Making a pact with myself to resurrect my blog
Plus, new interviews, events and cool kickstarter campaigns to support
Hello there,
I’m writing this from sunny California, where I’m visiting with my pal, George Mann. We’ve had a busy few days running from meeting to meeting, but are looking forward to catching up with some friends before heading back to the UK at the end of the week.
Meetings aside, I wanted to find time to send a newsletter today, so here we are!
Here’s what you’ll find as you continue scrolling:
- MY NEW BLOGGING EXPERIMENT.
- A NEW STAR WARS INTERVIEW WITH WOOKIEPEDIA.
- TODAY’S NEW COMICS
Let’s go!
MY BLOGGING EXPERIMENT
I’ve recently been reading Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure le Cunff. In many ways, it’s an antidote to productivity books which, instead of focusing on big systems and massive lofty goals, breaks down anything you want to do into small, manageable experiments. Her methodology is to make a ‘pact’ with yourself, which shifts the emphasis from the outcome (as with traditional goals) to the process.
It’s a subtle shift in thinking. The example she uses is deciding to build an email newsletter (such as the one you’re reading now!) A goal-orientated approach would be ‘to grow the list to 25,000 subscribers.’ A worthy goal, but also a daunting one. How the heckity-heck do I do that? Certainly, you have no control over how many people sign up. It’s not like you can make people subscribe. Better, Anne-Laure says, to focus something you can control, by making a pact, such as: ‘I will publish 25 blogs in 25 weeks.’ That you can do. Well, at least in theory. It may be that half way through you can’t manage it, but, as you’re running the pact as an experiment, you can shift as you go, making adjustments to your pact without feeling like you’ve failed. It’s also a way of breaking down those big goals into manageable short term experiments that you can always choose to extend, repeat or just mark up as something you tried, but it wasn’t for you. It takes the pressure off. And it’s kinda fun, a way of gamifying what you’re trying to do, which appeals to me.
So inspired, I thought I’d give it a go. But what to try first?
Well, actually the example of a newsletter was pretty near to my heart. After years of being pretty active on social media, I’ve wanted to pull back and concentrate on my own space online — namely here, on the Cavletter. But I didn’t want to just spam your inboxes, loyal subscribers... I wanted to resurrect my blog.
Back in the heyday of the early 2000s, I used to love blogging. It was nonsense largely, published under the masthead of the Cavblog, but it fell away when I dived headfirst into Facebook, Twitter and all the rest. What I most loved about the Cavblog days was that I couldn’t care less about views or likes. I just put stuff up and if people read it, great — and if they didn’t, that was fine too. It was the process of blogging I enjoyed, rather than the results.
I miss those days and I would love to get back there, and realised that’s exactly what I could do on the Cavletter’s website. I‘d already tried a few test posts which seemed to go down and so was ready to take the next step.
That had to be the focus of my first pact:
I will publish seven quick blogs in seven days.
According to Tiny Experiments, a pact needs to follow an acronym, handily made up of the letters, P.A.C.T:
Purposeful: The pact should be exciting and meaningful for you. In other words, there should be a reason for it, something that matters to the life you want to live.
Actionable: It should be based on actions you can actually acheive with your current resources.
Continuous: It should be simple and repeatable within the timeframe you’ve chosen.
Trackable: It should be easy to track with a simple question: Have I done it or not — yes or no?
By that reckoning, my pact worked.
Purposeful? ✅ It would show me whether blogging was still something I could — and wanted — to do.
Actionable? ✅ The blogs would only be quick, the kind of thing I might have popped on social media in the past, an important point as the week I’d chosen for the experiment was jam packed.
Continuous? ✅ I’d be attempting to do it every day for a week.
Trackable? ✅ Yes, thanks to a little checkbox in my planner.
So, was the experiment a success - YES! Those little boxes are now all shaded red! And here are the seven blogs so you can read them for yourself
DAY ONE: Showcasing a special Star Wars: The High Republic calendar full of beautiful fan art:
Cavan Scott
DAY TWO: A little insight into my comic writing process, poking fun at myself as I share one of the little sketches I draw for my artists:
Cavan Scott
DAY THREE: Feeling a little vulnerable as I share my (very) early attempts of lino printing:
Cavan Scott
DAY FOUR: Sharing some folklorish thoughts on the first day of spring:
Cavan Scott
DAY FIVE: Sharing some of the brilliant fan art that has been produced around the announcement of my new Gwenpool comic:
Cavan Scott
DAY SIX: A report on a signing at my local comics shop — and how I used the opportunity to fanboy:
Cavan Scott
DAY SEVEN: Writing about how I want to rethink my use of social media:
Cavan Scott
Best of all, I enjoyed the experiment and want to continue. Can I commit to another seven days of blogs? Actually, no. As I said, I‘m travelling this week and once I’m back at home, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to manage a post a day, so I’m going to be making another pact. Starting next week:
I will publish at least two blogs every week for the next three months.
And I need you to hold me accountable to this. The newsletter will be part of that, as I will be listing all the blogs as they’re published, but it would be great if you could bookmark the blog section of the Cavletter website and check back regularly, reading the posts and commenting if you find them interesting — or not! All feedback is useful in an experiment!
NEW INTERVIEW - TALKING TO WOOKIEEPEDIA ABOUT FEAR OF THE JEDI AND MORE....
I had great fun chatting with Spooky Willow of Wookieepedia recently about my Star Wars work. We talked about:
- How Keeve and Sskeer's relationship has grown beyond a simple master and apprentice dynamic.
- Writing Lourna Dee's messy, complicated and utterly joyful redemption arc.
- How bringing Tey Sirrek into Phase III made total sense.
- Bringing The Acolyte's Kelnacca into the High Republic fold.
- What the High Republic fandom has meant to me.
You can read the full interview here.
OUT TODAY - FEAR OF THE JEDI #2
Issue 2 of Star Wars: The High Republic - Fear of the Jedi drops today from Marvel, so I thought I’d give you a sneak peek!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
- Marvel revealed the solicits and covers for their June issues including the final issue of Star Wars: The High Republic - Fear of the Jedi and a potentially game-changing cover for Gwenpool!
- My third Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures debuted on Disney+!
That's all folks!
Right, time to hot-foot it to our next meeting. Wish me and George luck!
I’ll see you on the blog, but until then, look after yourself and each other,
UPCOMING BOOKS
- NIGHT OF THE SLASHERS #4 2nd April 2025
- STAR WARS: FEAR OF THE JEDI #3 30th April 2025
- STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC - TEMPEST BREAKER SCRIPT BOOK 13th May 2025
- NIGHT OF THE SLASHERS TRADE PAPERBACK 14th May 2025
- GWENPOOL #1 14th May 2025
- VENOM WAR ZOMBIOTES TRADE PAPERBACK 21st May 2025
