2024 Roundup

 Every year, I read Fogus' "The best things and stuff of 20XX" posts.

I think they're a fantastic way of rounding out the year, and I've always meant to do something like that. So I'm going to give it a go this year and, hopefully, turn it into a tradition - a way of reflecting on the year, and setting myself some goals.


This year will be a little thin, I suppose, for a number of personal reasons. But that's okay, 2025 is already looking to be, potentially, a lot better.


Best book read

Last year, by far, the best thing I (re)read was John Crowley's Little, Big. I'd been following the publication of the Little, Big 25th anniversary edition since, well, since its inception.
When I first discovered it, I was mostly broke and lived in a place where you could almost guarantee it wouldn't be delivered. Now, after like 15 years, I'm not as broke anymore, and live in a country with a pretty reliable postal service. So when it was finally released, I got myself a copy of this edition of the book.

Pictured here are the 2nd and 3rd copies I have of Little, Big, the first of which I gifted to a very good friend of mine years ago (I also have a kindle version, and the Audible version, Narrated, gorgeously, by Crowley himself).




It's interesting reading a book 15 years after the first reading of it. I thought I remembered it so well, and yet it felt as though I'd never ever picked it up before in my life. I remembered snatches of story, and certain particular lines, but the story as a whole eluded me. Reading it now, having a family, being older, etc. I felt so much more resonance with the story as a whole, I believe, than the first time I read it. Further, the ending ... what an ending. Stunning.

Best podcast

This is a tough one. I listen to two podcasts regularly, Chess Journeys (tales of adult improvement), and Very Bad Wizards.
 
As much as I genuinely love listening to the endlessly fascinating variations of how people got into chess, how they train, what their hopes and goals are (it's a wonderful podcast, and I highly recommend it) - I have to give  this to Tamler and Dave.

VBW is really listening to two really smart guys talking about cool shit like film and books and papers. I never get the sense that they're arguing in bad faith, or think that they're better than anyone. And they're funny, really funny.
More than once I've been running, listening to their podcast, and one of the guys will say something that makes me laugh out loud, and giggle spontaneously for the next half a kilometer.

Writing roundup

After, literally, years, I've started writing again. And this has been a really interesting year.

So - first. There was actually a pretty big publication. A comic/graphic novel of my story "Brand new ways (to lose you over and over and over again)" came out in October.
It's in Italian, so I can't read it - but it's pretty.

Let's just give a set of numbers for the rest, though:
 
Short stories sold: 3 (2 of them reprints)
Short stories written: 3 (none sold)
Novels written: 0
 

Goals for 2025

  • Write at least five new short stories
  • Write my grade 5 guitar exam
  • Record an EP with my daughter
  • Pick up at least two new technical certifications in areas I'm unfamiliar with.
     




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