Possums,

Tavi Gevinson used to do these awesome blog posts which were basically a collage of everything she was thinking about/creating/doing.

And I’ve been thinking I might like to do something similar. See if I enjoy it? See if it resonates?

Because there’s a lot of things piling around in my brain that feel important, maybe not important enough for an individual blog post, but also too important for a social media post.

Perhaps that’s because I think social media is increasingly a waste of time for both creators and readers.

It’s useless for readers who want to stay up to date on their favourite creators because the chances of you seeing what you want to see are next to nothing. And for creators, the chances of your work being seen is again – next to nothing. It’s like saying to a dear friend “Hey! I’ll meet you on Planet Earth!” and then never finding them again… or only by extreme chance, you know?

And I just think our creations and connections and relationships are more important than that bullshit. So I’ll be increasingly putting more energy and time into my mailing list because at least I know you’ll hear from me if you want to. I’ve got a bucketload of free stuff I want to create and give away, so I’ll do it through there.

Anyway, that’s by the by. I’m here. And I want to share. And I want to do it intentionally, and with heart.

Here’s what I’m doing/thinking/creating:

MOVING AGAIN!

Yep – we’re moving again.

HO HO HO!

But this time! GASP!

We are only moving just down the road, not across the country!!

We are happy living in this region, and our eldest kid is at a school she loves, so we’ll stay around here for a while.

We needed to find a more permanent home as we’re in a smaller place with most of our belongings in storage. We also needed to find a place with potential for a granny flat incase we need to look after one of our ageing parents for a time.

We’ve ended up buying an acreage close by that has a house with an artist’s studio. I am THRILLED to be living back on acreage again. We left our Kuranda acreage four years ago and had no idea it would take us this long to be back on acreage again. But here we are. We’ve had so many adventures in the meantime. And now we get to love it and appreciate the experience even more.

I no longer make promises any more about staying somewhere forever. We will be here for however long it’s right for us to be here. That may be a year or ten years. We will find out by going there!

DIFFICULT TIMES BREEDS MORE LOVE

I’ve shared a bit about some difficult times I’m going through with ageing, divorcing parents and their health issues.

It’s still happening, and it’s still hard.

But one thing I am noticing is how much more love and gratitude I’m feeling towards Mr D. For walking this path with me. For knowing so much of my story. For being that sage counsel when I’m losing my mind.

This month is our 18 year anniversary of finding each other. He’s been by my side for exactly half my life now. It feels like it, in a really lovely way.

I feel like I’m so much better equipped now at loving now, more qualified at understanding him. Our relationship has forced us both to grow and heal and become better humans. We’ve fought a lot, and gone to a relationship counsellor, and unravelled a lot of our family patterns, and worked out a way to form a true partnership with each other.

We will never be perfect – we are splendidly human after all! But I just feel honoured to be the one who gets to love him.

READING PROJECT CURRENTLY ON HOLD

I was going great guns with my project to read all my current books before I buy anymore. I even read 100 books in 100 days!

And now I’m on unexpected hiatus for a bit… I’ve been having lingering headaches and neck problems which is unusual for me. I have no idea if the reading is tied to it, so I’m taking a break to recalibrate to find the cause.

By the time I get back to the reading project, my book collection that’s in storage will be delivered, so my list of unread books will be substantially grown.

40 DAYS TO A FINISHED BOOK E-COURSE

I launched my first solo e-course offering in 9 years last month… 40 Days To A Finished Book.

It’s been SUCH a bloody great course to do to get my feet wet again.

To be honest, I was feeling really nervous and unsure about what to do next after closing my Academy down after 9 years.

I thought I might need to partner with someone else to create something. But the idea for the book course floated through, and I thought it might be fun. So I caught it, and ran with it.

And it’s ended up being the perfect thing for me for right now.

I am LOVING having a contained experience to walk people through a project. I love the extra levels of accountability I can create. I am loving the engagement. And I’m loving the results… SO MANY people have already finished writing their books and we’re not even at the 40 day mark yet!

It’s thrilling me. It’s definitely given me a whole bunch of confidence and excitement. I am also LOVING using Kajabi as my new course platform. Makes me excited to create MORE THINGS! ALL THE THINGS! ALL THE IDEAS!

TIM MINCHIN + THE LOST FOUR YEARS

I saw Tim Minchin on Ahn’s Brush with Fame last night.

I love Ahn’s spirit (and my kids are rabid fans of his books). And I so deeply appreciate the compassionate way he interviews.

Tim’s story was fascinating – he has been this brilliant musical comedian for so many years, and everything he touches turns to gold. Like his award-winning Matilda musical – and his collaborations with orchestras.

And then he kind of went quiet for a while, and I figured he was overseas creating new miracles and continuing being the brilliant success he is.

And he was – he was directing a huge DreamWorks animated musical movie with huge stars involved. He spent four years working on it… only for the project to be cancelled when the company was bought out. He talked about the despair and pain of that time, about wishing he had those four years back to create something else with.

It really struck me you know – this idea of working so hard for something which doesn’t work out. I know Tim will go on to create splendid, insane miracles in other ways. I just wish we all could have gotten to see the outcome of his work.

I hope he takes all that pissed off energy, the sadness and disappointment, and weaves it into a new kind of gold.

And I’m grateful to know that sometimes our creative and business journeys take routes we don’t always want them to go. And that we’ll go on to create something more out of that experience.

THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL

I mentioned my obsession with this show in Advice for Difficult Times.

I’m still just as awestruck by it – visually, dialogue, characters. The whole kit and caboodle. It’s just sublime.

I like escaping into a whole other world each night with it.

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW

If this kind of post dingles your fancy, let me know, yeah?

Then I can think of doing a What’s In My Head post each month or so.

In the meantime, I’ll be: packing, writing, creating, homeschooling and doing the school run.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for being you.

Big love,