Dark Distractions is Two Years Old Today!

My blog is officially two today, and just like last year, I thought it would be interesting to do a post that is more for me than anyone else. A post that will let me see what I did in the last year, and how that improved on the year before. It will also include some shout-outs and thanks, as I didn't do it alone.

The year before last I wrote 43 blog posts. This past year I did 75. I’m pleased that I almost doubled my output, even though I know quantity is no assurance of quality. I will aim to double it again this year.

I went from around 25 Twitter followers to around 300. I’m not chasing numbers as it’s all about quality followers, not just slack-jawed “I’ll follow you if you follow me’ers.” Twitter is nice but I don’t think I’m social enough to really take full advantage. Even so, my goal for this year is to pass the 1000 follower mark.

My blog traffic went from around 2,000 hits to around 21,000. It’s nice to see some traffic, even if a lot of it is just automated bots and crawlers. I think this year my goal will be another 10X increase to around 200,000 hits.

I managed to get an article into every edition of the Geek Syndicate Magazine, and thirteen articles/reviews for the website. I will aim to continue that level of contribution to the magazine (as it is beyond my power to make it come out more frequently) but I will try to increase my website contributions.

I wrote 9 film reviews for the Generic Movie and TV blog before I decided to part company with them and put my effort into my other areas of interest. I did have a look at letterboxd but think that I will just keep the odd film review to my blog.

I wrote 17 pieces of flash fiction for #fridayflash. Fridayflash is a great community of writers and it has only really been the second half of the year that I have been able to fully take part and commit to publishing a story each week. I think it has helped my writing a good degree to have something weekly to aim for.

I entered 5 competitions gaining various places/mentions in each, which won me a free ebook (Grey Matter Press) and my stories featuring in 3 print and ebook anthologies (Darker Times). I had only entered one competition before these, and that was before this blog even existed. I am committed to keeping the competition entries flowing as I feel that they are the main way to gauge my progress and, if won, the main way to get my name out more. It was also very nice to be able to hold my work in printed form, something physical to show for the effort. On a larger note, I aim to plan and complete a novel of some kind in the next 12 months.

I joined the Horror Blogger Alliance, which has led to three review requests from people that found my blog and asked me if I fancied reviewing their books/films. 

I was given a Liebster award by Steve Green which was very kind of him. It wasn’t my first but the first one I was able to accept. Paul Dail gave me my first but it came at a time where I couldn’t meet the criteria for accepting it and so it fell from my mind. I appreciated the gesture though.

One low point was that I did sign up to do NaNoWriMo but just couldn’t get started with it. I had a couple of ideas for novels that I wanted to follow and the indecision ended up putting too much pressure on me so I just let it drop.

As usual, I would like to thank my good friend Paul Brewer, who has tirelessly commented on my posts when I'm sure he has had much more interesting things to be getting on with. Thanks as always Paul :).

Thanks to everyone who knows me, reads my stuff and lets me know that I am not writing in a vacuum.

Casey.

Contact Me

The Pink Liebster Award

Steve Green very kindly nominated me for The Pink Liebster Award, which was a great surprise. Thank you very much Steve and congratulations on your own award. I do very much enjoy your bleak brand of sci-fi and other genres, so keep up the good work.

The rules that come with getting a Liebster are:

1) Link back to the person who nominated you. 
2) Answer the 10 questions they gave you. 
3) Pick some favourite bloggers of your own to nominate. 
4) Pose 10 questions of your own for them to answer. 
5) Make sure that the people you nominated know about it. And have fun.

********

Steve opted to not set questions and instead wanted 10 random or unusual facts from me so here they are:

1) I used to have horrific nightmares when I was younger which lasted until I was almost in double figures. They vanished when I embraced them and I would happily have them now instead of the usual being late or lost anxiety type dreams. Give me werewolves any day!

2) I still find the original Robocop to be one of the grimmest and scariest films that I have seen. Might be because it was the first 18 I watched. ED209. Jesus. The hum of its systems and the way it kills the corporate suit and no one could stop it. Also...exploding hand. Say no more.

3) I've listened to audio books as I try to get to sleep almost every night since I was little. I think they have gone some way to making me the erudite young man I have become. lol.

4) I dislike TV. Adverts, reality TV, game shows, chat shows in which the only guests are other chat show hosts. Utter dross! I do watch the odd series like Luther, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad though, but even those are usually via box-set rather than watched at broadcast.

5) I can't stand Harry Potter. Some love it and that's great. I just think that its nothing special. I did gain great enjoyment from the religious nuts proclaiming it encouraged children into Wicca and Satanism though.

6) I love dark music. I used to relax by listening to new age stuff but nothing relaxes me like the booming sub-audible drones of a dark ambient track. I think it comes from the belief that we need to embrace our light and dark sides or we become unbalanced.

7) I think I'm addicted to Pepsi Max. I could swim in a swimming pool full of it. It's the most "cola" tasting low cal drink that I think I've ever had. It even tastes better than regular old Pepsi or Coca-Cola to me.

8) I rarely feel like doing something until I start doing it. Whether this is due to my chronic illnesses or whether it's just how I have aged, there always seems to be a mist of "meh" around anything I consider, even if I know I want to do it.

9) Gillian Anderson is my celebrity crush. I have two autographs and a lovely art print on the wall in my bedroom. I feel it is a bit sad on one level, but on another, fuck it :).

10) Writing is my last "thing". My life has been severely limited by illness for over a decade and many of the things that I used to enjoy are lost to me now. I always enjoyed writing when I was little, and now writing has become my last route to expression and maybe some kind of career. As a result, I'm going all out to make a real go of it. I don't know how far I can get but there is nothing else I want to do.

********

Now for my nominations. I will nominate two as Steve did, as that is a nice manageable amount for me to follow through on.

The first is my good friend Paul Brewer and his blog The Mind of a (Soon to be) Recovering Agoraphobic. The transformation Paul has brought about in his life this year is truly inspirational, and I am not someone who chucks that word around very often. He was my first thought when I had to think of someone else deserving of the Liebster award.

My second is from the #fridayflash community. Spencer Hixon writes some very clever and intriguing flash tales involving technology and the world wide web. After reading his stuff, I always feel jealous that I hadn't thought of that, and it is for this reason he is my second nomination.

I will also follow Steve's example and request that Paul and Spencer give the world ten random or strange facts about themselves, rather than give them a set of questions to answer.

Cheers again Steve.