Just an update about how I’m going to finish this project in the next couple months. I have about two dozen research pieces, interviews and photo essays still to publish on the ATRF Journal. My timeline for that is one article a day, which puts me at concluding writing by the first week of December. On top of that I will be finishing Kickstarter rewards follow-up and editing video, which will be a lower priority than finishing an article each day but still a priority. Ideally all of this is done by the end of Canada’s 150th anniversary year.
Things are somewhat slow-going because I need to re-upload a lot of audio and re-edit a lot of photos, but I’m making headway. To add some perspective, this is an excerpt from my final ATRF post on Ello:
As the Raven Flies was the biggest project I had ever taken on in my entire life—in distance, time, effort, budget and any other metric I could think of. I pushed myself with Adobe software, web design, logistical planning, crowdfunding, writing and research, plus the simple challenge of bicycling for six months straight. At this point I’ve talked about the project with more people than I can remember, I’ve taken five thousand photos and I’ve written thousands and thousands of words for and about the journey. I’m not as weary as I was at the end of the highway, but I’m still feeling tired. It’s draining that I’m still not finished. I’ve made lots of headway but I still have a dozen pieces to write, way too many emails to catch up on, video to edit and so on.
Part of how I’m maintaining energy is allowing myself to move onto other things in certain parts of my life. I’ve now relocated to British Columbia, where I’m spending the winter. I spent some time getting Original Story Design Co. up and running. I read a couple books. But I’m still committed to finishing this project in a good way, and hoping to be able to call it a wrap by the new year.
If you see me working on things unrelated to As the Raven Flies, like freestyle snowboarding photography or Breaking the Boy Code Podcast, it’s not because I’m dropping ATRF, it’s because I’m giving myself mental breaks and other things to look forward to. All in a day’s work.