2024 - the literary highlights

This is my annual diary of what happened in art for me. Recent years have been quieter than others for sure, but they still have their little progressions that are worth recording, for myself more than anyone, but also grateful for the company of any of you that still swing by these blog lands - :)

I love that you are all still around and dipping your head in here, listening to a tune from the swiss lounge at the moment, that blog is a serious treasure trove if you're ever looking for peace or inspiration.

Anyways --  10 arty occurrences of the year in no particular order 

1. Wrote a book. A whole book, within the year. It's a silly thing. Grew it from a short story, but it's set in a world that is very relevant to my day to day, while still being hyper not real. So it was a very quick write from that point of view. It's quite short. I entered the Irish Writers Centre novel fair with it, which helped with the speed, as you need to have the finished draft ready for December, it got nowhere, but it got done, so that was fun. 

2. Abandoned a book. I was working on part two of a trilogy, almost had it done, but the ending was getting sticky and congealed and I didn't see the way out clearly at all, so I parked it up. I'll go back to it when I'm ready. It was the right thing to do though, to put down the shovel. 

3. Went to the fantastic Tyrone Guthrie Centre. Had marvellous inspiring times there as always. Made firm friends with some of the funniest people I've ever met in my entire life. Got some writing done. Made up a song there about Tainted Pork, which I went on to sing at my cousins wedding later in the year... an ill-judged moment - but every wedding needs a weird relative making a show of themselves, right? Right?

4. Went to Edinburgh with a friend. Had the most wonderful intake of art and joy there, and again met some very cool new people. The last post is all about it, so I won't go on except to say I'm gathering the posse for this year. It's a growing thing and will be a tradition for me as long as I can afford it. 

5. Continued with my silly song writing hobby, which led to me writing a song for work, sort of a propaganda song really, about how great we are etc etc, got it recorded with the help of the wonderful Steve Goodie, made a video of it, and even entered it in the work Xmas battle of the bands between sites. We didn't win, but it was HUGE fun and drama. The video can never be shown again, as our legal team believe the claims in it are inaccurate... they are but it's supposed to be funny... It was quite the journey.

6. Was credited on Steve Goodie's album that came out early last year, for helping on a few of the songs. Those songs were so much fun to contribute to, and the royalties, wow. Incredible. But seriously - had Steve to our house to do a house concert also which was again HUGE HUGE fun and a lovely way to gather people together in the name of laughter. Steve is now a confirmed FFF Family Friend Forever and is working on his hurling skills so that he can return to us this year. 

7. Visual Art was big for me early this year. Xmas had brought with it a big delivery of markers and the kids really needed help getting through them, so I dove in. Found it very relaxing and fun and was lucky to have the spare time for it... It was an enjoyable thing. The fruits are on Insta.

8. Have kept up with a really good writing group online through the year. It is really good. Supportive, perceptive people with really fantastic work that they share. I love it and am sincerely grateful for the friendships and insights/ relaxation that travels with it. 

8.5 Managed to also attend a physical group in the form of Quantum Sofa, a Dublin gang of writers. A seriously inspiring and slightly raucous evening ensued. 

9. On the inputs side - I really valued Brandon Sanderson's lecture series on Sci Fi writing which is freely available on youtube, well worth checking out. Such a generous resource. My new discovery podcast of the year is "the great Stories" by Trev Downey. He has a great style, nice discussions and the selection of stories on there is pretty great.

10. In terms of live writing events I only got to one this year but it was a good one. The launch of Cork Stories, an anthology with lots of great writers included. Sean Tanner's reading was particularly memorable, and it was a really nice occasion.

So that's it... Lots done. More to do. Onwards. x