Christine Poole

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

Creative Writing

  • Searching for the Stillness šŸŒ»

    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

  • My first writing retreatāœˆļø

    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. ā˜€ļø Read more

  • šŸ’”What I Learned by Becoming the Reader

    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. šŸ’©šŸ¤£ I knew I needed to step away from it. What I didn’t realise was how… Read more

  • šŸ«¶The Comfort of Evidence

    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

  • šŸŖ¶ When the Words Find You

    Iā€™m working on my first poetry collection, so Iā€™ve been spending time with my poems and writing some new ones. Itā€™s been interesting to stay with one art form. And Iā€™ve been asking myself: What happens when I keep returning to one art form and learn how to see through it? I think Iā€™m beginning… Read more

  • ā›ļøFirst draft = excavation

    I think Iā€™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

  • šŸ§µBecoming the Person Who Could Write My Memoir

    Last week I took down my box of journals and put them on an empty shelf beside me. It might seem like a small thing, but it felt significant. My long-term project, my dream project, has been with me for years. The first time I wrote creatively was in a creative writing class, and on… Read more