Happy New Year everyone! I hope things on your side of the screen are going well and your 2023 will be the best year yet!
My plans on New Year's Eve fell through, so my family and I ended up hanging out at home, just the four of us. It wasn't bad, we had made a ton of food and the drinks were flowing. We even stayed up to watch the ball drop -- it just wasn't the big party we had expected. That aside though, it's 2023 and I'm already excited for all the potential increases in my "magic" life.
"What increases," you ask? Well, for starters, I'll be attending my first ever magic convention! Originally it was supposed to be Blackpool; however, the cost to attend that with flights and lodging were a bit out of reach right now. So instead, I looked more local and Magifest -- held in Columbus, Ohio -- looks perfect. I've already bought my ticket, booked my flight, and have a hotel all lined up. In just a few weeks I'll be walking the cold, cold streets of Columbus and meeting magicians in person!
The rest of today's post is more of a defined set of resolutions on my part, all pertaining to myself and magic. I recommend giving it a read to see if anything resonates with you, or if you might have feedback that could help me as well.
Social Media
Now that I've started a YouTube channel, I took a step back to reevaluate what posting photos and videos online really means to me. I've used my Instagram account to show off tricks I've been working on, and photography of decks of cards. I want to keep that as it is, but maybe dial it back a little -- I fell into a constant cycle of posting just to post and I want to move back towards a "quality over quantity" approach. For YouTube, however, it's a blank slate at my disposal!
My plan for the channel, for now, is to post deck reviews that show off a deck in its entirety. This may involve moments of cardistry, or even short magic tricks. B-Roll ftw! I've uploaded a few of these so far and with each one, I've learned something new about filming lengthier videos and the whole YouTube workflow. I think that, with a few more, I'll finally have a good method in place and some consistent structure. However, to flip all of that around a bit, I'm excited to do a book review too. For a book review, I want to perform some of the routines that are in the book (if any). Perhaps do a "here's me the first time reading it" and "here's my progress after a week". It might be fun!
I'll likely do tutorials too, and though I have plenty of ideas for them already, that's not on the top of my list right now. If you're interested in tutorials though, let me know and I'll be happy to assist!
Personal Growth
I have a lot of books on card magic. While yes, I see many magicians that have even more, my collection is quite large in my opinion -- and I'm not even counting the videos! The issue, mainly, is that I acquired too many books too fast and last year I didn't give a single book the attention it deserved. I honestly think that I'm 15% into 30 different books right now, and that's just not helpful for my progression in card magic. However, this is not a bad thing overall. In essence, my magic collection is an antilibrary and only stands to remind me of how much more there is to learn.
This year, and I alluded to this last year as well, but this year I am going to dedicate a single month to an individual book. I think that by leveraging the idea of doing a "book review" on YouTube each month will help reinforce that. A month might be too long for some books and way too short for others, but it's enough time to figure out which routines I would consider to be "keepers" and have an overall feeling of the book itself.
All of that said, the same thing applies to videos. I don't have nearly as many videos -- DVDs and downloads -- as I have books, but I do have a decent number. I also like that format and truth be told, it's faster to consume. I might also do a "video review" here and there too, but I don't want to commit to too much at the beginning and burn out, so for now I'm only going to be set on the book reviews.
And the most important part: what's the purpose of learning magic? Why do I do it? What's my end-goal? Why study and practice at least 3 hours a day, every day? I have an answer for this, but it's not the truth. At least, not yet.
That answer is "to make people experience magic and be happy". It is the truth, but it isn't... because I don't perform for people. Before covid, I had been learning magic for a year, maybe 2 and performed a few times for folks who weren't immediate family or close friends. It was great! However, once the lockdown took place I went into a shell and since 2020, I've shown magic to people enough times to count on my 2 hands only. How am I learning magic to make people happy if I'm not sharing it?!
2023, I'm looking at you. This year, I'm setting a goal to perform for people -- whether it's family, friends, or total strangers -- at least once a month. I know that that's not a lot. But it's a lot more than what I've been doing. I feel that if I start that, it'll snowball, and the performances will increase naturally.
I want to be a better magician and I want to let people experience magic. Let's make it happen!