Cor, 2025 was a year. If I thought 2024 was the year of change, upheaval and new beginnings, 2025 has, without a doubt, said hold my beer. This isn’t the place I’ll be going into details about it, but I will say that all the change hasn’t (yet) affected my writing, and that’s what you’re here to read about, right? Write. From a writing POV, it’s been a flipping good year. Let me tell you about it. Let the 2025 writing roundup begin!
Pursuing Publication, a tragicomedy in five acts
I wrote my best gothic novel (imo), The House on Abaddon Square, back in 2021. Since then, the rejection letters have piled up. I vented about this in a poem called Another Slip for the Spike but, actually, it’s not all bad. I’ve had full manuscript requests and actual feedback from agents, which is more than many aspiring authors get. Sadly though, 2025 wasn’t the year to final get Abaddon Square over the line.
Back in March, I decided to switch focus. I write a lot of short stories and poems and, for the most part, they sit on my hard drive, edited and polished but stored away. Imagine a Raiders of the Lost Ark style warehouse full of literary flotsam and jetsam. Perhaps, mused I, these pieces deserve a shot at being read by someone other than me. I made myself a spreadsheet, researched journals and anthologies and competitions, and got submitting. And what do you know: I hooked some success!
It was interesting seeing which pieces were picked up. I maintain that Nocturne, a story about a vengeful sentient piano, is one of the best short horrors I’ve penned. But alas, no interest in it. I came to realise that it’s not how good your piece is. It’s how well it suits the publisher’s needs that matters. This made me feel a whole lot better about Abaddon Square (elevator pitch – Reservoir Dogs meets The Exorcist in Victorian London. Interested?), which just needs a resurgent interest in supernatural gothic horror to get off the ground. I feel.
Anyway – with five pieces published this year, I’ve fattened my fledging bibliography and got my name out there in the world of published writing. And I’m very proud of that.
The Mysterious Manuscript: a secret novel
If you didn’t know, I’m a teacher. Teaching has been excellent for my writing. You meet loads of people and learn how they all tick when mixed around in different ways. It’s also one of those professions which everyone just understands. We’ve all been to school. We know what teachers do. Teacher characters are great because you don’t have to explain their job as you go. I wrote a short story this year called Benji’s Birthday, ’99 which I really enjoyed and which drew liberally from my experiences teaching. Maybe it’ll be picked up in 2026.
The other amazing thing about teaching is the holidays. Now, it’s true that we still have to plan lessons, prepare a classroom, enter data, etc. But we get to do that at times that suit us. If I want to get all that crap done in the early mornings and spend the rest of the day writing, who’s to stop me? No one, that’s who.
I wrote a whole novel this summer. One afternoon, I was jotting ideas in my notebook and they started sticking to one other; becoming something cohesive. I pulled out my laptop that evening, started writing a chapter-by-chapter plan. As the clock struck midnight, I looked up bleary-eyed to see I’d got a whole embryonic novel, ready to go. I started writing it the next day.
If you’ve read my books or heard my poems, you’ll know I love the gothic tradition. Sometimes it’s a bit more ghost story, sometimes a bit more folk horror. Sometimes even grand guignol. But on the whole, I stick to my brand. This novel is way different. It’s got a contemporary setting, modern concerns about social media and it’s a study in psychopathy. It actually mirrors some current trends in publishing. If it sounds like I’m being cagey about its content, I am. I’ll be submitting it to agencies under a pen name and it won’t link at all to the author profile I’ve developed with my writing so far. I’ve sent it to different beta-readers to my usual, and they’ve responded with some consistent and positive feedback. I say with cautious pride. Wish me luck.
More to Life: non-writing roundup
2025 hasn’t just been about writing. Since relocating to Salisbury last year, I’ve joined a band. We played our first gigs around New Year 2024 and we’ve played some fantastic shows since then. My bandmates have become some of my closest friends and rehearsing, hanging out and performing with them has been a rare constant: something reliably joyful at a time when much else in 2025 felt uncertain.
I’ve got back into running in a big way too this year, and even joined some friends and colleagues (in teaching, they become the same thing) for running clubs. I ran 10km for Cancer Research in June, achieving my personal target of running it in under an hour. In November, I ran 10 miles for Alabaré and did myself proud with a sub 90 minute time. In fact, running has been a real source of pride for me all year.
I’ve also enjoyed some performance opportunities this year. I’ve performed my poems to audiences now for about five years, and 2025 got me a featured spot at People in the Park in Salisbury (probably my largest ever audience!) and a segment at Wylye Valley Writers. It was a real privilege to meet the other writers involved and an absolute blast (not to mention: adrenalin rush) to introduce some of my poems to new audiences.
As it turns out, 2025 has been the year I’ve appreciated my friendships like never before. I’m still in contact with friends back in Sussex, and I have new friends here in Salisbury. This year I’ve learned that I can rely on some of those friends implicitly. So: a shout-out to those who’ve been there for me.
Last but not Least: the reading roundup
I’ll sign off soon – playing the New Year in with Permission Slip. I’ll leave you with my reading roundup. My favourite books I read this year were NOS4A2, The Haar, Come Closer, She’s Always Hungry, Vertigo & Ghost and Our Wives Under the Sea.
I hope you’ve had a good year with you and yours, and that your 2026 is an absolute belter.
