I buy a paper diary every year because... I like paper things - real books, thoughtful cards, wrapping paper obviously (although do try to buy the recyclable kind, or wrap with knotted pieces of fabric!). At the end of 2018, not long after I'd built this website, which itself was one of many distractions from a horrible breakup, I was the saddest I've ever been. I knew objectively I'd be alright - all my friends said so for one thing, so I wrote 'The Year of Better Things' on the first page of my 2019 diary.
It was. I continued to be sad for a lot of it, but by late Summer I was able to feel joy again, and karma gave me some nice rewards. I barely stopped working as an actor, and my Accent Coaching business began to really thrive as word of mouth spread and I built my social media presence. Feeling optimistic that things could only get exponentially better, I wrote 'Some Year' in the first page of my 2020 diary. It's a paraphrase from Charlotte's web. Charlotte manifests a pig's destiny by weaving 'Some Pig' into her web.
So what I'm saying is, it's my fault. I made a hubristic, jokey reference to a heartbreaking kids' book and the world was punished. But you know what, I've been grateful for the time I've had to reflect on what's important to me. I've also continued to grow my business and my confidence in my teaching abilities, leading many workshops online and in schools, and meeting a vast range of people of all different ages from all over the world for one-to-one sessions. So it WAS Some Year - we're not likely to forget it are we?
Next year's diary bears the legend 'No Rivals'. It's inspired by the Benjamin Franklin quote 'He that falls in love with himself shall have no rivals.' It took until this year to really love myself, and it's one of the things on which I've had time to reflect; but also this has been a year where I've felt no rivalry in the acting world - we've all been in the swamp together and (mostly) able to set aside the bitterness for once. The other Accent Coaches I've met have been lovely and supportive, and I've been making a comfortable living with the clients I have coming in, knowing there's no need to be jealous of someone else's success in the field. I've finally found a sector of the industry that seems to actually reward hard work!
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