As we head into 2023, I’m thinking a lot about personal targets for the next 12 months. If I’m being honest, I found 2022 to be a rough year; despite work going well, there was many things going on in my private life which preoccupied much of my headspace. I’d say I’m in a position of comfort but not necessarily contentment, and I’m looking at the ways I can improve on that this year. This extends to the portion of my opinions and my life that I share here on this blog – looking back at my posts in 2022, there are some definite trends and learnings I can take forward.
Also, this very post is my 200th on this blog, which is an apt milestone from which to look into the future! It’s rewarding to think about the sheer amount of content put onto this site over the years. Part of that is the various contributors I’ve had, so a big thank you goes out to every one of those people!
Lessons From 2022
Statistically, since I started writing again during the 2020 lockdown, it’s been satisfying to see that the viewership stats have generally been gradually increasing year-on-year. In the image below, it shows this. For clarity, in 2018 I wrote a limited amount (but got lots of response to my Celeste post), and in 2019 I wasn’t writing at all, which explains the graph for those years.
However, I will say that my ratio of likes and comments is down from 2021, which I put down to a few things. Firstly, I haven’t posted as many individual articles, and I’ve also been a bit more scattershot in my post subjects over the last year. I’ve been writing about a mix of film, TV, games, and more, whilst in 2020/2021 I was definitely more game and anime focused, which is where my audience mostly seems to be. Frankly, I just wasn’t playing as many games or watching as much anime in 2022, and it was often easier for me to write film wrap-up posts when I was limited on available writing time.
In 2023, I’d like to have a stronger focus in my writing, and additionally get back to doing more longer-form pieces. My best-performing posts – and the most satisfying to publish – are the in-depth ones, such as my piece on the genres Supergiant Games could tackle next (even if they ignored that and are making their first sequel in Hades II, haha). As well as this, by far my most-viewed post is my first GWENT Deck Guide, which again is a long-form piece that I spent a lot of time on. Clearly, the signs are that getting back to that style is the way for me to go.
I’ll still write about films, but I’m going to tailor my picks and lean more into the anime genre again. I’m going to review Violet Evergarden: The Movie soon, for example. Plus, I like having consistent series’ going on, so I’ll lean back towards Film in 500 reviews instead of my round-ups, even if it means longer breaks in my writing. Gaming Photo Album is another series I’d like to bring back consistently as they’re incredibly enjoyable visual compilations to put together (and A Plague Tale: Requiem has been a prime candidate so far)!
New Writing Styles
Apart from returning to certain series on this blog and doing more long-form writing, another big goal I’ve set myself in 2023 is creative fictional writing. When it comes to reading fiction, I love the fantasy genre in particular, and I’ve had an idea for my own fantasy world swimming around in my head for a while. The problem has been working out how and in which way to realise it, as I have no formal education in creative writing, and it’s hard to know where to start. In 2023, I’m determined to begin in some fashion, even if it means the terror of putting my ideas into public!
Kim from Later Levels kindly suggested NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which is an intriguing prospect that would give me more of a deadline to get something written; and I do often work better with a hard and fast time limit, so I’m actively looking into that. I also plan to start working on short stories in a notebook, hopefully contributing towards it every day to see if I can find the tone and through-line I’m looking for with the characters I have in mind. If any of you have experience with getting into creative writing, I’d love to know any tips you have!
Right, I think that mainly covers it for my main writing goals in 2023. In terms of upcoming posts, I have my report on how I did with my December To-Play list coming up soon, so I hope you’ll look forward to reading how I did on that!
Happy New Year, and I hope you have an amazing day!
WCRobinson 
I’m trying to get back into writing myself this year (I’ve found you can only use the writer’s block excuse for so long when you know you aren’t even trying!)
I’ve taken a few creative writing classes and I’ve never found the formal class part with the teacher as helpful as just sitting around with the other students and sharing ideas and work. So if you can find an informal sort of writer’s group that might be helpful 🙂
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Haha yes, I’ve found with blogging it’s often about starting to get words onto a page (however muddled) and sorting it all out from there, and I imagine that’s even moreso the case with fiction!
Thanks for the advice! I live in an area quite good for the creative arts, so there’s probably a group around somewhere for creative writing. I’ll look into it! 🙂
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I don’t know whether this is a common experience, but I also saw fewer comments last year. Probably didn’t leave as many either, though, so I can’t complain. Work and all.
I wish you the best with the fiction! I’ll be joining you in that. Fantasy and science fiction are both interesting to me, and without even trying I’ve found my ideas end up in one or the other area or a mix of the two. I can’t bring myself to write any kind of “realistic” story in the sense of setting, and while I love history, historical fiction takes way too much research that I’d obsess over.
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Ah okay – I think it’s natural that 2020/2021 had more engagement, as frankly, so many more of us were stuck at home and therefore on our computers more often (or at least that was my experience!).
Same in terms of the writing, my mind always go towards the fantastical when thinking up ideas. That’s probably because that’s my own taste when it comes to reading and I have more experience of those genres to fall back on. Sounds like a lot of bloggers I follow are thinking of getting into fiction writing this year, which is exciting to see!
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