2020 Wrap Up

Well, it’s been a pretty unusual year, but I wanted to take a moment to sift through some of the more interesting and creative moments 2020 has brought for me. Lloyd and I returned to Southampton in January with uncertainty about what lay ahead; Lloyd was soon to be interviewed for a lecturing job, and we did not know what to expect in terms of his teaching commitments or where we would end up by February. Little did we know what a year lay ahead! Lloyd had a pretty intense birthday, learning that he had indeed been appointed as a lecturer and launching straight into new responsibilities, with little time for music or other activities. Storytime had its second birthday, celebrated in style, and it was time to begin typing up the next short story collection. In March we heard that COVID-19 had begun to spread around the world, and the university started to whisper of working from home. As young-ish people who numbered among those without pre-existing medical conditions or dependents, we were some of the last to be sent home from work.

In April the university closed early for the Easter break, and Southampton entered a lockdown which saw me start working from home for my day job for the first time. Initially this meant a relatively quiet time with work which allowed me to finish the remaining material for the second collection of Storytime stories, both illustrations and typing up. I started the #HalcyonWords challenge, in which people were encouraged to write every day, and began to feel connected to the d.@rt Centre like old times, as they took on the challenges I created and engaged the community in these online. I put out a call to fellow artists to see if anyone wanted to plan a virtual exhibition of some kind together, and Emma Morrissey answered immediately with enthusiasm. This led to us creating “At Home Here: Comfort Creations” in an attempt to entertain and soothe our connections around the world.

• 

• 

As time went on, and my workplace adjusted to remote working, work became just as busy – if not more so -than normal, but the lack of a commute meant I still gained time at home for creative work and fitness, and the daylight hours were growing longer. Regular Teams meetings with the whole team at work meant that I was actually seeing and hearing more of my non-reception colleagues than ever before, meeting their pets, partners and children, and learning more about their skills and activities outside of work. Lloyd and I made a commitment to our fitness, and I started lifting weights in order to conquer “noodle arms” and reach the prerequisite 50kg to become a blood donor. Unexpectedly, upon also making a commitment to sustainability, we decided to become vegan, opening up a world of new recipes and foods to try. We took part in the university’s saliva-testing programme, and found ourselves taking daily walks in which the changes in nature and wildlife were a constant source of entertainment and wonder.

I began giving Patreon patrons a draft chapter from my novel-in-progress to read each month, and as a result made far greater progress than previously. With enforced staying-home and some uncertainty about what Lloyd would be teaching, and when he would be able to spend time in the lab, we turned back to our music, and Feathers, Wood ‘N’ String released our most successful single yet (if you determine this by number of listens, radio plays etc), “Marionette.”

As soon as At Home Here: Comfort Creations was finished, Emma and I began thinking about what else we could do with the virtual exhibition format, and came up with Teacups & Buttercups, a story book style exhibition created by doing a folding story together. As I had set a bit of a precedent with #HalcyonWords, I found myself coming up with monthly creative challenges for several months; #MacroMay for photography, #JuneJots, #2PlyJoysofJuly, #AnimalsInAugust and #BountifulBotanicals in September. This was rather exhausting, but it did lead to me producing a number of illustrations I am proud of and filling many of the pages of the “junk journal” Emily had gifted me at Christmas.

I began to play with cover ideas for my novel Tell Me Who You Really Are, and worked on a number of commissions, all the while attending virtual ballet classes via Zoom, and delighting in introducing UK friends to Australian ones as the locals got used to the idea of video calls. Many fun sessions of Storytime passed, and I had a lovely birthday involving many treats, flowers, sunshine and virtual company.

After Teacups & Buttercups it occurred to me that since our exhibitions were virtual in format, this was an opportunity to invite Australian art friends to join those in the UK in a group exhibition that everyone could connect over and see. So the idea of Show Me Your Dreamland was born. Gradually I identified and invited five artist friends to produce dreamscapes with me: Margaret Fletcher, Emily McAllan, Sina Brueckner, Rae Turpin and of course Emma Morrissey. Over the months to come, we very slowly developed the idea until we finally reached a completed video format in December.

Meanwhile, Lloyd had acquired a new colleague, Sean, who had just been in Melbourne for a post doc, and had arrived during the COVID restrictions with little opportunity to meet anyone or see his place of work. Since he lived alone, Lloyd and I were able to meet Sean and become his “support bubble,” which led to a lot of fun board games and beers, a shared love of Unity Brewing Co, and someone to visit for Christmas, given we would be unable to fly to Australia.

Being at home a lot made us think about how the no-pets rule in rentals is pretty sucky, and a convoluted discussion led to Lloyd proposing making a small robot friend. PB3 has since learnt to dance, seek humans, request pats, have tantrums, sleep and explore, and is now being fitted with the tools to listen and come when called, make sounds of his own and seek patches of sunlight to bask in.

A mad type-setting time later and Chipped Teacups and Other Imperfections was ready to be a Christmas present to all who love Storytime. Christmas was spent on Zoom with family and then with Sean, and after Christmas came the much-anticipated release of Show Me Your Dreamland.

In all this excitement there was only just time to make some final edits to Chipped Teacups and Other Imperfections before its release to the general public via Blurb on New Years Day (tomorrow, as I write this!) There will be a Zoom book launch, and much more excitement.

So it’s been a strange year indeed. I realise that for many it has been a very difficult one, and I hope that my challenges, creations and conversations have helped bring a little bit of hope and comfort. For me, this has really been a time of opportunity, to take in nature, to reflect, to slow down, to create. For me the most challenging thing (apart from not having seen my Australian loved ones in person this year), is going to be the anticipated return to “normality” with its altered expectations, differences in people’s levels of caution, strange social norms and somehow taking back on all the things we somehow juggled before, which now seem momentous. That challenge lies ahead, and I’m even writing a song about it. But for now, I’m going to drink some tea, appreciate this year’s creations, and carry on writing Storytimes, making art, and working on my novel. I wish you all a wonderful 2021 and thank you for all your support and connection this year.

Yours in Tea, Love, and Creativity,

Sarah.