personal growth
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The most important thing you can do for yourself as a writer is to show up for yourself and then, keep showing up. I came close to stopping posting altogether recently. I thought perhaps it was time for a break. Maybe I had lost direction, maybe I needed to step away for a while. But… Read more
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Yesterday, my second poem was published in Flare Issue 32. It’s called Searching for the Stillness. When I wrote it, I was searching for something. I was asking myself, what is my purpose? I spent a lot of time in my head, thinking about life and meaning, sometimes so caught up in the questions that… Read more
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This third break has been different. I’ve stepped away with more awareness of the break itself and what happens when I stop writing. I’ve been keeping a few questions in mind: What did the break give me? What was it like not writing? What am I bringing back with me? Has anything shifted, even slightly?… Read more
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This weekend, I went away. On my first writing retreat. I brought my notebooks, my ideas and, importantly, no expectations about what I needed to produce. Stepping away from ordinary life. Making space. Allowing my mind to roam free. Sometimes, you have to create the space to discover what lies beneath the surface. ☀️ Read more
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On 23 August, I wrote a blog called The Practice of Stepping Away. I had finished the first draft of my research paper. It was 38 pages long and, in my words at the time, a warm, stinky turd. 💩🤣 I knew I needed to step away from it. What I didn’t realise was how… Read more
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For a long time, I think I was looking for reassurance in the wrong places. I wanted to know that I was doing enough. That I was good enough. That the thing I was working towards was going to work out. I wanted certainty. But writing doesn’t really offer much of that. There are submissions… Read more
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On 22 June, a friend and I started body doubling. The idea was simple. We would work alongside each other. No complicated system. No checking up on each other. No reporting back. Just two people quietly getting on with their own work. At first, I thought the benefit would be obvious. I would get more… Read more
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I’ve been thinking about rejection. Not the dramatic kind. Just the quiet little emails that arrive after you’ve sent something you’ve spent time making. Thank you for your submission… Unfortunately….. Not this time….. I’ve had a few of those recently. And, if I’m honest, they sting. Because there is something vulnerable about sending your writing… Read more
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I started meeting my writing buddy weekly on Monday 22nd June and made a commitment to myself to do something uncomfortable: write and release a post every week. Well, I did it! Seven weeks later, 16 posts. I’ve even impressed myself. 😜 But next week (and maybe the following), I’m not posting! I’ve been watching… Read more