2020 is the year of... attention

A yearly theme for the ages

Jan 8

Every year, my old internet pal Myke Hurley and the really rather popular YouTuber, CGP Grey choose their annual themes on the Cortex podcast. It’s a way for them to set the tone for the coming 12 months without making specific resolutions.

I quite like the notion.

I’m tired of giving myself reading, writing and other such goals only to fail and feel bad about it. With a newborn in the house and a freelance business to run, I don’t really know what I can achieve in 2020. I’m not sure tangible targets will be helpful.

So instead, I am going to set an annual theme. I’m going to use it to guide what I do and which projects I work on. It will be there to remind me when my current good intentions inevitably become difficult to put into practice.

So here it is.

For me, this will be the year of… attention.

Sounds vague, doesn’t it?

As I wrote in my review of the last decade, Brexit in particular has absorbed a lot of my attention in the last three years. If I’ve not been reading about it, exchanging WhatsApp messages about it, or watching the latest codswallop on my phone, it’s been on my mind.

In 2020, I would like to stay informed about Brexit and the world imploding, but without letting it take all of my attention.

It’s not just Brexit and world annihilation though.

Like many people, I find my attention pulled this way and that almost permanently. I’m a natural daydreamer. I like being a daydreamer! It’s where my stories come from. But being a daydreamer means sometimes I find it hard to focus on one thing at time. I like to keep moving. Try new stuff.

Truth is, the things I want to achieve this year – write the second novel, read more books, develop this newsletter, run 300km – they all require focus. They all need my full attention. I really want to get to 2021 having give them my best shot.

Of course, I’m not going to pretend that I can suddenly turn into some kind of productivity prince. I mean, that sounds awful anyway. But if I am supposed to be writing, I am going to try and write. If I want to read a book, I am going to read a book. And when I am running, I am running. Obviously.

Too often, even when I am doing something I enjoy, my attention is caught by something non-urgent and typically trivial.

My aim this year is to be aware of that happening and nip it in the bud. Not by quitting Twitter. Not by saying no to things I actually enjoy. But by taking notice of my behaviour and trying to form better habits.

I want to reclaim my attention by paying attention.

How to be helpful

If like most right-thinking folk you enjoy this newsletter, there are three specific things you can do to help. Subscribe now if you haven’t already. Share it with someone else. Or click/tap the little ❤️ icon right there at the bottom.

Links of the week

Every issue I collect and share the best advice, apps and other shenanigans that I find on my internet travels. Find something useful? Subscribe for free.

‎Habit — Daily Tracker

It’s a new year, so naturally we’ve all made a number of resolutions that we may or may not keep. Last year, I had a go at using a habit tracker, which lasted about a month. I’m going to give it another go this time round with the colourful and so far perfectly practical, Habit – Daily Tracker. (Found via Luke Leighfield’s great newsletter.)

Writers and Their Favourite Tools

Like a very modern daft lad, I assumed that this would be a list of apps and other such computer nonsense. But no! If you’ve ever wondered what type of pencil or pen various published authors use, this is for you. Personally, there are three types of pen I like to use, depending what I’m up to. If you are lucky – and I mean very lucky – I might write about them one day.

Fantastic list of writerly Twitter Lists created by @samatlounge

Are you on Twitter? Want to know who all the right writers, publishers and other bookish sorts are? Then you need to get your gloves on and start mining the Twitter Lists created and kindly made public by Sam Missingham, who founded The Empowered Author. Absolutely brilliant resource. Go get stuck in.

Writer Lingo & Slang

If you are new to the world of publishing, some of the terminology can be confusing. In fact, even if you’ve been in the thick of it, there’s a chance some new jargon will come along to make you feel like a right nit or – possibly – some upstart from the North of England who doesn’t quite belong (sorry what?).

Anyway, this is a really useful piece written by science fiction and fantasy author SL Huang for her excellent newsletter, Ask An Author. It’s basically a list of some publishing phrases and acronyms alongside a sensible explanation of what they mean. Very useful indeed.

Now if someone can explain to me how many kisses and on how many cheeks you’re supposed to go for on greeting someone that works in publishing, that would be very helpful.

Lydia Davis interviewed in latest Five Dials

Remember when I told you about the new book of essays by one of my favourite writers, Lydia Davis? It’s called Essays. Which is helpful when you want to remember the title for your newsletter.

Well there’s a great interview with Davis in the latest edition of Five Dials. What the heck is Five Dials? It’s a long-running, free literary magazine published by Hamish Hamilton. I don’t read every edition, but I love that it exists and was very pleased when this one popped into my inbox.

