Earlier this week, Apple announced and previewed iOS 7. As widely expected, it sports a new interface aesthetic characterised by strong, simple lines, areas filled with flat or gradient colours, and a lack of ornamentation.

I’d like to discuss some aspects of the new UI style here, in comparison to iOS 6.

A few years ago, I had a health scare. It was my heart. I was terrified, but I wasn’t surprised.

I’ve always had an irrational fear of developing heart problems (I have no particular family history of it, and I hadn’t had any worrying symptoms before). It’s probably because I’m not great with needles or blood, and the heart is blood central. Nothing more complicated than that. Silly, and eminently manageable – until that day.

Despite the event being objectively surprising, then, my main thought (through the haze of fear) was “Well, this is it – at last”.

Yesterday, I read Shawn Blanc’s new piece, The Root of Non-Writing. Fittingly, I was procrastinating from working on an article at the time.

Shawn talks about the value of gaining momentum, and the need to push past fear of the first draft. I’d certainly agree with that. I’m always fascinated to read about other writers’ processes, and in keeping with that I’d like to share some of my own reflections on writing.

About a year ago, I wrote an article about misogyny. Within the conclusion, I included this acknowledgement:

I’ve made sexist remarks. I’ve jumped to sexist conclusions, or made sexist generalisations, secure in the various axes of my male, white, heterosexual privilege.

I’d like to elaborate a bit on my own continuing journey towards identifying and addressing my own prejudices.

I’d like to say thanks to you, dear reader, for your continued interest in my writing over the past year. I posted a blog retrospective in late 2011, giving traffic stats and listing the most popular posts of the year, and I thought it would be interesting to (slightly belatedly) do so again, for 2012.