A year in review and a look ahead

Tis the season for reviewing what’s happened this year, and looking ahead to the next. I don’t normally do these more personal blogposts, but it’s quite a nice exercise to do on one of these days between Christmas and New Year when you don’t really know what the date is.

First, a brief 2024 review.

At work, I went from part-time employment and part-time freelancing, to full-time employment, to full-time freelancing. A bit of a rollercoaster, but ultimately I’ve landed in a good place. Freelancing feels like my natural home: I did it full time for over 5 years before my most recent job at Promising Trouble. I like just getting the work done without any of the mental and emotional load of being an employee. Of course, being part of a team has major benefits as well, but I’ve got strategies in place to fill those gaps in other ways.

One of the most important is to build and maintain relationships; with clients, other freelancers, people whose work you think is cool and interesting. Basically, anyone who you click with and you share some interests with. It keeps your feet on the ground, ensures you don’t spend too many hours in silence or speaking only to the cat, and generally keeps your world open and evolving. I’ve spent the summer and autumn connecting and reconnecting with some lovely folk.

I’ve also joined some groups that are a bit more structured, which so far are really enriching and exciting: I’m now a fellow at Connected by Data, part of the New Protagonist Network, and a resident of the Pervasive Media Studio. I’ll be applying my ‘you get out what you put in’ mantra to all of them next year!

In the spring I wrote this essay for the British Academy on the digital welfare state, and I got my blogging mojo back after the summer; gave two presentations at the International Basic Income conference in August; and wrapped up two big programmes at Promising Trouble before I left. I’ve enjoyed having more flexibility and freedom to attend events, pop to London and generally pursue my goals.

In case this is sounding too rosy, I’ve also (with others) applied for lots of funding and been spectacularly unsuccessful. I know this has been a common experience in 2024. I was feeling optimistic that things would be better next year, but now I’m not sure.

I’ve had some non-life-threatening but frustrating health issues, including picking up four different things in a row between mid August and the end of September. I’m sure part of the problem is just an aging body that is swiftly running out of oestrogen, but still, it’s very tedious and a bit anxiety-provoking for the decades to come. My Christmas is being bookended by fairly unpleasant tests - one on Christmas Eve and one on 2nd January - but given the stress the NHS is under I’ve been very fortunate to get excellent care and have definitely got my money’s worth this year!

In entirely non-work-related achievements I learned to sew clothes to a better standard than I could before (not saying a great deal, but hey, it’s a win), built a mini pond in our back garden, and performed in my first ever dance show.

So what’s in store for next year?

I’m going to try to get the very tricky balance between earning enough money and pursuing my interests right. It’s an eternal challenge as a freelancer. I could do plenty of work that’s basically fine but not really aligned with my interests, or I could spend all my time getting paid nothing but having a lovely time reading and writing the stuff I want to. There are grey areas in between which take time and effort to carve out, so I’ll be really focused on doing that carving. In particular, I’m looking for people and places to continue my work on relational technology and the digital welfare state (if you think that could be you, do drop me a line!).

Overall, I plan to lean in to the freedom, possibilities and unexpected weird and wonderful things that freelancing offers, focus on personal and professional growth, and working with kind, fun, interesting and inspiring people.