public: false sidebar: false title: “Estelle’s Now Page - archives 2024” description: “Now page archives from 2024”

Journal

This is the archive of my Now Page’s 2024 Year. Check out the current year for the most updated news.

December 31, 2024

Gosh, who’s updating a Now page on the verge of a new year? Apparently, this girl does.

I am happy by everything I did in 2024:

• found a great job as a web designer,
• got on a real famous podcast in the self-publishing industry (at least to me it’s a famous podcast),
• got invited at a local authors event,
• got my book sold in a brick-and-mortar bookshop for the first time.

But what I’m most proud of is that I took care of myself by not letting me feel overwhelmed by everything there is to do/achieve. I had the courage to drop things when needed (hence my hiatus from YouTube), and I was there – truly there – for my loved ones.

I’m gonna spend New Year’s Eve with my husband and our son, just the three of us, to rest in our bubble of love.

November 26, 2024

My son has started kindergarten last week, and I can’t believe he’s already 2.5 years old. Time flies, and I’m so proud of the little boy he’s become.

I’ve got some cool projects coming up at the web agency. Although it’s a bit harder due to the project manager being on maternity leave for six months, I’m starting to find my pace as the designer AND project manager ad interim. I joked that I should put that on my LinkedIn, and I probably would. I mean, that’s another set of skills altogether.

My local bookshop invited me to a local authors event this coming Friday, as a participant. They already sold 8 copies of The Londoners and I still have a few copies left in a box at home. They also think of organising a reading of my book soonish. I’m looking forward to all of these events happening in my author life.

I’m thinking about adding a blog on this website, and move my homepage to a regular portfolio page so I can showcase my author news more. It’s a neverending process of moving things along here, haha.

I do hope that 2025 will bring more great things on the author side, as they did bring amazing things my way professionnally as a designer. I’m forever grateful to have found a super team this year.

September 11, 2024

I thought a lot about my future as an author. Last time I wrote an entry for the Now page, I thought I’d release fiction next year, with the middle-grade novel I queried for a year. However, and after a little introspection, I feel like it might not be the right moment to release fiction. By that, I mean I don’t take pleasure in writing fiction. This is extremely painful for me. And although I’d love to be able to see that particular story in my hands (I worked on it for five years!), this might not be the time. I’ll stick to writing and self-publishing nonfiction for the time being.

Also, something has changed in my mindset recently. Usually, when I talk about my author side, I always thought I’d quit my job one day to make it full-time. It was my goal – maybe also a dream to survive my day job. But since pivoted to web design, I’m kind of relieved? Might be the honeymoon phase talking but I still haven’t complained about my new job, haha.

Oh, and I’m self-aware and will probably delete this link, but the episode on the Rebel Author Podcast is now live for you to listen to.

August 7, 2024

I’m happily reporting that I still haven’t complained once about my new job, about two months in. I love my team, I love the projects I’m working on, I love all the challenges. If you ask me if I’d ever go back to digital marketing, I’ll answer that I’m never gonna look back to that time of my life. I should have been designing from the beginning.

Now that I’ve settled into my new role, I’m thinking about my author business. I still don’t know what I’m gonna do about the whole social media presence thing because I know it sells books, but I don’t want to be hustling hard anymore. I’m still pausing my YouTube channel for at least another month, that’s for sure. My 2yo is on holiday from the nursery and my days off are for him at the moment. That’s also why I haven’t been doing much these days (asides from the day job).

Speaking of writing, I’ve got two books on the back burner for the first time in my life. I’m about to resume editing the nonfiction one so I’d potentially be able to release it by the end of the year. For the fiction one, I’m planning on editing it after the release of the nonfiction. And maybe – I say “maybe” – I’m gonna dive into a new project in the litRPG genre. But that’s a big maybe.

Still don’t know to this day when the Rebel Author Podcast episode is going to be released, but I do believe there’s a huge backlog of episodes before mine. So be patient ;)

July 3, 2024

I’ve great news! I’ve been hired as a UX/UI web designer at a Belgian web agency in Belgium!!! In our day and age, I’m seeing so many junior designers struggling to get their first job in the industry, I’m really lucky to have found one. I’m also happy because it means my career switch is complete. I did indeed pivot from digital marketing to web design. There were times where I thought about going back to marketing, because I couldn’t even land an interview. I’m glad I didn’t.

I’m currently taking the W3C web accessibility certification. I think it’s incredibly important that accessibility is at the centre of our designs. Everyone should be able to access the web, it shouldn’t just be accessible to a few of us.

Thinking about leaving YouTube because I don’t have time anymore, but at the same time, I still want to write and publish books. It’s a bummer to know that, without social media, my books won’t probably sell. So I keep my Instagram, I keep my YouTube, because I know I’ll need them at some point. But I don’t have time… and I’m a make or break person. It means that if I don’t use something, I can’t just let it sit. The temptation to delete the account is strong.

