The blog is one year old!

Hello readers! The 27^th of November was this blog’s birthday, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to reflect on the first year of film reviews, summaries and miscellaneous waffle.

The first blog post

“Hello readers! The year is 2022, and I am starting a blog. Very innovative, I know – but with the current state of Twitter and Facebook, this seemed like a friendlier alternative to communicate with my audience.”

This was how I kicked off the blog – and one year on, most of this still holds true. The year may no longer be 2022, and Twitter may no longer be Twitter, but it’s hardly as if the social media giants have become friendlier. If anything, the situation has deteriorated.

One year ago, I started posting on Blogger, Google’s blogging platform. This WordPress site was only set up in February, when I decided to try and share my aimless waffling with a wider audience. In truth, I should have used WordPress from the start, but I didn’t realise quite how poorly a Google blog would perform in a Google search. You might think that Google would want to push their own product, but no – it seems that Blogger has been left to rot. Still, it provided a quiet corner of the internet for me to learn the ropes and share posts with friends, so I suppose I’ll be forever grateful to our Google overlords.

The initial concept

I set up this blog for two reasons. Firstly, because I enjoy writing short-format pieces on quirky and amusing things, and secondly, because of “shameless self-promotion”, as I put it so bluntly in my first post. At the start, I didn’t have a clear structure in mind. I knew that an author’s blog should advertise books and give progress updates, but this seemed a bit shallow. As such, I tried to write about something entirely random each week – sort of like a newspaper column – and for the first few months, this is exactly what I did. I provided a sporadic supply of miscellaneous waffle, cool rock facts, and even a Christmas quiz.

However, the lack of structure soon became a hinderance. The posts had no cohesion, so something had to change. I strove to find a formula – but what form would it take? I needed a thread to tie together science fiction, fantasy and rocks… And this was how the cornerstones of the blog emerged from the murky miscellany.

The blog finds its feet

By March 2023, I had developed categories for my posts. There were reviews of science fiction and fantasy media, six-minute summaries of scientific visionaries, reports of my adventures/travels, and of course, still some room for aimless pondering. To me, this was when the blog found its stride (which is probably somewhere between weaving and ambling). The system we have now is the system I intend to uphold moving forward – unless I suddenly decide to pack in the writing business and go live off-grid in a yurt in Scotland.

To all readers out there, thanks for sticking with me. I know my posts have a weaker focus than many other blogs, but that just stops me getting bored (for example, I can’t imagine writing a unique emotional backstory for a new vegan cupcake recipe each week). The underlying themes of my writing are exploration and understanding – and although the links to my books might be tenuous, this blog still feels like part of the writing family.

Highlights from year one:

• Film Review: Prometheus. To me, this second film review determined the direction and tone of all the others that followed.
• Clayton goes to Iceland. This was an incredible trip, and a highlight of the year for me. Lots of pretty photos!
• Six-minute summary: Tycho Brahe. Of all the eccentric scientists I have summarised in six minutes, Tycho Brahe is probably the craziest. He lost his nose in a duel over maths. He had a pet elk. He mapped the stars before telescopes were invented.

Honourable mentions go to my review of Tenet, my maps of Highmoor, and my pet rock. But if you want to trawl through the archives, be my guest. Lots of stuff in there now.

Where next?

You may have noticed that October had fewer blog posts than usual, and that was because I was incredibly busy. Unfortunately for the blog, this busyness is set to continue, as I am entering the final stretch of my PhD studies. I might start missing the odd week here and there in the new year – but who knows? My calendar for 2024 is nothing but an ethereal fog of undefined deadlines.

In terms of books, there will be two more instalments for the Highmoor series in the next few years. The third book is in the reviewing and editing stage, and it should be released at some point next year. The fourth book is in the planning stage, ready to be written up (I won’t even try to guess when that one will hit the electronic shelves). After that – who knows? I’ll try to nurture my vague ideas into something more solid as time goes on.

In summary…

Thank you to everyone who has read these posts and followed this blog on its meandering journey! Apologies if this was a self-indulgent waffle-fest, but sometimes progress only becomes apparent when you stop to look back at the route you have taken. Hopefully there are many more years of books and blogs to come – but for now, happy reading, and have a lovely week!