This essay has been a long time coming. I started drafting it eight months ago, to be precise. I intended it to be something very different, but in the end, it was a tool for catharsis. It’s funny, I always used to tell people I wrote creatively to help process my trauma and to make […]
connection
Short Story – Rabbit
I will be releasing my first novel in 2022, an as-yet unnamed collection of four intertwined novellas. The world it is set in and the characters it involves are introduced in this short story – “Rabbit.”
Allowing Time to Grow
Come closer, I want to tell you a secret … *whispers* Here’s something we, in adulthood, don’t often get told. Just because you thought or believed something in your youth and were vocal and passionate about it then, doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind, learn and grow, and be vocal and passionate about new […]
I Get By
The Beatles knew it was important. They sang a song all about it. And at least fifty other people (including Joe Cocker and Wet, Wet, Wet) covered that song too. The Beatles asked for Help and they would often Come Together, but mostly, they Get by with a Little Help from (their) Friends. For a […]
Black Dogs, Black Thoughts
I’ve been working for a while now on a project, selecting stories for an anthology to raise money and awareness for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand. I’ve been supported by a fantastic, international team of writers and editors to pull this together, and the end is finally in sight. But it feels strange […]
The Nudge
This might be a little different to my usual posts, as I want to talk about the Nudge. If you’ve ever experienced the Nudge you’ll know exactly what I mean, but if you’ve not, please allow me to explain. A university friend of mine almost got himself into a lot of trouble. The kind of […]
Dear Erica
My last original short fiction offering for 2019, a short story about love and letting go. This story is copyright. Except for the purpose of fair review, no part may be stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or storage in any information retrieval system, without permission […]
Journey Tree
I had been plagued for weeks by a recurrent dream involving a tree, but of what species I could not tell. Its branches were long and its leaves were wide, and its trunk was smothered in patches of green moss and layers of loose bark. As I got closer to it, it reached out to […]
Child of the Sea
I’m a water baby, I’ve known that forever. I grew up by the North Sea and I swam in it quite regularly even though it’s bastard cold and murky grey and you’d be well advised not to swallow even a drop of it. The worst part of wearing hearing aids for me is having to […]
Finding My Way Back
My regular readers and followers will know that I frequently write for mental health. I’m also aware that this often turns people off too. “Oh great, she’s going on about depression again.” “Why does she always focus on the serious stuff?” “She must be pretty unstable if she has to keep focusing on all that.” […]