2023 was another dystopian nightmare of a year for the rest of the world, though it was very mixed for me. Some real highs and lows, though the lows were mostly recuperating from the excitement of the highs. Very eventful! Sandro proposed to me under shooting stars on our trip to Reykjavik in December. Not even the horrendous sea sickness from the Brennavin shot I had afterwards ruined that moment for me.
I’ve got plenty of poems and stories to submit to magazines and anthologies. I managed to make good progress on my short story collection. I was also working on a experimental novella, but I got bad writer’s block so I was unable to finish it. Hopefully next year!
So, without further ado, I’ll get onto listing what I got up to this year.
Words and Music @ MILK
Words and Music seems to be bouncing back after a hard couple of years. We were part of the vibrant programme of the Govanhill International Festival in August.
Sadly, our founder Pamela Duncan passed away on 14th October of this year. Gayle and I read some of her poems at November’s Words and Music. I had some poems through her funeral pamphlet, though Gayle had some of her work in a book and on her phone. Hopefully in time I can get a hold of one of her books so I can know her better through her poetry.
Pamela found a lot of joy by being there regardless of how busy it was. I’m honored to play my part in keeping part of her legacy alive.
I decided to stop doing the email newsletter in October this year. It wasn’t feasible for me to keep it going long term. More work goes into a newsletter than I had thought. I didn’t get much out of the newsletter, so I decided to stop it.
If you’re on the mailing list and wondered why we’ve not sent any emails over the past few months, that’s why.
However, I’ll try my best to keep posting on the Facebook group. Social media management is hard. I’m hoping to post more stuff that’s not just reminders, so stay tuned for that.
Words and Music @ MILK is on the first Monday of every month, hosted by me and Gayle Smith. You can find more information about it here or join our FB group here.
Photo gallery: Taken by Stephen Watt on our April 2023 event. Thanks so much!
Poetry and The Fringe
During the first half of the year, I made a point of finding a regular poetry night to attend outside of Words and Music. I found Versaye! in Glasgow and decided this was my place. It’s a fun open mic hosted by Lorna Sithole and Wendy Miller on the first Thursday of every month. You can find out more about it here.
As well as trying out some new events, I performed at three slams: Sma Shot Slam, Tannahill Slam and a slam hosted by Robin Cairns. I didn’t win but I stopped going to slams to win years ago to soothe my fragile ego.
This year marks my first good attempt at the Edinburgh Fringe. My goal was to perform 4 extra gigs in Edinburgh. However, there were very few open mics at the time to go to. I performed at the Anti Slam with Gayle and the School of Poets open mic.
I decided that the events I performed in September would count. These events were Summer Anywhere in Leith and Versaye.
Still, part of the experience was meeting new people. Gayle knows a lot of cool poets, comedians and musicians through PBH Free Fringe so we saw a bunch of shows and got drinks with people when we were there. Part of my goal was to get acquainted with these people, which I was successful at.
It was a lot better than my attempt at the Fringe in 2018. I talk more about that experience in my blog post on my chapbook here. I came away with a few new poems which was cool.
I underestimated how intense the Edinburgh Fringe would be. Lots of socializing, being in a busy city with all the noises and people. Thankfully, the 900 bus was nice and quiet. I wasn’t used to getting the bus to Edinburgh but it was better than the train. Getting the train into Edinburgh is almost always a bad time.
Gayle and I would stay in Edinburgh for the whole day to make the most out of our time there. We went to multiple PBH shows and chat with performers during their breaks.
It was a great time, but very overstimulating and overwhelming. Combined with trying to balance all of my other commitments, including seeing a wrestling show at Wembley. 70,000 people. I’ll know for next time to adjust my expectations.
I was wiped out from September-November so I wasn’t very productive during that time.
I had to take a break from trying new poetry events for the rest of the year. I hope to go back to performing in the new year.
Starter Quest
My podcast got a shout-out on the Attitude Era podcast on their section where they recommend new podcasts. It is one of Sandro’s favourite podcasts. I love their side project It’s Raw because it’s about Kitchen Nightmares. It was so cool to hear people we’re fans of talk up our passion project.
The shout-out boosted our numbers considerably. Our listener base tripled after the ad.
We can’t thank the team at AE enough for the shoutout, it was a highlight of 2023.
Kirby Superstar- Another platformer which was significantly easier than Super Mario Bros 3 or Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This was the first time we had a guest on! Our co-editor Mark came on to talk about his experience playing Kirby Superstar which was lovely. In hindsight, I wish we had him on for the second half. It was his first time recording too and I think he did very well.
Final Fantasy 7- Wow the story of this is great! I adore the soundtrack, it’s something I write to sometimes. It’s a JRPG, an epic tale and a very long game but it’s worth it.
