Monthly update!
Let’s start with the biggest news: I was made redundant. I’m hoping that years later I’ll be telling people in a keynote speech about how this was the turning point, and when I really started to thrive as a writer. I’ve also got other opportunities in the pipelines, so in no way whatsoever am I counting this as a defeat!
Additionally, I broke my finger, which I did whine about a little bit on my Twitter, but we’re all mended now. It was my first broken bone in my entire life! I must admit feeling a little underwhelmed.
I have a fresh perspective to make the most of this opportunity, so hopefully you can look out for some big things going forward. I’ve been unemployed before and utterly failed to capitalise on a wide open schedule. Working again has shown me how I took for granted my time, and this time around, I’ll be able to really put out some good writing.
Reviews!
Between various things, my reading’s slipped quite a bit. But I’m hoping to recover on this front along with several others. It’s gonna be a huge exercise in learning to better structure my days.
As always, please note that my buy links in my reviews are Amazon Associate links, so if you make a purchase I may get a little kickback from that. It doesn’t increase your prices, just helps to support the site.
Additionally, I’ll be continuing in my appraisals of alternatives to Hootsuite. Last month I took a closer look at Tweetdeck, and this month we’ll be looking at Buffer.
Writing News!
Well, as expected, I bombed out of the first round of NYC Midnight’s Short Story Competition. actually really liking my story. But there’s nothing stopping me submitting my story elsewhere, and I think it’s strong enough to do well outside the constrains of prompts. I’m also waiting to hear results on a couple more competitions I’ve entered.
In more positive news, I was featured on Who Writes Short Shorts? with a short sci-fi story, which you can read here. Additionally, on the 19th of March I had the great pleasure of being a guest instructor on a creative writing course. I taught a two hour lecture on poetry, which went down a treat. It’s looking to become a more regular thing, and may lead to more writing workshops, probably falling under the Itchen to Write umbrella.
Speaking of Itchen to Write, it has its own, standalone website now. So you can find my Hampshire, UK, based writing group here, on Meetup, and on Facebook. With my newfound free time, I’m really looking forward to growing this group!
And what does all that mean?
I’m developing myself as a writer. It’s part of a larger trend of spending more time on myself and prioritising myself and my ambitions. All of my goals fit nicely together, and working towards one works towards all of them, so I’m very excited about what the future holds. And of course, if there’s anything you’d like to see here, let me know!