Today (yes, that’s how thorough I am in telling things, lol), I’ve recorded a podcast episode for the Rebel Author Podcast. I met the extraordinary Sacha Black through the camera. It was an amazing experience, but also a scary one. Hopefully, it hasn’t gone too bad…

May 15, 2024

Current design projects:

• Chess Club’s website -> About to present the desktop redesign in a few days for feedback. I’ll then tackle the mobile version and the custom CMS for updating content on the website.
• Nursery Finder platform -> Currently in the discovery phase of this new platform, gathering interviews with stakeholders.
• My website -> The purpose is to make my portfolio more attractive and easier to get information from. I’m starting with the homepage, which I’ll redesign with my old portfolio pieces. Then I’ll add more updated cases.

Current read: Just Enough Research by Erika Hall.

Updates on the books: The Londoners is finally sold in a physical bookshop, I’m over the moon!

April 17, 2024

I feel like I’ve got too many things I want to do, and not much time to accomplish them. Trying my best to prioritise.

Among the projects I’m working on at the moment is the redesign of a Chess Club’s website. They wanted to have a better way to organise their events, so that’s what I’m doing. I’ll add it to my portfolio when it will be completed.

Currently reading: Just Enough Research by Erika Hall and Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher.

And currently taking the Design Thinking Specialization on Coursera.

April 7, 2024

Current projects:

• Designing a website for a client;
• Finding a product design job;
• Working on improving my existing portfolio;
• Finding out a new product idea;
• Writing the second draft of a book on my experience as a mum.

Latest video released on YouTube: How I got an internship as a UX/UI web designer.

I’m currently reading: Just Enough Research by Erika Hall

And I’m currently taking the Design Thinking Specialization on Coursera.

March 12, 2024

I’m more and more interested in the IndieWeb. It’s the idea of owning your own content via a personal blog/website, instead of relying on someone else’s platform to host your thoughts. I’m planning on adding a blog space here on this website, and I want to be free of writing in any language I’d want to, without thinking about SEO or anything marketing. I’ve already made some improvements in terms of accessibility here. I’ve still a lot of things to do to improve the website’s performance and responsitivity.

I’ve been sick with a strong sinusitis recently. Two weeks in the void. I couldn’t do anything except sleep and taking painkillers. Oh, and I watched the first four seasons of Grey’s Anatomy… Seriously, what’s wrong with those characters after four seasons? They’re so boring… But then, the series has never been intended for binge watching, hasn’t it?

Two weeks ago I’ve released a YouTube video in which I say goodbye to AuthorTube. It’s a community of authors that are active on YouTube, that’s why it’s called AuthorTube. I think it was a good decision to make, so I can focus more on design. But a part of me still thinks I made a mistake. We’ll see with time what’s the outcome. I’ve got three video scripts ready, but as I was sick I didn’t have the opportunity to record them yet. Hope I’ll find the energy somewhere soon.

On the author side, nothing much happened. SEO for Authors was free for a week, because I wanted to boost the reviews. We’ll see how many I get from the campaign. I’ve also resumed querying my middle-grade, but it’s hard to find agents I haven’t queried yet who are opened for queries. I think I’ve sent two this month…

On the reading side, I received “Generating Product Ideas” by Artiom Dashinsky but I’m currently reading “King of Scars” by Leigh Bardugo. Not a ton of energy to resume reading at this point, because the simple fact of having my eyes opened is a bit painful at this very moment, due to the sinusitis. However, I’m happy to come back to the Grishaverse. Also, if you’re familiar with the universe, don’t you imagine a young Matt Czuchry as Nikolai Lantsov? To me, he’s the best actor for the role, haha.

February 12, 2024

There we are: I’ve completed my web design internship at Diplo Studio. I’m a bit sad this is over, and even sadder to leave such an amazing team of creatives. Now the job hunting starts, and I do hope to find THE design job of my dreams. I know I still have a long way to go, but I’m more than ready to tackle it.

On the books side, I do hope that in between applications I’ll be able to work on the second draft of my next non-fiction book. I’m also continuing to query my middle-grade novel, hoping to get a trad pub contract. However, I already know that if it doesn’t work out, I’ll end up self-publishing it. I’ve worked too hard on it not to release it in a way or another.

January 2, 2024

It’s actually been a while since I updated this Now page. I guess I’d like to revive it, so let’s get down to business.

2023 hasn’t been that bad, all things considered.

• My husband and I bought a house;
• I spent 4 months as a stay-at-home mum. I took care of our son while he had not entered the nursery yet, and I saw him change and grow;
• I enrolled into a UX/UI bootcamp at Cepegra, in Belgium;
• I started a design internship at Diplo Studio, in Belgium;
• I self-published a book, called SEO for Authors, gathering parts of my knowledge on SEO to pass on to indie authors;

As I’m entering this new year, here is what I’d like to achieve in 2024:

• Find a great design job;
• Release my next book.

I’m thinking a lot about career and family life, about books, about my YouTube channel. It’s crazy how people seem to find it easy to balance everything in their lives. I’m still looking at how to keep being productive while putting my well-being first and not burn out.

Up until now, I’m enjoying every single day :) Hope it will continue.