FF7 Advent Weans (Side Quest)- Final Fantasy: Advent Children is one of a few films that continues the story of Final Fantasy 7. Alessandro and I watched the film for a laugh but I ended up having plenty to say about it.
Duke Nukem 3D- This is the first game that I tried that I didn’t like. My least favourite game I played so far but we got some good content from it.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney- I delve into the cosy mystery genre for my literary analysis and engage heartily in shipping culture. Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth make a great couple and I refuse to hear otherwise.
Age of Empires 2- This is a strategy war game with endless skirmishes and different campaigns. The tutorial was about William Wallace and the Scottish Wars of Independence. I’m a Yes voter and a Scottish nationalist, so I got the opportunity to research and talk about my country’s history. Out of all the games I’ve played for this podcast, this one is eminently replayable. My strategy is more passive, about building strong defences and making alliances. Thanks so much to Angel Joy Art for drawing our custom characters!
Tekken 3- This is a very batty but relatively easy to play fighting game. I had a lot of fun here, both in playing the game and in talking about the characters. The lore is very convoluted but definitely not boring!
Luigi’s Mansion- I never thought I’d ever play a survival horror in the Mario universe but here we are! I was a little disappointed at the prize I won at the end of the game but overall, it was a pretty rewarding experience.
Unfortunately, we have had to take a hiatus on Starter Quest as we plan our wedding. As rewarding as Starter Quest has been, it left me less energy to focus on my writing. I struggled to juggle an intense short story collection, a podcast, running an open mic, volunteering twice a week, my health and adulting at the same time.
I can’t emphasize enough though how much fun we’ve been having with the podcast. It has been a lovely way for Sandro and I to bond and spend time together. He’s worked so hard on it and it’s great to see him so galvanized by a creative project.
Changes to the website
Every five years or so, I change up my writer’s website. I noticed that some pieces were inaccessible either because they were out of print or suffering from link rot. I archived these on the blog section so readers can still access it for free.
I took down the Fiction sections of my website. They were mostly published in 2016-2017. I feel my writing has improved since then, so they don’t reflect who I am as a writer anymore. I don’t have enough new stories to justify having a dedicated section. However, there is a blog post you can access if you’re curious.
100 Rejections Challenge
I didn’t make much progress with the challenge this year. I submitted to two/three submission calls as I was unable to make more time to submitting my work further afield.
My poem ‘Ultimatum’ was published in Morecambe Fringe Anthology Volume 1.
Hopefully, I’ll make more progress with the challenge next year. I have a half decent portfolio of poetry and short fiction to submit but writing covering letters and filling out forms is work in itself. How much I’ll be able to achieve will be largely dependent on my overall mental health and how well I balance my different projects.
Work At The Music Shop
I’ve been able to maintain a weekly shift at the music shop since 2022. In June 2023, I decided to try increase my hours from an all-day shift once a week to all day twice a week.
This is the first 9-5 work I’ve done since I was a school assistant in 2016/2017. I haven’t worked a job at all since I stopped hosting karaoke in 2019. My mental health took a real hit in 2018-2022 and rebuilding has been hard.
Now I’m working twice a week most weeks, I decided not to work on the first Monday of every month. I noticed that I was very frazzled hosting Words and Music just a few hours after work. Having the day to relax and get ready for the event is helping so far.
I’ve been continuing with the collages, but I have also been collecting artefacts that I’ve salvaged from the recycling. I’ve framed sheet music covers that haven’t sold, collected tape, VHS and CD sleeves, Celtic Connections CDs and even a song book from King Edward’s coronation in 1911.
Maybe you’ll see some of my finds on my social media in the future. Stay tuned!
Pictured: a selection of collages I made in 2023. Most of these photos are terrible, sorry! I got them in a rush at the end of the day.
Other fun stuff
I’ve been part of Diamond Axe Studios’ discord server since 2022 and it’s brought back a love for music. I’ve been doing rankdowns and wrote some mini reviews of songs in my spare time.
Most of these probably won’t see the light of day but it’s nice to do something creative just for fun.
Some got a shoutout from Sean which were some highlights of my year, honestly. I had two of my contributions read out in his Worst Hits of 2022 Pt 1 and Pt 2
I ended up having to finish this post in 2024 but finalised it in 2025 alongside my 2024 Retrospective Blog Post (LINK), which also came out late. My memory of it isn’t as fresh so I remember it being overall very dour. However, my memory can deceive me. I’m glad that I continue to write these as I can end up forgetting what I achieved. I can end up feeling like a failure, until I look at these blog posts. I did accomplish things this year. Maybe I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped but I’m learning to be patient with myself on that.
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