Reflective Practice
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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 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
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I was chatting to my writing friend Anne about first drafts. We both agreed: they are hard. Not just a bit tiring hard. They are a beast of a thing. It feels a little like giving birth to some strange creature that you don’t entirely recognise. You have spent all this time creating it, feeding… Read more
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I’ve been thinking about what happens when we grow. Not the slow, steady kind of growth that is almost invisible while it’s happening. I mean the sudden kind. The kind where, almost without noticing, you find yourself finishing things you would once have abandoned. Writing more. Creating more. Sharing more. Becoming more visible. A Creative… Read more
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21 years together.14 years married.Still here. This is one of my favourite photos of me and Eddie. It’s not the most glamorous or flattering, but it’s the story behind it that I love. The photo was taken in Kuching, Malaysia, on what was supposed to be a romantic evening boat cruise. Except there was a… Read more
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Second post of the day, to satisfy the scientist-researcher part of me. Yesterday, I thought finishing would feel like sunshine. Today, I finished. And drew a turd. 💩 I couldn’t help becoming curious about what had actually happened. Why did reaching the end of something I’d worked so hard on not feel like the moment… Read more
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Yesterday, I was hopeful. The end was in sight. I had spent weeks writing, thinking, rewriting, questioning, changing things, finding new ideas and occasionally wondering why I had ever decided that writing a research paper was a good idea. But yesterday, I could almost see the finish line. There was a little bit of excitement.… Read more
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Through these recent posts I’ve been trying to capture my creative journey, but the metaphor I found to describe this part of the process surprised even me. Sometimes writing feels a bit like dancing on a bouncy castle. You start with an idea. You think you know where you’re going. You put one foot down… Read more