2012 end of the year roundup

Welcome once again to my blog, as the tagline says above, its where I get to be the star kinda!

I started writing this post last week, oh that's not true, I started thinking about writing this post last week.  I noted down a few ideas yesterday and then last night I wrote it in my head...it was a full on dramatisation of the last year and as soon as I had played it out in my mind, I rolled my eyes and said "nah!".

So here I am on this fine afternoon after spending all morning staring at the screen and thinking how best to sum up 2012. I wasn't sure if I should talk about the changes/developments on the blog or the changes/developments in my life - it was a toss up between the two and the least boring one won out!

So...here it is...the life of my blog in 2012...

I started this blog on 24th February 2012 for the sole purpose of discovering new and interesting blogs. I already had a stitchy blog where I posted photo's of my sewing and crafts and had made several friends and really enjoyed the community. So I decided to check what other blogs were out there and I stumbled across the A to Z challenge and decided to join in. It seemed the ideal way to find out what blogs were out there. I needed a blog and I called it 'Suddenly Seeking Blogs' yes, that was the catchy title I had come up with, I then focussed on coming up with an idea of a topic that I was going to write an A to Z on and eventually I came up with possible career choices...all of them I decided that I would not be able to do...the irony isn't lost on me when you read the careers I opted for (if you click the link above it will take you to the post A is for...).

I read somewhere towards the end of the challenge that it was a chance to gain a 100 followers and I thought why not take up that challenge, I did and I succeeded but then I was stuck with what I was going to write on my blog that would keep people interested. I'm a dabbler and I have dabbled in everything, I have travel reviews, music reviews, and film reviews and in May I was looking at it being a sole music blog and by then I had changed the name too.

I changed it in  May when I had suddenly become Kate...a lifetime of everyone calling me Katy (I was christened Katy not Katherine of Katrina or anything) and now online I was Kate and hence The Suddenly Kate Show. I wanted it to be a place where I could be me and indulge myself in things that interested me. I think I have done that.

Music reviews I enjoyed doing, I still enjoy doing, but I put a lot of effort for little results! But I shall carry on once a month. The most popular to date is the Mutineers review, then In The Go (a Croatian band) and then Amida band.

But then...it changed a little...you see, as a child I used to read, a lot, book upon book upon book, if you saw me without a book it was a strange occurrence  I wanted to write my own stories but I kept them in my head and told myself them, I guess that's why I've always been a dreamer.

But on 10th May 2012 I posted my first poem...its not great but it has qualities that I like and recognise in other poems I have written. Here's a recap;

Venturing further than you ever thought,

holding back through fear.

Planning more events with tickets bought,

sharing tales with those near.

Waiting eagerly for interventions turn,

breathing heavily in anticipation.

Knowing there is still more to learn,

convincing yourself with internal placation.

Seizing every chance you get,

to find the key to you.

Surprising even those you haven't met,

in search of something true.

Then on 13th July 2012 I posted my first ever piece of fiction on my blog, available for the world to see and currently probably seen by less than a 100 individuals. It is still the second most popular piece that I have written and it was my first attempt at five sentence fiction and the subject was composure, here it is again for you to read;


The sweat dripped off of her forehead, onto her lap, her panting began to slow and the shaking had eased, her legs were throbbing still and who knew how they would feel in the morning.

She caught her breath, and started to remove her cardigan, she was hot and she couldn't remember the last time that she had walked at such a pace, she had been practically running, her arms swinging, feet pounding the footpath and all in time to the thoughts racing through her mind.

When she had left her house, she was angry, upset, frustrated, disappointed and repentant, now after 45 minutes of walking like her life depended on it, her thoughts had slowed, she was less angry, more disappointed, reflective and had a brighter outlook.

But it was still there, all that pain, confusion, hurt, it was still there, just pushed to the back, right at the back to join all those other times.

The only evidence left was another brick in the wall that she was slowly building, the wall that kept her safe from all this pain, the wall she could hide behind, the wall she put up for all to see, a wall that was strong, solid and unrelenting, a wall that could withstand any weather.

I then began my first serial that started in September and was a spin-off from a Write 4 Ten piece, it was never completed as when I reached day 10 of 12 I decided to use it as a basis for my novel in November Nanowrimo.  The novel is hard for me to summarise but maybe after the redraft it will be easier. It falls into the genre of murder mystery...I think...anyway...

I ventured into some scary writing which was the hardest thing, and wrote a story for Halloween. Its not as scary as I wanted it to be but its something that needs work.

After a mere 4 months, I jumped in feet first, and I began my first novel and participated in National Novel Writing Month, I enjoyed it immensely and am now looking forward to the first redraft and tidy up ready to go to beta readers! ( I only found out about these in November).

My second serial began earlier this month when instead of reading my annual Christmas chicklit I decided to write one. I'm not sure that I ever knew where I was going with it but I was happy to see people enjoy it. i couldn't really ask for more now could I!

I have 117 followers, have posted 149 posts and received 1324 comments. I've been so lucky this year in my blog, and in life, that I have pinched myself so many times to make sure its all real.

Shit happens but my blog has been a place of refuge, so when you need to hide out or get away from it all, come visit, leave a comment, tweet me..whatever!