Coming in 2022

Last year was an interesting year.

I’d like to discuss the previous year and the upcoming year.

On the positive side, I started a YouTube channel, sold a manuscript, finished a draft of my current WIP and managed to publish several short stories.

On the neutral side, I started seriously working towards my PhD in English literature, though sadly that ended up on the backburner yet again when offline-life got in the way.

On the bummer side, a project I was working on, a videogame, ran into one-to-many problems and ended up being shelved. Though this may turn out to be for the best.

As far as offline life is concerned, last year was pretty monumental. My partner and I bought our first house together in February and almost immediately got a ton of plants and a couple of cats to live in it. Finnegan and Mimi, look how “cute” they are!

Yes, I am deliberately shaming my cats with embarrassing/unflattering pictures because it amuses me to do so.

By the time we’d finished gutting and decorating the place spring was well underway and we took a much-needed break. Homeworking took some readjusting to, as I suddenly always found something to clean every time I walked into a room which is more distracting than I expected it to be.

By the time summer arrived the Covid-19 restrictions were fully removed in the UK and all the social events that had been put on hold for 16-18 months came flooding in. I don’t think I’ve had a single weekend to myself since mid-August.

The plus side is that it has been fantastic to get back to seeing friends and family and doing fun events like the theatre and ghost hunts. The downside is that a) I’m shattered and b) everything else suffered as a result, including my mental health (due to it being a frantic five months, with me trying desperately to snag any and every spare moment to get some work done).

Then in November offline-life took another turn when I was successful in getting a new day job. I finished my notice period in December and I’m super excited to get started.

So, in summary, I think it was a pretty great year, even if the second half has been far, far too busy. Fortunately, Christmas gave me an opportunity to relax and reset my broken brain.

Looking ahead I wanted to give a bit of a low down on what I’m hoping this year will achieve and hold myself accountable.

Blog wise I’m expanding my topics to cover more obscure stories in the horror genre, an in-depth study of some of the best-known horror writers and I’m rekindling the Cliché rants; all while still keeping up with the Reviews and the exploration of Creepypasta, SCP’s and Classic Horror.

I’m looking to get my WIP sent off to a specialist horror editor early this year (end of Jan if everything goes well) and will be working with them to polish the hell out of this book. I’ve got a new project in the brain factory, turning the story I wrote for the now-cancelled videogame into something a bit different. I’m also hoping to put out some more of my short stories, by selling them (hopefully) to websites and magazines and turning them into audio stories for my YouTube channel. I will also be putting out a video tomorrow about what I’m going to cover on the YouTube channel this year, so keep an eye out!

As far as offline-life this year I’m honestly hoping for a quieter year, the last five or so months have sucked all my energy, more than a festive rest alone can recover, so I’m sincerely hoping for a return to the more normal pace of pre-Covid-19, at least with regard to my social life. I’m also hoping to settle in quickly with the new job and find a nice new routine with regard to home/office working.  Lastly, once the year has established itself and I’ve found my feet I’m hoping I’ll be able to pick up the PhD again.

I wish you all the very best of luck in your own 2022 endeavours and invite you to share your plans, thoughts and feelings in the comments.