How You Spend Your Days

This is the idea that the things you do on a regular basis are the things that – you know – you actually do. They make up who you are.

Kate McKean in her also excellent newsletter sums it up really well:

I just want the time I’m actually working to be work, and the time I’m not to be NOT.

That’s definitely my approach to this new year. See above.

Bullet - Bullet Journal App

I know some of you are into bullet journalling. I tried it for about six months when I first went freelance and actually found it pretty useful. Of course, part of the attraction is that it’s a paper-based note taking system that gets you away from the screen. But maybe you want the best of both worlds? If so, take a look at this new app, which I have neither tried nor tested. You can find screenshots to see what the app looks like on Product Hunt.

How to read more

This is an old graphic and blog post from my personal fave, Austin Kleon. But it’s worth posting again now because no doubt you’ve decided, just like I have, that 2020 will be the year you read like the wind. And you will! For sure!

Tweets of the week

Tweets are but filthy nuts in a well-worn hubcap. But some of them are quite good. You can follow @iainbroome and @unslush on Twitter.

Sam Byers@byers90

You’re not going to “get through” that “TBR pile”. You’re not going to “catch up” with seven thousand hours of television. You need to be your own cultural curator and make some personal decisions. We don’t need to just sit around and have culture flung at us.

Jamie Bartlett@JamieJBartlett

I have now written more than one book, so hopefully have learned something about the process. Here at the ten things I wish I knew when I started. I hope they help any budding authors out there! (Thread)

Tim Spalding@librarythingtim

“Bram Stoker didn’t write Dracula until he was 50” isn’t quite as inspiring when you add that he never wrote another good book, and died of syphilis.

First time reader?

If you are new to me and this newsletter, please feel free to join almost 600 other fine folk and subscribe to get future emails right in your inbox. You can read a short bio on my website, where you can also find out more about my debut novel.

10 events that shaped my decade

How we got to now

Iain Broome

Jan 2

It’s officially 2020. You’ve probably noticed people taking to social media to share their last decade. There’s been a notable focus on achievements. And that makes sense. It’s important to take stock of all the good stuff you’ve done.

But life is not one long list of achievements.

There are peaks and troughs. Good times and bad. For all that goes our way, there are challenges to face and stuff we don’t see coming.

I sent a tweet to sum up my own decade.

Iain Broome@iainbroome

My decade. One novel. Four children. No idea what else happened.

As I’m in the fog of having a newborn baby in the house again, it seemed about right to sum things up in such a silly way.

But it was also – if I’m honest – a response to seeing other authors list the many books they both wrote and published in the last 10 years.

If you’d asked me in 2012, when my debut and currently only novel was published, how many books I would have written by now, I would probably have guessed at three or four. Something like that. And yet here I am.

I write this mainly to acknowledge and reassure you – my fellow writers – that decades are not solely shaped by your achievements, and your achievements are not solely related to how many books you did or did not publish.

Life is life. Work hard and good stuff happens. Work hard and shit stuff happens too. Don’t worry about what other people are doing. Focus on your own thing. Give it time. Change will come. Etcetera, etcetera.

Anyway. I don’t really feel like I can or want to try and summarise the last decade in a tweet. I definitely don’t want to list my achievements.

So instead, I’ve chosen to reflect on the last 10 years by sharing – accepting – the 10 events that got me to where I am now.

2010: My Auntie’s brain tumour

Things did not start well. I called my much-loved and only auntie (no uncles either) to ask her to read at our wedding. Astonishingly, she said no. It was a weird conversation. I knew that something was wrong, so I called my dad immediately. He said he’d noticed some odd behaviour recently too.

Turned out she had a brain tumour. Her health deteriorated very quickly. Me and my fiancée travelled to first the hospital and later the hospice to see her two or three times a week. It was horrendous. Horrific. Like watching a rose lose its petals one by one. She was dead within three months. Our children would have adored her.

2011: Got married

The following year, I married my best friend and had a big party in an equally big tent at her parents’ farm on the top of a hill in Somerset. It was everything we wanted and more. Together, we’ve navigated the rest of the decade and all its thrown at us with love, respect and teamwork. Proper teamwork.

September 2012: A is for Angelica published

I became a published author. Lived the dream. Achievement unlocked. I’ve spent many sorry evenings staring at an empty screen since, but now more than ever I look back (and occasionally read parts of) A is for Angelica with huge amounts of pride. It’s not perfect – but it’s a bloody good debut novel. 4.3 out of 5 stars. Would recommend.

