Luke Alexander's blog

A lot can change in ten years.

For example, ten years ago I would have rejected that sentence as the worst kind of truism.  Now, on the other hand, it’s a friendly, familiar cliche that does just the job I want it to.

Because a lot has changed in the last ten years.  On a global scale, sure, but also on the microcosmic and individual scales of our daily lives; of the lives of everyone across the planet.

Now, the past tense of change (if we dispense with linguistic formalities) is, or should be, experience.  When your foot slips, or your heart palpitates, or your stomach churns: at the same time, neurons are firing, linking and settling like leaves resettling from a gust of wind.  Or that’s how I imagine it anyway.

My point?  Glad you asked. And in reply, let me say this: that I learned a lot in 2009.  And let me show you this: my list of five things that I learned.

1. Writing is really easy

I wrote a novel in November.  As I put my 50,000th word on the page, three hours before the final deadline, I surprised myself not by my relief in having pushed through the intense challenge of the previous thirty days, but in how enjoyable and pleasant they had been.  Writing is easy.  You just have to do it.  Then you’ve done it, and it’s written.

2. Writing is really hard

Approximately two minutes after that epiphanic realisation, I remembered how individually painful each word had been, and once the words had come, how terrifying it had been to move on from each sentence.  I don’t think there was a single paragraph in that novel I was happy with – and few I was capable of reading without wincing.  My biggest success throughout the project wasn’t writing a novel – nor was it even finding the time to do so – but in forcing myself not to tear the whole thing up and start again every time I opened the document.

3. I don’t belong in the Middle East

This learning may well belong to 2007, or to 2008.  But 2009 – as the year I returned to the UK from Abu Dhabi – was the year I became entirely certain that it was true.

Which isn’t to say that I dislike life in the UAE.  Some great friends, incredible opportunities and challenging work gave me an experience I would never regret… but at the end of the day, more than anything I found myself longing for country pubs, brisk walks in the cold, public transport, old friends.

I’m sure I’ll return to the UAE from time to time when work takes me – but it was a nice realisation that, though I had proven capable of handling living in a foreign country, the expat life wasn’t really for me.

4. I don’t read enough

I think there is a massive chunk of – at least British – society who go around thinking they are regular readers / gamers / film watchers / theatregoers / musicians, but who on reflection can’t really back it up.

For most of 2009 I definitely fell into that category – on almost every account.  Despite working for a gaming company and obsessively shuffling my books around bookcases, during most of the year I didn’t really have a game or a book on the go at any time.

Inspiration doesn’t just promote creativity, it makes you happy, sociable, interesting…  so I’m on the watch out for similar slips into the creative doldrums during 2010.

5. We are in the middle of a modern renaissance

Once I was reading, gaming and partaking of the moving image once more, I realised that the last few years has seen some incredible creative output.

The Edinburgh Festival this year was honestly the best I’ve ever seen it – perhaps an innacurate barometer, but it supported the rest of my experiences throughout the year, which saw superb TV, film, art, gaming…  enough to warrant a second post, I feel, on the cultural highlights of the year.

And certainly enough to make me extremely excited to see what 2010 has in store.