I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going a wee bit stir crazy.

Now, having been shut in for most of a year, like everyone, I highly doubt that's surprising.

So, I'm going to write a blog, for now (and probably later) titled "The Saturday Report." You can read and follow it on Goodreads, Facebook or my website.

(For those of you unsure how you came to be following "Ian Loome", I used to write under the pennames 'L.H. Thomson' and 'Sam Powers'. It was making life exceedingly complicated. So now I use my middle name, Ian, and my actual surname, Loome.)

Yeah, I know blogs are old hat, that reading in general seems passé compared with youtube channels or tweets. But... I like things that take time to read and absorb. I see value in that. I tend to believe most fiction fans do, too.

I'm not going to write about myself much, because my life is as boring as most people's, most of the time. I'm 51, and most of the things that interest me are either intangible social concepts and discussions or things far bigger and more interesting than anything I can offer: history, neuroscience, entertainment, politics, sports. I like to talk about "things" not "personal drudgery."

I will, however, talk a little about my work, because people ask a lot, relatively speaking. I may also post the odd short story, as an outlet for an exercise in craft.

But mostly, it's going to be a weird, eclectic hodgepodge of observations, ideas, rants and ephemera. I like lists. I like trivia. I think QI and Jeopardy! should both be mandatory viewing for school kids. I play blues guitar. I read historical fiction as well as mysteries, thrillers and non-fiction. I enjoy video games but feel too guilty about the time sink to play them. I'm exceedingly English, despite having lived in Canada since my teens (and, having accepted that in the last year, mostly consume English news and television).

I hope you'll join me and chime in using the comments. I'm not goign to get into debates or arguments with people, so anything vitriolic or pissy will be duly ignored, as I'd expect any of us to be allowed to do online.

So... why now, eight years into a fiction career?

Okay, well... this will be the one notable exception when it comes to yapping about me.

What might surprise you is that for eight years prior to COVID, I went out just as little as we all have this year.

Perhaps less.

Unfortunately, autism spectrum disorder (asd-1, Asperger's) and ADHD contribute to a barely manageable depression and social anxiety, which I've combatted my entire life. I also had an extremely traumatic childhood marred by physical abuse. All of these combine to produce low self-worth, a sense of nihilism about human behavior. I am afflicted by an inability to see value or quality in my own work, and a malaise with respect to trying... anything, really.

By 2012, my mental state had deteriorated badly, to the point of being largely non-functional outside my home. After five years, in 2017, I got help, medication and began regaining some sanity and stability.

One of the first things you recognize when you begin to address early childhood trauma and mental illness is that nearly all of your fond memories involve other people. For most normal folks, being sociable on some level is sort of essential. It is for me, too, but my brain doesn't send out the right signals to remind me do so, or to pay attention: to my needs, to their needs, to being a part of communities.

And I miss it. I miss meeting new people, finding interesting people to talk to. I miss the realization that I have an interest or history in common with someone else.

I can't be sociable day-in, day-out, because my lack of focus due to ADHD makes quite a bit of day-to-day function challenging. Lump in the judgements of others and it's a recipe for burnout.

So I suspect I won't be posting more than once a week, at least for now. If my blather proves interesting enough and people want more, I'm sure they'll let me know.

In the meantime, thank you for supporting my writing and staying in touch. Comments below always welcome and encouraged!
Cheers,
Ian

P.S. Two new books out next month! More on that next week.