This week has felt like a long one, and one where its mainly about groundwork for the future than things coming satisfactorily to fruition. But then I’m reminded that without the journey we’d never reach a destination so even when it feels laborious it’ll be worth it in the end!

S01 E02 – week ending 4 February 2018

Digital

I’ve been following up on some of the bits that came out of last week’s Essential Digital Skills for Comms workshop that I ran with Comms2Point0 ahead of the next edition in Leeds on 15 February.

I’ve been digging a bit deeper into the place of Reddit in the internet landscape and ways it can be used, for better or worse, in comms. It was a blindspot for me and its been great to learn a bit more about it and add some more context and possibilities to the platforms, tools, and campaigns I already knew about.

Need a starter for ten on Reddit? Try this piece…

Journalism and writing

This week saw the announcement of my novel over on Reckless Yes, which will publish The Winter Passing in the summer. It’s been a long time coming…I wrote the book (and its follow up) between March and September 2015 but have kept pushing it back as other things needed my attention. It feels like the right time to get it out into the world now and move on to new stories and projects.

Otherwise it’s been another very busy week over at Storge. January was the biggest month on the site to date and despite the persisting rumour that nothing ever happens in Derby I seem to have a list too long to get to of things that are indeed happening!

It’s also been great to get my first commission for a music publication I’ll be starting to write for and submit my latest pieces for the next issue of Louder Than War magazine.

Music

Not much time for music making myself in the last week although I’ve had plenty of early morning and late night poem / lyric snippets fall through my mind, which may or may not come to something eventually.

There’s been plenty of planning activity over at Reckless Yes and its shaping up to be a really busy, and exciting, 2018 for our little label and press.

Misc

It was nice to get a thanks in this piece by Phil Rumens about the future of LocalGov Digital, the grassroots network I founded with Carl Haggerty and which is now growing into a stable and powerful association. It’s always strange to think that something which came out of an informal chat has turned into something so supportive for the sector. It goes to show the power of ideas, collaboration, and hard work. I’ll be watching with interest how things shape up for them, and digitally for the local government sector, in the coming year.

What’s next?

More campaign setting-up for Reckless Yes, the publishing of some interesting interviews over on Storge, but also some catch-ups and an initial chat about a possible non-fiction book project.