The Writing Workshop Returns
So, I had a good loooong break. I fell apart, I put myself together again, I fell apart some more (apply, rinse, repeat) and somewhere along the line I seem to have managed to reassemble myself into a vaguely functioning human being again, at least for the time being, anyway.
It’s time to pick up some old threads, and some new ones too, and get going again.
And you know what that means? Yep, the Writing Workshop is BACK. Thank you for being so patient. I doubt we’ll have loads taking part any more, but I kind of like that, actually. And for those of you that said how much you missed it and encouraged me to come back to it when I was ready, thank you.
I’m going to go back to posting writing/blogging prompts every fortnight on a Monday. It will vary each week – sometimes I might just give you one theme, or question to get you thinking, other weeks we might do something slightly different, not sure yet.
Read MoreContentment
I have had two days full of peace.
It started with an out-of-the-blue phone call from someone very special to me sharing good news, which is probably the best kind of out-of-the-blue phone call you can get, followed by a long, lazy day sat in the sunshine, once the smallest one had been waved off to enjoy a day of paddling pools at his Dad’s. I sat, I giggled at the irony of knitting a thermal winter hat for my friend in Oz on what felt like one of the hottest days of the year, and I lay on my back watching the clouds, thinking they looked like islands in a Pacific Sea, and imagining that it was me drifting above them, suspended in orbit. I could feel sun easing the deep aches and pain that seem determined to dog me at the moment, and as I started to doze off, I retreated inside, taking off my thin sun dress to crawl under cold white sheets to sleep and sleep.
Steam trains, imaginary ice lollies and a recommitment
Read MoreToday we rode the steam train. I told Kai as he was falling asleep to think about the best thing from today. He babbled about when the train stopped and I bought him an ice lolly, and as I switched the light off I heard pretend licking and happy sighs.
Yellow Brick Road
…it’s the way you think. That’s your purpose. It’s never been about what work you choose, what gifts you develop, or what niche you fill – let these be for your pleasure.Think as only you can think, which will lead to feelings that only you can feel, from which connections will be made, lives will be changed, and worlds will come tumbling into existence.
- a Note from the Universe, April 2011
There hasn’t been an awful lot of blogging going on here late. In part it’s just because I’ve been bloody knackered – Fibro is officially in relapse (ouch) and Kai is struggling (wail), but that can wait til another time.
One good thing to come from shutting up a bit is that it’s helped give me space to think. So thinking I have been, and knitting, too, as they go well together, helping, as it does, to turn great tangles of thought into something with more order and clarity, row by row. It’s like magic. There is even the beginnings of a something taking shape in my head. I wouldn’t say ‘a plan’, but it’s a something. Something to be incubated, anyway. We’ll see – it’s going to take a bit more knitting, yet, and a heavy dose of courage, too.
Anyway. I have come to realise that the biggest challenge facing me isn’t financial, it isn’t making the ‘right’ choice for a career or a way to make money, it isn’t about ‘making’ myself a future, or being better at anything.
A #PassitOn News Update!
It’s been nearly two weeks since Save the Children’s Pass it On campaign launched and, blow me down with an industrial-strength rotary fan, you lot have been AMAZING!
Via tweets alone using the #passiton hashtag, the campaign is calculated to have had a reach of (updated!) five and half million people already, and we’re only just getting started.
For those of you yet to hear about it, on Monday Save the Children are flying three bloggers out to Mozambique. There they will follow the journey of a life-saving vaccine from cold-storage all the way to the front line, to learn what a profound difference it can make to children in a developing country, and how vital it is that world leaders pledge to increase funding for vaccinations when they meet in the UK in June – a four hour meeting during which they hold the power to make a decision that could save millions of children’s lives.
Pass it On! A world-changing meme
I’m delighted this morning to be helping to launch a new meme on behalf of Save the Children, along with the fabulous Red Ted Art Blog, combining a healthy dollop of potentially world-changing charity action with a bit of a challenge and crafty fun.
As you’ll know, art plays a big part in mine and Kai’s lives and is a huge part of how we both express ourselves. Encouraging Kai to paint and draw as a way of compensating for some of his communication difficulties has been really rewarding.
Since coming back from Bangladesh last year I have been so aware of how lucky Kai is to have been born where he was. Kai can sit with me and draw a picture of himself while I imagine a future for him and I know that there is every chance that he will get one, the chance to shine in whatever it is that he chooses. Here he has easy access to excellent healthcare and readily-available life-saving immunisations, but for many of the children and mothers I met when out visiting Save the Children’s work, that promising future was far from certain, with children often facing seemingly insurmountable barriers of poverty and disease. What’s most frustrating is that many of these barriers ARE preventable, with vaccines costing pence and just a few trained health workers within a community able to make an extraordinary difference.
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