A Fresh Start

This year has been a complicated one. There have been the extreme joys of watching my son in his first year of life, the awe of each new discovery he makes and the ongoing marvel that he is indeed my son and I am a father. Not sure I'll ever get used to that bit but it is fantastic.

Then there's been the downsides. The biggest being the loss of my father-in-law to cancer. He battled the disease for over a year and for much longer than was initially predicted. He was a good man and it was good to see him with my son, they got on so well and shared many laughs. I won't say any more about that here, but he is sorely missed in this house.

On top of that I was made redundant from a job I'd had for almost a decade. I didn't love the job but losing it so suddenly shook me up and my sense of purpose. As it happened the timing was very good, I was able to be there for my wife when her mother was sick and she had to look after her father. I also got to see more of my son as he learnt to crawl and stand and so much more.

And now it seems that I have two options. I could find another job I don't love just to make an income, or I could have a go at creating my own niche and living my creative dreams. I will still need a job of some description, at least initially, but I think it's important I take this opportunity to live my life my way.

Already I've written a short story which I submitted to an anthology which is coming out in December. I won't know if my story will be included for another month I imagine but it was good to write and finish something. As it happens it was a prequel for one of the minor characters in The Scarlet Ring, the sequel of which I'll be having another go at in NaNoWriMo.

So there's writing going on; I'm going to look into recording audiobooks to release on Bandcamp; and I'll offer my copy editing services to people who have written manuscripts and plays.

A bleak year is turning around. A pitfall is becoming an opening to a new opportunity and Stoppard's Player from Ros & Guil are Dead was distinctly correct, every exit is an entrance some place else. Screw plan B, grab your chances and ...

Keep dreaming!

Plans/Dreams

Inspired by various people (Felicia Day, Amanda Palmer, Wil Wheaton, Neil Gaiman et al) and by life events (impending fatherdom) I’m going to try to treat the whole Wandering Friar enterprise – which is mostly to say my writing and this blog – as a business. As such I’m going to endeavour to post more regularly and have regular features, like my reading round-ups and author profiles, which will now be monthly events.

I have also been thinking of ways to expand Wandering Friar and pursue my dreams more fully. One of the things I’m planning on is to record audiobooks. These will be of public domain titles, particularly Gothic and post-Gothic works and Metaphysical poetry.

Another plan/dream is to develop my own RPG set in one of the many worlds I’ve dreamt up over the years. I’m thinking The Destroyed Continent will make a good start. It’s a huge archipelago which, funnily enough, used to be a continent until some cosmic disaster I haven’t yet determined the nature of. So there’ll be small cultures I can play with and room to grow things from a manageable position.

Finally there are my theatrical phantasmagorias, but I may give them their own post shortly.

So I’m getting the wheels of my plans into motion – cross your fingers and watch this space.

Keep dreaming.