From the Roberts London archive: filmed on 1 January 2016. These reflections and plans belong to that New Year.

Happy New Year 2016 from London. With the Christmas tree still up and sunshine pouring into the room, I sat down to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous year. After a busy December of filming, this was a chance to look back at Vlogmas and think about what should come next.

The festive food, markets and days out had been great fun. Now I wanted to keep that momentum while finding more time to learn, experiment and fit the channel around work. January would begin with a few practical jobs before I headed out into London again.

Looking back at a year of videos

My quick count suggested I had uploaded around 27 or 28 different vlogs between the start of January and the end of November 2015. Then came Vlogmas: 26 consecutive days and 26 separate uploads. In one month, I had almost matched the output of the preceding eleven.

Both approaches taught me something. When uploads were less frequent, I could take my time filming and editing. That gave me room to concentrate on small details and learn the process. It also made it easy to spend far too long on something that probably did not need quite so much attention.

Daily vlogging brought a different lesson. There was a new deadline every day. I had to work faster and develop techniques that let me finish a film, upload it and start again.

What Vlogmas taught me about editing

The daily deadline was useful, but it left less room for experiments. One of my later Vlogmas edits put me into the adverts and billboards at Piccadilly Circus, with another appearance on a cinema. Even though much of the footage was already filmed, learning how to make the effect work nearly took more time than I had.

That was the difficulty I could see with carrying on indefinitely. The locations and footage might change, but the editing could become repetitive. There would always be another film to finish before I had much chance to try something new.

Filming was only part of the day, too. Editing and uploading took time, which also limited how long each video could be. I was glad I had tried daily vlogging. For the longer term, though, I wanted a pace that would give me both a deadline and some breathing space.

New Year 2016: finding a sustainable pace

A happy medium was the aim. Vlogging was not my job, and my work schedule had to come first. I wanted to work towards producing one video a week, while being realistic that it would not happen instantly.

That was my main channel goal for the year: build on the momentum of Vlogmas without losing the chance to improve the films. More regular uploads mattered, but so did having time to learn.

A practical January

The first videos I had in mind were product reviews. I had bought a hard drive during December but left the review until after Vlogmas because it did not feel especially festive. A SodaStream Christmas gift was another item waiting to be opened and tried.

There was also a job I had been putting off: re-waxing my Barbour jacket. It was a practical task that could make a useful January video, even if it was a quieter subject than another trip around the Christmas markets.

After enjoying December’s food and drink, I was also planning to return to my usual routines. In the film I mention using MyFitnessPal, but I did not plan to turn that part of January into a series of diet vlogs. The broader point was that December had been busy and indulgent, and the next few weeks would feel rather different.

Looking forward to more London days out

The sunshine in the room reflected how unusually warm December had felt to me. On some days, a T-shirt seemed more appropriate than a scarf and gloves. I also spoke about the flooding affecting people in the north of the UK, hoping the weather would improve for those dealing with its consequences.

By the end of January, I hoped to be out and about in London again. The early weeks still felt like the tail end of the festive season. Beyond that, I was looking forward to finding new things to do, places to visit and interesting subjects to film.

For now, this was a small pause between a hectic Christmas and another year of exploring. Thank you for following along with Vlogmas. Wherever you were watching from, I wished you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016.

Watch the original New Year update

The original video was published on 1 January 2016. You can also watch the New Year 2016 update on YouTube.