It's the end of 2024 and again time for giving some kind of an annual wrap-up and a preview of things to come for 2025. Here's what I got - it’s a bit of a ramble since wrote & edited it right before posting but at least it’s honest:
Wrote in fits and spurts, primarily "Something Interesting" posts. My year was rather hectic and filled with a lot going on offline, so these posts were mostly Easy Win writings to knock out within a couple hours each. Upon reflection, they're not close to being my finest (or most representative) work since I mostly just clonk those out raw and minimally edited as I find something worth sharing with other humans. Unfortunately, my clonking came in random chunks throughout 2024 and I'm hoping to make this a little more consistent. The new ones will probably remain in the same tone I kept the past entries (off-the-cuff) but maybe I'll put a little more effort in them too.
Stopped doing the Interesting Things Roundups. After the one I posted a year ago for September to December 2023, I gave up on these. The lists got too big, the sources were mostly limited to the same 10 websites/magazines and video channels, and frankly I got bored of spending so much time and energy on posts yielding little personal satisfaction. I may or may not bring them back but since I restarted my old Tumblr and beefed up my other accounts (Instagram, Reddit, and Bluesky), these feel pointless and I'll mostly post those kind of things as I find them. It was a format that worked for 2023 but I outgrew it in 2024 and I have zero interest in doing it for 2025.
Aiming for more deliberate and longer writings, specifically personal essays and fiction. It's been 15 years since I last made a serious attempt on trying to be a writer. I'd like to get back to that, since I've no doubt lapsed in my skills since 2010. I've got a gigantic backlog of ideas that need to get out of my skull and this may be where a lot of them will end up. Given how much has changed since then publishing-wise, I'm feeling good about doing that.
Tighten my style, if not my focus. This blog will always be a general-focus blog. I'm not interested in changing that just to get views. Much of my personal focus has been related to learning how to cook, so you might see an uptick in recipes and posts on cooking techniques but this won't turn into a food blog gradually (at least I hope). My main goal for 2025 is to tighten my personal writing style while offering posts on a broad variety of topics. The universe is both varied and chaotic, offering various riches even as we're often fixated on the garbage instead. Given how recent events have been, providing a calmer space is how I'm planning on keeping my head cool when the shit avalanches continue to fall.
OK, maybe tighten my focus a little bit. While I'll keep this blog more general, I'm still going to try and be judicious about the topics I post on. Part of a problem with most newsletters/blogs/videos/podcasts during the last 5 years is that people like to aim for a set number of topics since that'll game the SEO in their favor. Post about the same books, same movies, same TV shows, same videos, same articles, same events, same all sorts of whatever. I don't need to add to that (a couple older posts veer close but still were obscure enough to be safe) nor do I want to exert that energy. If you've come to my blog, I want you to know what weird shit I'm in that moment. A personal thing I dislike is when people just comment on something everyone else is talking about and provide little-to-no real personal insights/thoughts. This isn't meant as contrarian but, rather, why should I post an opinion if I couldn't give two shits about the subject to begin with? If I want to join the discourse with a throwaway line or two, that's why I have all those other accounts.
So, yeah, that's roughly what I’ve got. I've got some bigger things in the hopper - just came back from a huge foreign trip that altered my mindset - but mostly just going to take things daily. No promises or real plans, just chugging along and hoping to share more good stuff in 2025.
Have yourselves a pleasant holiday season and see you in the New Year (if not sooner) – A.B.
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