to do so as well as take on more shifts at work! Is that thing I can do?

So those are my small little resolutions for blogging and theatre for 2017 – do you think these are achievable? What are your thoughts, do you have any? Let me know!