It’s mid-December, Christmas is just around the corner, and the New Year is in sight. It’s time to take stock of what this year has delivered and weigh up the good, the bad, and the ugly.

A little earlier today, I published The It’s A Stampede! Awards 2019, where I looked at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the year. If you want to take a look at who won what, be sure to give the post a read.

So that’s the It’s A Stampede! Awards covered, but what about the year as a whole? What has this year served up for me? And has it been a productive year?

Honestly?

It’s been a very busy one.

When I’m not blogging on It’s A Stampede!, I usually have a number of projects on the go – be it watching various movies (which I regularly talk about on here), going to conventions and expos, or working at a day job. Yep, when I’m not typing away on here, I’m usually typing away somewhere else.

For seven years I worked as a magazine editor, and more recently I worked in copywriting. However, over the past few months I’ve been taking some downtime.

But me and downtime don’t quite mix; which is why earlier this year I made the decision to improve and expand my blog. Hey, who needs sleep?

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Expanding the blog

If you’re a regular reader of It’s A Stampede!, this year you may have noticed a few changes here and there – nothing too drastic, just a few tweaks to improve the content. These tweaks largely focused on reducing posts that I didn’t feel added any value to the blog (i.e. cutting back on ‘trailer’ posts) and increasing the information that I provide.

But the improvements didn’t just stop there. I didn’t just want to tweak It’s A Stampede!, I wanted to move outside the boundaries of this blog. I wanted to set up new blogs.

Over the course of the summer I started developing two new blogs. One to focus on the Batman movies and the other to focus on the Spider-Man movies.

I’ve been a fan of both the Batman and Spider-Man movies for years (decades even), so I wanted to create a space to talk about them – and talk about them in-depth. I wanted to be able to peel back the films, and really look at the nuts and bolts of each movie, answering key questions along the way.

I launched the first of these blogs at the tail-end of August. This first blog was I’ll Get Drive-Thru – the Batman movies blog.

The second blog launched in November. This blog was Don’t Tell Harry – the Spider-Man movies blog.

I spent a large chunk of the summer building up content for each blog, to ensure I could get them to where I wanted them before they went live. And now that they are live, I alternate between all three blogs, writing whatever takes my fancy depending on my mood.

If I want to talk general geekery, then I will write posts for It’s A Stampede!. These posts range from discussions on Baby Yoda, to a rundown of the Punisher films.

If I want to talk about the best Joker actors, or I want to discuss MacGregor’s Syndrome then I can be found adding posts to I’ll Get Drive-Thru. And If I’m of a mind to talk about the villains of Into the Spider-Verse, Peter Parker’s parents, or Spider-Man’s mantra, then I’m over on Don’t Tell Harry typing away.

Basically, if I’m not here, I’m there (and sometimes I’m everywhere).

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Moving forward

Blogging, blogging, blogging – I spend quite a lot of time blogging, and I’m not planning on stopping anytime soon. I’ve always got a million and one thoughts and ideas swimming around my head, and the only real way to get them out is to write them down and release them into cyberspace.

For me, blogging is a creative outlet, but it is also something I enjoy. I like to talk about my interest in films, TV, comics and general geekery, and I like interactions with anyone and everyone who reads what I write.

Moving forward, I want to improve and develop It’s A Stampede!, but I also want to continue spending time on I’ll Get Drive-Thru and Don’t Tell Harry. There’s so much to talk about, I just need to find the time.

As mentioned at the top of this post, 2019 has been a busy year. For personal reasons, it’s also not been an easy one – but I believe it’s important to always keep pushing forward.

2019 has shown me that I can develop my thoughts and ideas into new avenues and platforms. There are always financial or time constraints that can and will get in the way, but these are just temporary setbacks.

I have many more ideas I would like to develop across my three blogs and perhaps beyond, but that can be a task for 2020. For now, I believe it is important to enjoy what I have and make these three blogs the best they can be.

I’m enjoying this journey. I hope you’ll join me, whenever possible.

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