Christine Poole

Scientist. Writer. Facilitator. Artist. Curious about what helps us grow.

creative process

  • Making Space for What Emerges

    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

  • Taking the Next Step

    I was wondering why this third blog series felt a little directionless. The first two had projects at their centre: my poetry and my research paper. There was something tangible to work towards, something to document as it unfolded. Then I realised this one has a project too. It’s the workshop. The idea of running… Read more

  • 👯Showing Up for Myself: The Power of Body Doubling in Creative Work

    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

  • ⛏️First draft = excavation

    I think I’ve just learned something about how I write poetry. I used to think the first draft was where I was supposed to write the poem. Now I think the first draft might be where I excavate it. I start with what happened. Not beautifully. Not cleverly. Just the details. The things I noticed.… Read more

  • 📚🐾The First Draft Beast

    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

  • 🧪A Small Experiment in Finishing

    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

  • 🍃The Practice of Stepping Away

    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

  • 🧭 Following the Breadcrumbs

    Every now and then I go back and read something I wrote a few years ago. Recently, I went back through a series of blogs about writing my memoir and realised something I couldn’t see at the time. I had been leaving myself breadcrumbs. The first was on 25 October 2019: “I’ve decided I’m going… Read more

  • 🦋  The Courage to Finish

    For a long time, I thought my challenge was starting. I had ideas. Lots of them. Projects, notes, drafts, possibilities. My mind was constantly connecting things, noticing patterns, imagining what something could become. But recently I discovered something more uncomfortable. My challenge was not starting – my challenge was finishing. Because there is a strange… Read more

  • 🌙 The Work That Happens After the Work

    After writing about my Creative Operating System (COS) on Monday, I found myself thinking about something I had overlooked. We often focus on the work of creating — but what happens after the work is finished? I used to think finishing a project meant asking one question: What’s next? As soon as something was complete,… Read more