Hello, Kobold Friends. It’s been... an awfully long time since I’ve uploaded anything to my YouTube channel, or any other video platform for that matter...  Sure, I’ve been doing the occasional comic/doodle, but what I’m really talking about is video/animation creation. And now... I find myself wanting to start again. But start again on what, exactly? That is something I’m still unsure about. I know over the years I’ve come back again and again... wanting to try something new, but eventually I just... give up before I produce anything worthwhile. So now... now I’m just here to say that I don’t know what I’m going to do next. I have the desire to create once more, but I can’t seem to break free of this slump... of this creator’s block.

I’ve tried all sorts of videos over the years. Memes, Garry’s Mod machinima, 3D animation, 2D animation, video essays, streaming... Looking back... I found the most enjoyment in the machinima and the animated shorts. They also seemed to generate the most engagement. And that’s really what this is all about right? Interacting with viewers. Audience participation. Hell, I think the most fun I’ve had working on any project was that Tumblr ask blog I did back in the day. Anybody remember those things?? Are those things even relevant anymore? And... well, I guess that leads me into my next apprehension.

YouTube is changing so much all the time. And not just YouTube as a platform, but the Internet as a whole. Society as a whole. The world changes fast. And frankly... it’s pretty hard to keep up with it all! It’s hard to keep up with what’s relevant. What will drive engagement. Now... I don’t care about getting a ton of views, but it is nice to not be completely invisible... Like I said, interacting with the community is the best part of content creation, and so I want to create the type of content which will ultimately lead to that. And that brings me back to my original dilemma... What SHOULD I create next?

I’ve... admittedly been down this thought process many times before. I’ve done many brainstorming sessions, made bullet lists, fiddled around in video editors, even doodled ideas on paper... but I feel like I keep running into a wall. Perhaps... the answer really is to go back?

Go back... maybe not entirely, but take inspiration from the videos that I enjoyed most? Once again, those Garry’s Mod videos and animated shorts were a great joy to work on, and the people on YouTube seemed to really enjoy them, so perhaps the answer is in them? Perhaps Shorts are the answer? Maybe trying to do longform videos was my most fundamental mistake? In the past, my greatest joy and success in content creation came from telling bite-sized stories. And while platforms have changed, I feel like there will always be a place for short form storytelling.

Storytelling... perhaps that’s it? I just need to tell stories like I used to! Of course, nowadays short form videos fall into the realm of TikToks and YouTube Shorts... I may need to get accustomed to the vertical format... but perhaps that’d be worth it? If anybody’s still reading at this point, I would love to hear your feedback. Should I really go back? Should shorts be the focus of my content going forward? Were bite-sized stories my greatest strength over the years?

I certainly have a lot to think about, but I think I’ll wrap this up for now. I want to create again. I plan to create again. Maybe I’ll start by re-downloading Garry’s Mod? Maybe I’ll finally get around to toying with Blender’s animation tools? Perhaps both? Whatever I do, all I know is that I HAVE to start creating things again.