Where Have We Been?

You know that moment when you say you’ll do something tomorrow because you’re too busy today and then all of a sudden that ‘tomorrow’ you kept talking about is 3 years later? Well, that seems to be where we are now. With everything that went on in the world, that one day where we had time to do the things we loved, while trying to be an adult in a world that seemed to have gone nuts (read: entered a global pandemic), was incredibly demanding and largely exhausting. And yet, the things that bring you joy carry on doing so, even when you don’t have time for them. So, this year, like that January so many years ago when we decided we wanted to start AvidBards, we made a promise to ourselves that this would be the year we come back. But where do you start with ‘coming back’ if not explaining where you went in the first place?

S:

In the last three years:

I finished my PhD in literature and sociology. I started a career in academic publishing. I had to face questions and come up with answers about where I want to live and what I want to do with my life. I spent most of 2023 travelling to help me answer that question and promptly decided that I was staying put in Edinburgh where I have been for the last five years. While I moved here to pursue a PhD, I ended up building a community that has become the backbone of my support network. I also adopted a cat called Sir Gregasaurus Rex III (Greg, for short). During this time, my spare time mostly went into reading and gaming. I’m not entirely sure why, but something about reading specifically turned out to be the only thing that could quiet my brain, especially after busy days of research and thesis writing. Some of my favourite reads from the past couple of years have included Really Good. Actually  by Monica Heisey, I’m Glad My Mum Died by Jeanette McCurdy, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros, Ship of Theseus by J. J. Abrams, Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin and The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. 

Z:

Where I’ve been— 

In 2020, I started an internship as a copywriter at a marketing agency, and quickly transitioned into full-time. The role has taught me a lot about writing, but has also shown me just how different it is to write for advertising vs. creative long-form. Then, in 2021, I got married and moved into a new place, so there was a lot of change going on! Some positive, some not-so-positive. It feels like the ‘change’ has been fast-tracked for so many of us these last few years; for me, this has included responsibilities ramping up at work, balancing social and personal life, navigating loss, managing my own mental and physical health, and all while trying to find the downtime to enjoy hobbies and activities. I won’t lie: it’s been hard. As a result I haven’t felt as creative as perhaps I once was, or maybe I burnt myself out too much at the height of my creativity and it’s taken some time to rebuild that. 

For both of us, we’re in day jobs that require so much of our creative energy, so it’s made it difficult to keep up with deadlines outside our roles. We’re definitely going to try and navigate it in a healthier way, but we want to get back to AvidBards because it is first and foremost a passion project that we’re incredibly proud of. Our five year anniversary has come and gone, and recently we’ve celebrated six years of AvidBards. Even though we’ve taken an extended break, we’re still so proud of all the content we created in the prior four years. Over the year and a half since we’ve posted, I’ve watched a lot of media that I’ve been itching to write about. 

Some of my top favourite TV picks include AMC’s Interview with the Vampire, HBO’s The Last Of Us, and Star Wars’ highly anticipated live-action series Ahsoka. We also had Season 2 of Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death this year – and though the latter series was prematurely cancelled, a fan campaign to renew the show has been ferociously at work. The final seasons of Succession, Ted Lasso, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel graced our screens in 2023. I finally binged my way through Breaking Bad and its prequel spinoff Better Call Saul and—yeah, I absolutely get the hype now. FX’s What We Do In The Shadows continues to be one of the funniest, quirkiest shows I’ve ever seen, and Apple TV’s Severance absolutely blew my mind in its concept and execution. I watched some absolutely standout films this year, too, like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, They Cloned Tyrone, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Nimona, Barbie, and All Of Us Strangers. Also, special shoutout to the final season of His Dark Materials in 2022, which gave us an absolutely beautiful conclusion to an extremely book accurate TV series. All this to say, I’m not even remotely at a loss for material to write about! There’s so much I want to discuss, so many themes and trends I want to analyze further, and I’m so excited to do it. 

So… what now?

Amidst the (mostly welcome) chaos of our everyday lives, we’re determined to rekindle the spark of AvidBards, which still holds an incredibly special place in our hearts. We’d like to think of our hiatus as less of a detour and more of a brief intermission. And now, armed with inspiration and a fresh sense of purpose, the stage is set for our return: AvidBards is gearing up once again to be a space for shared adventures and contemplations in literature, TV, and film. 

Let the storytelling continue!