Over the years, this blog has had vast periods of inactivity. That’s been for a number of reasons, and without retreading old ground, I ended up down the Twitter rabbit hole for a while, then decided to put my energy into writing a novel or four. In that sense the lack of blog updates was a success, although I still need to edit those first drafts and get the publication ball rolling. Then the ‘rona happened in 2020 and after a bout of covid very early on in the pandemic it took the oomph out of my creative sales. A lengthy period of what I think in hindsight was depression followed and continued well into 2021. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’ve had ups and downs since then. I think I turned a corner in mid-2022 and I’ve been on a more positive uptick since then, I’m pleased to say. That’s led to reviewing all my project notes and trying to do something with them. If nothing else it will help keep me sane.
I’m starting this year with a bit of a plan to not only increase the number of posts I write, but also expanding on my creative exploits as far and wide as I can go. Whether or not this lasts more than a month we shall see, but for now I’m going to try getting back into film blogging and try to expand from there. It would be nice to add as much content I did back in 2013 when this website was at its peak, but I’ll set a more manageable target for now.
What’s coming up?
So here’s what I’m hoping to achieve in 2023:
- 100-150 film blogs, published regularly starting from the week of 9 January 2023. There’s a good chance I might also release them as a podcast, for want of a better term. More on that TBC.
- Additional updates on my novel work as and when appropriate • Occasional mental health posts if I feel my focus slipping too far into the dark.
- Updates on my other projects as they happen. These include:
- 60 Second Gamer (60SG) – my channel that got lost when the game called 60 Seconds took all the search hits. 60SG is easier to search for, thankfully. I have a blog planned to discuss the history of that little project – stay tuned for more. Until then, you can find the first two series of videos on the Random Stoat channel here, and Series 3 (with more to come) on the dedicated 60SG channel. Like, subscribe etc if you’d be so kind.
- Format Review – a bi-monthly video games magazine with issues 4-9 planned for 2023. You can buy digital and physical editions of issues 1-3.5 at the dedicated Format Review website.
- Short story anthology – In the off months for Format Review I’m looking to publish my own stories in an anthology format. Some will be really short pieces, others will be longer, and some will be chapters in ongoing stories that can be collected later in a single edition. I’ve spent a long time reading 2000AD, what can I say…
- Audio series – I’ve been working on a sci-fi radio show for 15 years now, and I did actually record a series of it back in 2010. It deserves a refresh and another lease of life – again, there’s a story there to be told another time.
And, I think, that will be enough for the time being. If I even manage half of this even I’ll be impressed. Happy New Year, all.
