Whilst this blog’s been active for well over a year now, this post marks an entire year’s worth of weekly posts. Fifty-Two weeks I’ve managed to rinse the smallest topics dry. Fifty-two weeks of talking garbage and waffling on within run-on sentences. Fifty-two weeks of attempting to stay sane.
That’s the big take away from this, I think. The past year has been a write-off for me, even before the whole pandemic issue. After finishing my MA my life came to a halt and I was forced to re-familiarise myself with the incapable human being I am. I still don’t have a job, and it’s not for lack of trying. This website was the first step in my theoretical move to London, where I’d begin to work a 9-5 whilst creating on the side, y’know, what fools think they can do easily. Yet through a unique mixture of shit living locations and poor self-esteem, despite hundreds of job applications and email requests for (even unpaid) experience I’ve still got nothing. But this isn’t about that. This is about the small piece of constant sanity the blog has given me through this strange time.
Whilst I’ve also been writing for other sites like Teleccentric and Cineccentric, and even managed to perform at the London Horror Festival in October 2019, trying to ensure that I’ve got a blog post every week at least has ensured that no matter what I’ve done something. No matter how small it is. And I have now for a year. And sure, some of the posts have been stitched together from half-baked thoughts and sometimes I stretch out ideas in order to buy me more time with others but I like to think that over time the overall quality is rising somewhat. This was intended as a side project in order to keep me busy during periods of drought, but it’s since become a saving grace in a way I never knew I needed.
So if you’ve ever read one of my pieces I’ve stuck up on here thank you. If you’ve ever shared one with your own online following thank you. If you’ve ever messaged me letting me know you liked a post thank you, or even if you’ve just given me a nudge towards a spelling/factual error thank you too. I don’t want this to be even remotely self-congratulatory. Writing about films and television and art is fun but I should never let it get in the way of me choosing to write my own stories. Because that’s still what I want to do. Even in the darkest moments and after the fiftieth rejection email in a row, when I feel like I have nothing worth saying I’m still frustrated by the fact that I can’t tell these stories the way I want to.
I hope the next year will see a change in my situation, but for now I just have to keep going. I’m going to try new things with the blog posts too, and hopefully at some point there’ll come a time where I simply can’t keep up with the weekly schedule. So again, thank you for reading. I’m using this post as an excuse to take a break for the week, but your regular service will follow next Monday.
In the meantime, however, remember to explore the rest of the site if you’re interested in any of my other work. Or head over to Show Face Fest in order to be kept up to date on the next thing I'm working on, which should be around the end of August...
And if you ever need some writing, creative or otherwise, I hope my name will cross your mind on your way to your actual choice. That's all I've ever wanted.
Please feel free to get in contact via Twitter at @ManicMorris
Or send me an email (work related or otherwise) over at george@gmorris.co.uk
P.S. if you or anyone you know work for Dreamworks please let them know my plot offer for Shrek 5 is still available.
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Elijah McClain. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. Tete Gulley. Tony McDade. Riah Milton. Dominique Fells. Mekhi James. Amaria Jones. Cornelius Fredericks. Paterson Brown. Alonzo Smith. Richard Perkins.
These are just some of the names of black people unjustly taken by the hands of police officers and racists/transphobes/homophobes. The #BlackLivesMatter movement won't stop and nor should it. But it needs help and support to make the world better.
Say their names. Follow up their cases when they stop appearing on your feed. Take ten minutes out of your day to read articles or see how many petitions you can sign in that time. Help stop the ignorance and hate that has sparked an entire history of wrongness. We can't make it so that it never happened, but we can help ensure it doesn't continue.
The Black Lives Matter Movement | https://blacklivesmatter.com/
A Thread from @deanmichael of petitions you can sign | https://twitter.com/deanmichaeI/status/1275193441568411648