My Five Favourite Articles I Wrote This Year
Reflecting on this year I have lots of highlights as a person and a host of Planned vs Rogue. This year, Katie and I finally tried housesitting full time and loved it. We also launched Planned vs Rogue, an idea we’d had for years. It’s still our first year and we managed to get over 15,000 social media fans (hope one of them is you!) and even started to make money off YouTube, both milestones we didn’t think we’d see in our first year.
As a writer it’s been an absolutely horrible year. The amount of work I’ve been able to get as a freelance writer has been as little as 1/10th of previous years. I’m not alone in this but far out, I even went back to working social media for five weeks before remembering how much I hate it. People have started asking me what my back up is going be. THE NERVE.
It’s been so dreadful I don’t even want to write another sentence about it, not like I’d get paid for it anyway.
And still, I have managed to have a few pieces this year I am really proud of, even if I wrote most of them for free on this website and on Planned vs Rogue.
In no particular order, here are my top five of the year 2024.
Going Green: Frogs Hollow's Off-Grid Brewery
Originally published on craftypint.com
Proud of this one because this was a story that I fully sourced myself through connections and local knowledge while travelling down the south coast. I pitched it to my editor James and he was all for it (very grateful for that) so I contacted the owners of off-grid brewery Frogs Hollow and conducted the interview in person. At the time of writing, this is the third and most recent Going Green article I’ve written for Crafty Pint and I hope it leads to more opportunities for writing for environmentally friendly publications and eco-travel in the future.
Every Pub In Dublin I Got Recommended (And If You Should Go)
Originally published here on bennysentya.com
I loved this article because I didn’t know I was researching it at the time I was in Dublin. I was just visiting the pubs I was recommended then realised other people might want recommendations when they’re in the city known for good pubs. Was really fun following local tips then turning into a resource other people can use too.
The Shameless Delight Of Berlin Spätis
Originally published on plannedvsrogue.com
Not only do I love spätis (German convenience stores filled with all the fun sinful stuff) but I loved writing a love letter to them. I’m not rereading this one anytime soon, I don’t want to start missing Berlin again.
The Five Most Useless Things I Brought With Me On My Last Big Trip
Originally published here on bennysentya.com
It was nice to admit some of the stupid stuff I’ve done while travelling and managed to easily pick five things from my suitcase that ended up being completely useless while making the big trip to film Planned vs Rogue. There’s a difference between regret and what you wouldn’t do again. People say if they could do things again they wouldn’t change a thing, but realistically, I might have just taken one box of business cards with me instead of two.
Building A Beer Cellar – On Any Budget
Originally published on craftypint.com
My first published piece of the year (one of 12 I had published for Crafty Pint in 2024!) and one I remain proud of nearly a year later. My favourite things about writing this article was interviewing two very friendly people who taught me so much of what I needed to learn in order for this piece to be genuinely helpful.
