Blog

I was lucky enough to be on my first funded writing retreat this autumn. It was slightly broken up due to tasks I had to complete in between but I managed to obtain just over a month away in total, which was magic.

I’ve been working on my new play for teenagers. Discussing with a group of 15-year-olds the other day, I asked if social media was a good way of making friends. ‘No, it’s a good way of making strangers’, one bright spark answered.

I have been off social media recently, doing an offline cleanse in the last ten days! My bed has been mother earth (well, with a tent) and my ceiling and walls – the moon, sun and stars!

This retreat, which I obtained with funding for my new play (more about that another time!) – has helped me not only mentally but also physically.

Not only have I been much more productive than usual but I have also been able to make a lot of relationship shifts. The move has helped me reflect a lot about both the positives and the negatives of becoming a digital human.

This month’s newsletter is all about speaking up for yourself. Before I got hitched I received some very good advice from a friend of mine who said ‘it’s not the relationship – it’s a relationship’. Another friend said ‘a relationship, even with an intimate partner is not a community project, it’s a relationship’ – i.e. something you work on which is no one else’s business.

I’ve recently written a PhD which shows the benefits of paying attention to the small stories. What potential can we find in our narratives if we focus on the seemingly abandoned or forgotten aspects?

What happens when we experience trauma? When we go through some kind of shock or trauma, our bodies go into the foetal position, literally.