Before you read this first entry in Letters to Little Sarah, I wanted to give some context of how this came about. In May 2020, I was diagnosed with Autism. I was 52. A diagnosis of ADHD followed a year later. Whilst I thought discovering I was neurodivergent would immediately make me feel better, it…
Tag: writing
The Contract
“You’re not actually going to paint that?” “That’s exactly what I am going to do.” “It’s sacrilegious. It’s covering up beautiful timber.” There was nothing beautiful about this piece. The coffee table just sat there – worn, weather beaten from being outside for too long – as we discussed its merits. It was a dirty…
How much are you worth?
How much is one person worth? Such a loaded question. A person is worth a lot, an awful lot. Each of us is worth everything to someone. But I am not sure putting a monetary price on our worth, as is the current trend to justify charging exorbitant fees for a service, is really doing…
Don’t put baby in a single box!
At the party on New Year’s Eve, I got chatting to a woman who I had met a few times before but whom I didn’t know all that well. After chatting for a while, she said to me, “You’re such a homemaker! I can tell it comes naturally to you.” The comment took me a…
Writing every day for mental wellness
Today is the start of a brand new year. I’ve woken up feeling exceedingly uncomfortable, but in a (sort of) good way. Last night we went to Clover Cottage with some friends for New Years’ Eve. Clover Cottage is a restaurant in Berwick. Or rather they were a restaurant. Apparently, they have been there for forty…
The rambling recesses of my mind
I’ve been going through a thing. And it has been so hard to talk about, to compartmentalise, to rationalise, indeed to live. The thing itself has been harrowing enough, but it is the soul reaching thoughts and feelings that have left me reeling. Mr C and I were watching TV the other night; sometimes I…
Stream of consciousness
I wrote a post about gun laws, but I’m not going to post that today. Another day perhaps, maybe later in the week. The truth is I’m tired. I’m too bogged down with what is going on in my own life, in my immediate vicinity, to make the effort to scream across the water at…
Human Intolerance
I stand and watch as the procession of the corpse passes by, his body laying lifeless on the metal trolley. He must be at least 6 feet tall, his muscular physique a shining mark of a life lived in health. I wonder what he was like in his prime. His eyes have clouded over and apart from…
THE IMPAILING
No-one she invited came to her 14th birthday. She was allowed 25 people. Her father had originally said no to any party, but her mother, knowing how important this was, had implored him to see sense. He nodded. In a flash, she was in her bedroom, on her bed, designing invitations. She didn’t really have…
AN ORDINARY LIFE: DOCUMENTED
The other day I was driving in the car and on Radio National an interview came on that really peaked my interest: Elizabeth Gilbert was being interviewed live at the Perth Writers Festival (you can listen to the podcast here). In the interview, where she was discussing her book, The Signature of All Things, she…