So, here I am, starting up a blog like it’s 2004, or something.

Truth is, I’m bone-tired of social media. I wanted to open this post with something dramatic like, ‘Social media is dead!’ (so I did and made it the title) but, of course, it isn’t dead. I think it might be dying, it’s certainly rotting, and like anything that’s rotting it’s attracted a whole host of repulsive vermin – bigots, feeding their hate with more and more cruelty.

Here are some maggots, because I like beating the living hell out of a metaphor.

It isn’t just the usual suspect dreadfuls though. It’s the noise. There’s always discourse, isn’t there? What you can and can’t read. What you can and can’t write. Something vague about an author who’s said something or other but no one’s really sure who it is and no one wants to say. I find it paralysing. What if it’s me? If I don’t make an effort to shut it all out, I don’t get anything written.

Then there’s the FOMO, of course. Everyone else is always drinking champagne and on a yacht. And despite writing books where my characters often remind each other that Instagram is just a highlights reel, blah, blah, I do not take my own advice and fully believe everyone else is living it up and very beautiful, 24/7.

The yacht you are currently on as you read this, you jammy git.

And I’m sure I can feel my brain atrophying the more time I spend scrolling. I know it’s ruined my attention span. It makes me anxious too. As an experiment, a couple of weeks ago I did three days of only looking on socials at around 5pm each day. Huh. I felt so much better. Focussed. Calm. Happy? Fell off the wagon and went down a rabbit hole on Threads about how the USA is in a death spiral of fascism now, although the more pressing issue, it would seem, is the question of who should really be writing m/m romance novels.

And then you might type out a post, something fairly innocuous, and before you know it, people are piling on in the replies, quoting your post, pointing out all the ways it’s wrong and how you, the post’s author, are a stain on humanity. Somehow, the sites are full of people with (a) no media literacy, who are (b) unable to discern meaning, context or nuance with (c) no sense of humour.

Terrible combo. And not the sort of folk who would enjoy my books, so…

Here we are.

Look, I’m not deleting my profiles any time soon, and I’ve just started doing that thing on Instagram where you create a ‘carousel’ of pictures with text written on them to tell a little narrative which keeps people swiping through, so happy days. What I did want though, was a place where it’s possible to explore slightly more longform thoughts and ideas. A safer, nicer place (I have full control of the comments and will not bow to world ‘leaders’ with a warped sense of what freedom of speech means) where likeminded people can stop by for a while and enjoy some content that I hope will still be snappy and engaging enough to keep you amused.

Anyway, welcome, friend. Shall we begin?