Well… here we are again.
I feel like I’ve written this kind of post far more times than I’d like to admit, but once again, I owe you all an apology for my absence from Collecting Asylum.
The last few months have been pretty difficult for me personally, and unfortunately, the website has been one of the things that has suffered as a result. There has been some stuff going on in my life which has taken up a lot of my time, energy and attention. On top of that, this year also marked the 10th anniversary of my dad’s death, which was obviously a particularly difficult milestone to reach.
I don’t really want to go into all of the details surrounding everything that’s been happening, but it’s fair to say that I haven’t exactly been in the best headspace. As a result, I’ve not been online in anything like my usual manner, and if you follow Collecting Asylum on social media, you may have noticed the distinct lack of posts there too. Normally I’m constantly sharing things, chatting about what I’m watching or playing, showing off new additions to the collection or generally rambling about something that has caught my attention, so the silence has been pretty noticeable even to me.
That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped thinking about Collecting Asylum, though. Quite the opposite, really.
Behind the Scenes
Whilst the website and social media have been pretty much silent, I haven’t been completely idle. I’ve still been working on a variety of reviews, guides and other bits and pieces whenever I’ve had the time and, more importantly, the energy and motivation to actually sit down and work on them.
I’ve also been playing a lot of games over the last few months, which has naturally given me plenty of things to write about. The problem has generally been getting from “I’ve played this and have loads of thoughts” to actually sitting down and turning those thoughts into a finished review.
Consequently, I’ve now got something of a backlog building up - as if I didn’t already! - which I’m hoping to start working my way through properly.
One of the biggest projects I’ve tackled recently has been going back through the Fable series in preparation for the new game (which, oh-my-God I cannot wait for!). I decided that if I was going to do it, I might as well do it properly, so I’ve played through and completed all of the Fable games.
Considering Fable II was my introduction to the series and a game that holds a particularly special place in my heart, it’s been really interesting going back and experiencing the series as a whole. There’s plenty I want to say about each game individually, as well as the series in general, so you can expect to see a fair amount of Fable content making its way onto the site.
And it certainly hasn’t been the only thing I’ve been playing. I’ve worked my way through a pretty varied selection of games during this period, from bigger releases to smaller indie titles, and there are quite a few that I’m looking forward to finally sitting down and writing about.
Back to Movies, TV and Everything Else
Games have definitely become one of the biggest focuses of Collecting Asylum over the years, but I also want to make something clear: this isn’t a new direction for the site.
Collecting Asylum has never been exclusively about games.
They’ve just by chance ended up being the main focus for a while, particularly with the number of game reviews I’ve been writing, but the site has always been about my wider interests in collecting, physical media, movies, TV, games and all of the other wonderfully geeky things that happen to catch my attention.
In fact, whilst I’ve been away from the site, I’ve been watching a lot of movies and TV shows, so there’s already a whole other backlog waiting for me there.
Alongside the game reviews, you can therefore expect to see a lot more movie and TV content appearing again, including reviews of things I’ve watched for the first time, things I’ve revisited after years and shows I’ve worked my way through recently.
I’ve always enjoyed being able to jump between different types of content on the site, and I’d like to get back to that. One week might be a game review, the next could be a movie, followed by a look at a physical release, a collecting article or one of the guides I’ve had sitting unfinished for far too long. That variety is part of what makes Collecting Asylum fun for me to work on in the first place.
So, What Happens Next?
Ultimately, I want to get things back on track.
I’m not going to make some grand promise that there will suddenly be a new article every day or that everything is going to return to normal overnight, because realistically, life doesn’t always work that way. The last thing I want to do is set myself an unrealistic schedule, inevitably fall behind again and end up feeling like I’ve failed.
Instead, I want to concentrate on getting back into a rhythm that actually works for me.
That means working through the backlog of reviews I’ve already started, finishing those guides that have been sitting around waiting for me to get back to them, and gradually getting the website and social media active again. I also want to start making more of an effort to share things as I’m doing them, rather than disappearing for weeks at a time and then suddenly emerging with a massive pile of reviews.
There are also plenty of ideas I’ve had for Collecting Asylum that I’d like to explore further, particularly when it comes to expanding some of the content beyond straightforward reviews. I’ve got a ridiculous number of things I want to write about, and hopefully I’ll be able to start turning some of those ideas into actual articles rather than simply leaving them sitting in my notes.
So, over the coming weeks and months, expect a bit of everything. There will be plenty of game reviews, including my Fable coverage, alongside movie and TV reviews, gaming guides, physical media and collecting content, as well as whatever else happens to take my fancy along the way.
A Wee Bit of a Fresh Start
In some ways, I think I’m going to treat this as something of a fresh start for Collecting Asylum.
I’m not going to pretend the last few months haven’t happened, and I’m certainly not going to beat myself up over not being as productive as I would normally like to be. Sometimes life gets messy, sometimes you need to step away from things and sometimes you simply have to concentrate on what’s happening around you before you can get back to doing the things you enjoy.
That’s essentially what I’ve been doing.
I still love games. I still love movies and TV. I still love physical media, collecting and having somewhere to ramble on about all of those things. None of that has changed, and neither has my desire to keep building Collecting Asylum into something that I’m proud of.
If anything, having this time away has reminded me just how much I enjoy doing it.
So rather than making a huge promise about exactly how often I’m going to post, I’m just going to focus on getting back into it, one article at a time. There’s already plenty waiting to be published, and I’m looking forward to finally sharing it with you.
Thank You for Sticking Around
To anyone who has continued checking the site, following the social channels, reading the older reviews or simply wondering where the hell I’ve disappeared to, thank you.
I genuinely appreciate it.
I’m sorry that things have been so quiet, and I’m sorry to anyone who has been waiting for new content. The last few months have been difficult, but I’m hoping that things are now starting to settle enough for me to find my way back into a more familiar routine.
There’s a lot of catching up to do, but I’m looking forward to doing it.
I’ve got games to review, guides to finish, movies and shows to talk about, physical media to drool over, collecting-related content to work on and an absolutely ridiculous backlog of ideas waiting for their turn.
So, here’s to getting Collecting Asylum moving again.
I’m still here, and there’s plenty more to come.
- V x