September 2012: Had identical twins

In the month I became a published author, I also became a parent to identical twins. Which was not especially compatible with marketing a book. But who gives a shit. My boys are the loveliest, warmest, most incredible kids I could ever have hoped for.

They have absolutely no idea, but they’ve been there to lift us on countless occasions when things have got tough. Not many people get to be parents to identical twins. We consider it an absolute privilege. Those gorgeous boys. They are the decade.

October 2012: Made redundant

Five days after my twins were born, while we were all still living in a hospital room together, I was made redundant. It was quite the week. And frankly, it transformed my decade.

Looking back, I think we dealt with everything extremely well. We went from having no children and two jobs to effectively the exact opposite in the space of a few days. I was instantly unemployed and my wife began maternity leave.

I took the first job I could get. It was fine. But it sparked a number of years where – again, with hindsight – I found myself lost professionally. It was difficult to write fiction too, just at the point where I needed to capitalise on getting published.

2015: Miscarriage

Early 2015, we moved to a new house that we are still in and love very much. But in the summer, my wife had a miscarriage and it was the saddest, most difficult thing we have ever been through. I have lots to say about the process and how it felt, but I’ve never quite found the words or place in which to do so. This list isn’t it, but it shaped my decade, no doubt.

2016: Baby number three

One year later our daughter arrived. She’s bright, brave, funny and will go on to run the world if she wants to. Oh! And I can confirm that having one baby is easier than having two at the same time. Just in case you wondered. Logistics. It’s all logistics.

2016: Brexit

Don’t get me started. The absolute state of it. We’re four years on and my blood still boils at the sheer small-mindedness and stupidity of it all.

On a personal level, I feel like for three years and counting, Brexit has stolen my attention. It’s politicised me. I’m far better informed than before. But that information has come at a cost. Like many people in the UK, I’ve been absorbed by the utter lunacy playing out on our various screens. I hate it. I wish I had that time back.

Of course, with the recent election, things have changed. It feels like an act of deference, but for my own health and the ability to get anything done, I intend to inhale a lot less Brexit in the coming months.

2017: Started a business

Arguably, my best non-family-related achievement of the decade. I spent a fantastic year at digital agency Yoomee before facing another, albeit slightly different redundancy. This time round I didn’t try and get another job. Instead, I emailed everyone I knew and told them I was available for freelance work.

This February will be my three-year anniversary of running Very Meta – my freelance content business. I’ve met so many different people, learnt loads about my home city, and worked on a much wider variety of projects than I could have imagined. I’ve also been able to pay the mortgage. Which is very important.

2019: Baby number four

What’s the point of ending a 10-year cycle if you can’t do it in style?

As regular readers will know, last month we said hello to our fourth (and final, seriously) child. She was born on my birthday, which is both rather wonderful and completely bonkers. It’s been that kind of decade.

That’s it from me. I found that quite cathartic.

I hope you’ve had a great holiday period and are busy making plans for the new year. I’ll be back next week with the usual links to the very best bookish internet nonsense I can find. If you’re new to the newsletter, there’s an about page you can read.

Keep it real. Stay cool. Hang tough like the New Kids.

First time reader?

If you are new to me and this newsletter, please feel free to join almost 600 other fine folk and subscribe to get exciting emails right in your inbox.

There's a new kid in town

And I need cuddles

Iain Broome

Dec 13, 2019

I am still up to my eyes in new parenthood (again), so forgive the short email and small selection of links. If you missed my last update, Peggy Jean Broome was born on 28 November, which also happens to me my own birthday. Absolutely crackers.

Today is the morning after the general election here in the UK. It’s fair to say that once again the baddies won. Despite seeing it coming this time, I am absolutely crestfallen and feel sick to my stomach for all of those people this vote will affect the most.

I’m going to give myself the holiday period to reflect on what I personally ought to do about the situation. For my own sanity, I need to step away from reading the news and keeping up to date with all things Brexit. I’ve no idea how to do that though. Being informed is somewhat addictive.

There is, of course, one thing I must do. I need to find a way to finish writing this second novel. It’s hugely influenced by the events of the last three years and making art of any kind is a good way to both have a voice and give a voice to others.

Everything is temporary. Nothing last forever. The good will out. I’m going to spend some time cuddling my gorgeous Peggy while having a very big think about what’s to come in the new year.

What’s your book of the year?

In last week’s newsletter, I asked you to share your favourite book of 2019. Thank you and a virtual high-five if you are one of those who contributed to the discussion. If you’d like to add your own literary recommendation to what is already an excellent list, please feel free to share your own book of 2019.

Join the discussion