A reflective look back at 2020 and my writing journey thus far and what’s ahead for 2021.
Well, what a year eh? Certainly not going to forget it in a hurry. From the blazing bushfires causing widespread devastation to the arrival of a global pandemic in COVID-19. From the big bang in Beirut to the Donald vs Joe showdown in America (still going?) while Harry and Meghan bailed on the Royal Family. We said our last goodbyes to Kobe Bryant, Sir Sean Connery, Eddie van Halen and Ennio Morricone, amongst others. A lot went down in 2020, including starting my own writing website.
In March I launched my website with the “to be the master you must be willing to be the fool” article. It was great to have such positive support and interest in the undertaking of a new endeavour for me – symbolised by the topic choice of the first post – and to this date it still remains my best performing post. It has been difficult to generate that level of interest (and greater) on subsequent posts, though this is common once the initial curiosity and awareness has subsided.
My other best performing posts included:
· The impact of the coronavirus on sports during the early stages.
· The caring, kindness and compassion in my subtle art OF giving a f*ck (and why people don’t care).
· Hero mythology and video gaming in Man, myth, legend – Heroes have a thousand faces.
· My Ode to Basketball Joy where I paid homage to this year’s Hall of Fame inductees, including the late Kobe Bryant.
· The "Take 5" I did on Thought Provoking YouTube Channels (most liked post).
Some of the other posts I enjoyed writing were:
· Dealing with solitude in this period of isolation which was quite alien/foreign to us.
· On how to celebrate living an ordinary life and be okay with not being exceptional.
· In praise of the quiet life and how rewarding it is.
· How I am pursuing a philosophical life and the benefits in doing so.
It is also hard to go past the reactions I had from my mum and dad when they each read the posts I did for them.
Of course, it would not be a fair reflection if I did not highlight the misses as well as the hits. For whatever reason, sometimes many, a writer’s work just fails to fly. Granted it has not been long since I posted it, but the Haiku (Japanese short poetry) article utilising the samurai video game Ghost of Tsushima did not attract a lot of views. That can be the thing when you go very specific with a topic, you better find a home for it as it doesn’t have that universal appeal to draw people in. I noticed that some of my posts regarding motorsports or video games did not always do well, as did some of the posts where I might have been a bit too heavy or specific on the psychology and/or “enlightened” on the philosophy. You win some, you lose some. You learn and keep going.
Speaking of the future, I hope 2021 holds some good news for all especially regarding COVID-19 and ensuing vaccines for the virus. With regards to my writing, I will be taking a break over the Christmas and New Year period and will be back on Friday, January 8th. I will be exploring the idea of reading out my posts, either as pure narration in audio format or as a video and screen record scrolling through my post as a speak over the top. I will also be pursuing other avenues with my writing and to do all of this I will need to retire the “Take 5 Tuesdays” going forward. I hope you enjoyed them and I don’t rule out picking them back up (or something similar) in the future.
I wish you all a great and happy festive season with the loved ones that matter to you the most and I’ll see you all in 2021. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and given feedback this year, it really is appreciated and I hope it keeps coming next year!
