A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

… no wait, that’s someone else’s story. I’ll start again.

Once upon a time…

… damn, that’s taken too. Third time lucky.

Back in the misty days of 2003, I started a blog. This blog, in fact. It was a space where I could talk about life with very small children and ramble on about anything else that interested me. The only guarantee I gave my readers was randomness.

Some of that randomness achieved minor celebrity status: the notorious mooncup review for example. (Warning: do not click if you do not want to read about feminine menstruation products) Bizarrely, over seven years later, it still ranks highly on search engines, gets regular commenters and an insane amount of hits.

The Prattle didn’t have a focus, which was fine by me. As the children grew up and went to school, however, I found I had less to talk about. I’d forgotten who I was, other than ‘parent’. I’d become wary of sharing too much about either my life or the kids’ even using a pseudonym. Plus, I was getting my writing fix elsewhere – the beginnings of a first draft of a novel.

It was time to say goodbye.

Except now I’m back. What changed?

Lots.

I finished that first draft for a start – 75,000 words, not all of them good, but there’s a wonderful story underneath desperate to get out. I’ve begun the edits, focusing initially on getting a strong structure at both book level and in the individual scenes – it’s slow going but worth it.

I invested a lot of time training in a martial art and got much fitter, only to have to take months off to recover from an emergency appendectomy. When I was finally able to train again, I got the balance wrong. Exercise and drills took over with little time or energy for anything else. I switched to a school which better suited my personality and availability and I’ve slowly managed to claw some balance and enjoyment back.

With more time at my disposal (and being less exhausted when I do have spare time) I’ve been able to return to one of my great loves: computer gaming. Casual games, strategy games, sim games, in-depth RPGs with rich story lines… I’d missed them all. Ironically, the escapism and mindless fun has freed me mentally for more creative projects and ideas. It seemed what I needed most was to cut myself some slack.

In summary: I’ve learned a lot about myself in 2010.

The Prattle is back, but now it has a focus, just like me: writer, fighter, geek. All new posts here will fit into at least one of those three themes. If any of those interest you, then I hope you will enjoy the content here.

I can also be found on Twitter and Audioboo. Feel free to follow me.

So, welcome to 2011 and welcome to the new Prattle. Make yourself at home, pull up a chair and don’t forget the comment box. I promise I won’t bite… or eye gouge… or any other of those other things I learn to do on a Tuesday night.