KATIE MARIE

It’s that time of year again when I take a moment to reflect on the last twelve months.

My main takeaway from this year is twofold: first, I’ve been insanely busy and even more insanely lucky. I’ve worked my backside to the bone, but all the hard work in the world isn’t going to get you there without a good, solid helping of luck, and I want to take a moment to acknowledge that and appreciate it.

Writing

Writing wise I am delighted with this year!

I sold three short stories this year, had two articles accepted and published, and gave a public reading of my novella, A Man in Winter. I have more good news that I will share in the new year once all the paperwork is signed. I don’t want to jinx it, lol.

This year, I attended a couple of workshops in Norwich to hone my skills and the East Anglian Writer Awards; one day, I’d love to be nominated (well, duh). I also attended a workshop in London to improve my academic writing.

PhD

I’ve been working hard on my PhD this year. I confess I had a little wobble early on in the year, and this did affect the quality of my work, but I was able to get over it pretty quickly. I literally sorted my nonsense out in under a month, and now I’m charging ahead. The feedback I’m getting from my supervisors is incredibly positive and amazingly helpful. I hope to become half as clever as them during the PhD.

I’ve been able to attend so many wonderful events, including two writing retreats, a symposium, and three conferences. I was even able to give presentations at two of the conferences, which was utterly terrifying but, at the same time, so much fun. I’ve also been able to attend various online events and gave a presentation at one of those as well. Fear my growing academic power!

On an amazing note, one of my supervisors’ novels came out this year, and he had a book launch at Waterstones! I was so bloody pleased for him and a little envious. I can only hope to one day be able to have a book launch at the biggest bookstore in the country!

ADHD & Autism

One of the most impactful things that happened this year was my ADHD & Autism Diagnosis. Again, I was fortunate to be able to save up and pursue this privately in June/July. I started on Elvanse and holy shit; it has been life-changing. I often describe the medication as a bouncer at the door to my brain. In contrast, before, all the thoughts were rushing in, shouting over each other and being a confusing mess. They are still there, but the bouncer keeps them in line; I can deal with them one at a time, and it’s incredible.  

Also, I have discovered that my anxiety and depression diagnosis was fake news and was actually undiagnosed ADHD. I’ve never been more mentally healthy in my life and have come off of every other medication I was on, thanks to this. (side note: the medication I was on for anxiety and depression caused me to gain a lot of weight; since coming off, I have lost over 20lbs and am almost at my goal weight of 125lbs, so a lovely little side effect if I do say so myself).

Work

I got promoted at work! I moved from the Quality and Governance Team into the Business Intelligence and Reporting Team, which means I am now working in data, which greatly pleases my nerd self.

Volunteering and Charity

I donated 14 inches of my hair to the Little Princess Trust in the spring, so all my author picks now gaslight people. My hair is a lot shorter, but it’s growing back.

I became the Chair of the Development Committee at Equal Lives, a local disability charity where I am a trustee.

I also started volunteering for the National Centre for Writing, a Literature House in Norwich. It’s housed in a fantastic medieval hall called Dragon Hall. I’ve been spending a fair few of my weekends there and have been able to attend events as an event steward, including the Norwich Book Fair and NCW Publishing Fair. Both were absolutely amazing.

Family & Friends

Most of us are spread out across England, which makes visiting tricky, but we keep in touch because of the internet and apps like WhatsApp. I saw my brother this year when he visited our mum, which was nice. I visited my dad on three occasions this year and saw my uncle, aunt, and cousins during my summer visit. I also saw Mr Sherlock’s family twice this year. So overall, I think I did pretty well, considering how busy everyone is.

I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with friends this year. We play tabletop games together on average every 4-6 weeks, which is a lot of fun. We also managed to go out for some nice meals, have a couple of trips to nature reserves, and even fit in a girly spa day.

Vergil

I bought a new (new to me anyway) car this year. I sold Dante my little Nissan Micra and bought Virgil a much more powerful BMW. No longer do I take six hours to get up to speed on a dual carriageway. Unfortunately, Vergil is a lot bigger than Dante, and it didn’t take me long to bump him into a pillar in a car park, which damaged his bumper. Since replacing this, I haven’t bumped him into anything else.  

Japan

We had a big trip this year, we finally managed to visit Japan!

We spent two weeks staying in Kinshicho in Tokyo and visited all over Tokyo, including but not limited to Akihabara, Asakusa, Harajuku, Nakano, Shibuya and Shinjuku. We also went to Team Lab Planets and attended a day of a Sumo Tournament; we climbed the Skytree, Shibuya Sky and Tokyo Tower. We saw many shrines; my favourites were the Gohashirainari, Nomi No Sukune and Kameido. We also went outside Tokyo and visited, Kamakura, Nara (I got beat up by deer) and Kyoto.

Games, Films and Theatre

This year, I got to play so many board games with the lovely Mr. Sherlock. Not all were horror-themed; some were light-hearted and silly, and others were cosy and cute. My top Horror pick is Arkham Asylum. It’s an old favourite of mine, and I can’t imagine anything knocking it off its perch. My top non-horror Pick is Calico, a bloody adorable game in which you design blankets in pleasing patterns to attract cats to sleep on them. It’s easy to learn, quick to set up and doesn’t take hours to play. It’s an adorable casual game.

I also got to see some fantastic films this year! It isn’t easy to pick a favourite because so many were great for different reasons. Horror-wise, I loved seeing Salems Lot at the cinema this autumn, but Tarot was a lot of fun in a silly horror way. For non-horror picks, it’s a draw between Iron Claw and American Fiction.

I got to attend fifteen different theatre shows this year (my friend is part of a social club where we can get discounted tickets; there’s no way I could afford to do this so often otherwise, again, there’s that good luck I was talking about, lol). We got to attend a couple of ballets (Edward Scissor Hands and Christmas Carol) an opera (Magic Flute), several musicals, a couple of live comedians (Alasdair Beckett-King and Ross Noble), and a fascinating lecture (Makings of a Murderer).

Museums, Libraries and Racing

In 2024, I got to go to many places with the lovely Mr Sherlock. To name just a few, we visited museums; my favourite was the Hunterian Museum in London (the British Library, the V&A Museum, and the Ashmolean in Oxford are all tied for second place). We tried new restaurants, explored our local area for my Haunted Norfolk Series, and watched the GT Championship at Snetterton.

Hobbies

I took up fencing in October this year. I’m pretty rubbish at it, but it’s a lot of fun. My quest to slowly become a Victorian-style man of letters is progressing nicely, lol.

So yes, 2024 was very busy but also bloody fantastic.

Here’s to 2025 being great as well.