End Of Year Report 2023
So…
As I write this it’s only the 23rd of December… but I’m finding myself bubbling with reflection, practically spilling over with the stuff. I’m at my local COSTA coffee… second americano on the go… and a faint need to pee.
All in good time, my friend.
All in good time…
Before we go on… this is the tenth year in a row that I’ve done one of these End Of Year Reports. You can see all the previous reports here. Reading them back is an interesting insight into the living document that is my life.
And why do I do them?
Because, as that great smelly philosopher Luke-of-2017 once said:
"Time, then, to hold on tight, nail down the days, and look upon what has happened and try to make sense of it. If we don’t then it may just end up lost in the endless sea of details, drifting further away from our recollection.”
Okay, let’s begin…
2023.
How do I even start?
It’s been an interesting year.
It’s been a nasty year… and an exciting one. It’s been a year of growth and loss, of exploration and retreat.
As bad as things got, I never doubted that everything was moving as it should be. There was a point when I simply had to make a choice… and the choice I made was to have faith that things would work out for myself and my loved ones. When? How? I dunno, but I’ve chosen to believe that it will. Call it a survival mechanism. I just call it taking the easier path.
THE TO-DONE LIST
I wrote 188,620 words in total, including:
1 novel
a 4-episode audio drama
7 short stories
5 comic book scripts
15 editorials
4 newsletters
5 poems
& several scrappy handfuls of copywriting
Over at The Other Stories, I/we:
published 69 episodes
co-produced an audiobook
added an entire new show to our podcast network
packaged up our premium podcast offering (TOS+)
registered our first trademark
released a self-study course
further refined our Production Engine. Seriously, I have a feeling our organisational system is one of the best out there.
I climbed two mountains
I read 38 books
I watched 67 movies
I caught 12 tv shows
I witnessed 2 plays
I inhaled only 3 games
LOOKING BACK AT THE THEMES OF 2023
1. Get Married
Ha. Okay. So this was supposed to happen… and the more we tried to make it happen… the more we realised that it was never going to. Or perhaps we could force it but it wouldn’t be right… and as such we decided to part ways.
We shared an incredible 13-year relationship, which included some of the very best moments of my life. If you’ve been reading my yearly reports, you’ll probably know about some of them. However, 2023 is the year our journey together came to an end.
I love my now-ex partner.
I really do.
She was my best friend.
As previously mentioned, I believe there are good times ahead for both of us, albeit good times we will no longer share together.
Holy fuck I’m getting emotional in the middle of a COSTA coffee.
Why do I do this to myself?
Anyway…
After living for so long together, our lives had grown like neighbouring trees, the roots tangled in secret ways beneath the surface, and the process of ripping them apart has been quite painful. I am now no longer living with my dog. I had to live in my car for a few days. I slept without a bed for almost three months. And I had to clean the oven! And yet… even so, I believe that this is all for the best.
2. Flow
In 2023, I wanted to find a creative flow, to glide greasily from one sentence to the next. I’ll be honest I loved my writing this year. I wrote some of my best short stories. I got to work on an audio drama set in Romero’s The Dead universe. And I finished a novel I’d been thinking about for years. I’d call this one a success.
3. Learn
I was supposed to make more games, take online masterclasses, read more classic literature, watch Criterion movies, cook new recipes, and for the most part I think I did. In fact, I’ve found that cooking has become one of my favourite things to do. Most of my life is spent staring at screens. Stepping away for an hour or so to cook is turning into a real joy.
4. Find at least three more fans
Yeah I’ve no idea about this. All I know is, I’m putting out some of my best work yet… and I hope someone somewhere is picking up what I’m throwing down.
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE THEMES OF 2024
1. I will become Luke 2.0
Luke 2.0 is something my friend Mary keeps saying, and in all honesty she’s right. I’m having to rediscover who I am and what I want from my life. I don’t know if Luke 2.0 is any better than Luke 1.0, but he’s certainly going to be different.
2. I will take bigger swings with my writing
My hope is to write and finish one novel and rough draft a second, along with various other smaller projects. I have no idea if I’ll be able to get it all done… but I’m going to show up every day, limbered up, ready to scrap.
3. I will further mature the TOS business
2023 was a maturation year for The Other Stories. We implemented a lot of processes and practices that will hopefully set us up for where we want to go in the coming years. I’m hoping in 2024 we can continue on that same trajectory.
STUFF I LOVED THIS YEAR
*a new all-time favourite.
Films
Godzilla Minus One*
Oppenheimer
The Deepest Breath
Guardians Of The Galaxy 3*
Blood Machines
Avatar: The Way Of Water
Arrival
Infinity Pool*
John Wick: Chapter 4
Books
It’s Lonely At The Centre Of The Earth
A Monster Calls*
Likely Stories
Ice Cream Man Vol 7*
Dying World
Skeleton Crew
The Creative Act: A Way of Being*
New X-Men (Grant Morrison)
Suicide Woods
Big Magic
Dai Dark Book 1
Dai Dark book 2
Your Music And People
This Is Not A T-Shirt
The Immortal Hulk
The Authority
The Wild Storm
Games
Sword & Sworcery
Before Your Eyes*
I played a lot of games this year but I didn’t finish many. With everything going on, I found myself turning to comfort games like Rocket League. Low stakes. Low investment.
TV Shows
Peacemaker
The Fall Of The House Of Usher*
Loki S2
Plays
The Ocean At The End Of The Lane*
The Pillowman*
Fiction podcasts/Audio Dramas
After The Gloaming
Music
Sufjan Stevens & Big Red Machine & Alkaline Trio & The Menzingers & Devin Townsend & Jon Brion & Emile Mosseri & Seabreather & Low Roar & The National & The Strokes
&&&
And with that, we’re done. Another year torn to pieces, inspected, and hastily stitched back together. Or perhaps that’s what the year did to me… or perhaps it was the decade…
It’s wild how much my life has changed over the last ten years. In good ways, bad ways, and everything in between. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m living it, y’know?
I wish for you an amazing decade ahead, a big kiss on the cheek from a handsome stranger, and a kinder inbox.
Until next time,
Luke