The year of 2020 has been challenging for practically everyone, and I think I speak for most people when I say "Good riddance!" to it. We have, around the world, suffered losses in both the concrete and the abstract. Some of us lost loved ones; some of us lost safe spaces outside of the home; some of us lost once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I hope 2021 is kinder to us all. We've crawled through broken glass to get here; we are going to stand and become stronger, once again.
I was contemplating posting and sending out a newsletter on the final day of 2020, but I decided to wait for January 1, 2021. As it happens, the day so far has been utterly miserable: nonstop raining since ten in the morning. But I have a sense of renewed purpose, instead of the pervasive sense of dread almost throughout the latter half of the previous year - how wonderful to type that! - and it's great to be able to start all over.
At the start of last year (I'm not going to be sick of feeling relieved at saying that), I and a couple of other writers in the Singapore Writers' Group (SWG) decided to take on the task of revitalizing the blog and social media presence of the SWG. It was a good challenge for me, at first, because I got to return to my roots in journalism and really put together interesting feature articles, and did some collaboration with my fellow volunteers. It also gave me the chance to interview Bryan Fuller, which was one big check on my To-Do List of Life. Unfortunately, by around Augseptober (calendars are human constructs and time has no meaning), it was clear that the SWG would not continue in its current form. Yesterday, December 31, was its last day, and so I have collated my articles from the SWG to post on my blog.
I didn't do a lot of writing for my novel, to be completely honest. I did a lot of rewriting, a lot of self-indulgent fanfiction, and quite a bit of work-related writing. It should have been a boon to get to stay home and write, but pandemic lockdowns meant catering to not just my needs, but my spouse's; then as previously posted, my father's passing dealt me a heavy emotional blow that took me quite some time to recover from; the US election and chaos around early November did not leave much brainspace to create. I wrote a little every day, though, and I think I will celebrate that success. Even ten words.
I'm still going to try to stick to a newsletter every two months. However, other than reviews and my blog stuff, I'll also include some links to interesting articles I come across that may pique your curiosity too. We'll see how it goes.
Let's get through this.