By the time you read this, it will be 2022. Or it may still be 2021, given Australia is almost as far in the future as you can get (damn you, New Zealand!). But for the purpose of this post, let’s just assume it’s now 2022, and you’ve rung in the new year in (socially distanced, Covid-safe, of course) style. So with that in mind…
Happy New Year!
If you visit this site regularly (or semi-regularly, or this just isn’t your first time), and you came in through the homepage, rather than sneaking in via a direct link to this article, you may have noticed something has changed. In the spirit of “new year, new me,” but without even half of the commitment, I have updated the site’s homepage—new year, new homepage, as it were (though, if you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed my eagerness in updating it a few days early). I thought it was time to freshen things up a little, and give visitors something to navigate through, rather than the simple mass of posts in descending order you’ve put up with over the last year.
On another housekeeping note, this is the only post you will be seeing in January. Sad, I know, but rest assured that I will be back in February. But why? With the introduction of this new year, I am taking the opportunity to do little work. I’ll still be preparing some content to be ready for my return here, and I’ll still be talking shit on Twitter (follow me! I need some love), and I’ll still be writing and editing. But this little site of mine will be entering a period of radio silence—which really is the perfect way to celebrate a new-look homepage, right?
With the year turning over, it is a wonderful time to reflect on the year that was, as well as look ahead at the year to come. You know, just like we all* did at the end of 2020, declaring that 2021 was going to have to be a better, easier year for us all.
Looking back at 2021, I managed to do some writing. I completed draft 1 of Till Death Do Us Party, followed by draft 2, and then draft 2.1. I wrote a number of book reviews for the site, 28 of them in total. I also wrote 14 news updates and offered up four opinions. And on top of that, I wrote six shorts which I posted here. They vary in quality, but you should check them out, regardless.
Outside of what you can read here, or read about thanks to all those little updates, I have also written a draft of a new book. It’s nothing I’m in a place to discuss yet, and it isn’t enough for me to call it anything but a draft 0. But thanks to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated), I have crafted a skeleton that might grow into something one day. Or most of a skeleton; slacking off in December, doing things other than writing it (like writing this post instead). But that’s not the point, okay?
And there is one last thing that I am not in a place to discuss. An idea that I tried to write about a number of years ago, only to get as far as halfway through Chapter 2, before trashing it (and trash it, I apparently did; I can’t find that draft anywhere). I’ve just started drafting a little piece of it; something to start fleshing its world out (and what a world!). If I’m ever ready to talk about this in more detail, I will… but at this rate, who knows if and when that will happen?
Looking ahead to 2022, I have not made a New Year’s Resolution, that annual unbreakable bond that will destroy anybody who dares cross it, about my writing. So, instead of promises for 2022, I have hopes.
I hope to publish Till Death Do Us Party this year. I was hoping that it would need less rewrites going into draft three, but unfortunately, that was not to be. So it is entirely possible (if not likely… shit!) that I’ll be sitting here at the tail end of 2022, telling you all about my hopes to publish it in 2023.
I also hope to make some more progress on the book I drafted in November (and then overflowed into a far less productive December), as well as doing some world building for that other old idea I’m working on. I also hope that once I’m done with the debut, I’ll be in a position to start a new project, and hope to start yet another for NaNoWriMo.
I also hope to finish some of these, but that’s getting past 2022.
I hope to keep the content up for this website, writing more than the fiftyish posts this year. More short stories, more reviews, more updates (with more concrete information), and more unsolicited opinions. I am aiming for at least a weekly schedule of posts, with something hitting this site on Wednesdays, right in the middle of the week. On weeks where I’m feeling particularly prolific, I’m hoping for the occasional additional post on Mondays and Fridays.
Another hope is that I actually get my newsletter up and running properly, providing monthly updates, info and news for the people that have taken the time to fill out one little form. Like, seriously. The form’s so tiny, it has just one field. You’ll be done in no time. It’s even on Substack, that awesome platform everyone’s talking about, so it’s cool. It will make you cool. Just subscribe, okay?
My last hope is that you’ll stick around to see where 2022 takes me. I appreciate your support in the year since this little site launched back in January, and I’m looking forward to seeing where 2022 takes me. Wherever it is, it’s sure to be an adventure.
Happy new year, and I sincerely hope that 2022 is the year where we all kick arse, take names, and make our wildest dreams come true.
TTFN,
P.S. See you in 2022, my lovely people!
P.P.S. Just subscribe, it’s too easy not to.
* By “all,” I mean you lot. I was quite vocal that 2021 was going to be 2020: The Sequel, where a bigger threat looms above us.
wastanley.com 