A little homage to Michaela Coel after those GG noms. Photography by Tom Craig.

Last month I started a Patreon. It’s mostly for those who would like to join my morning pages  support group, but also? It’s not! I have a basic tier payment option  (£3!) which means you can get that warm glow of supporting an artist (that’s me) and sometimes get some internet curation in return. I’ve shared what that looks like below - but you can expect a round up of things to read/listen to/wonder at on the internet. I’d love you to sign up because I love sharing.

Let me curate the internet for you! Things I found whilst looking around this week:

To know me is to know that I adore Esther Perel. Her book, ‘Mating in Captivity’ is a must read, but even if you’re not in a romantic partnership she has so much wisdom about people and life. One of the tenets of her values that I’ve adopted as my own is the idea of eroticism as a vital aspect of being alive. In her newsletter she says:

‘I define Eroticism as those qualities of vitality, curiosity, and spontaneity that makes us feel alive’

This is a great intro to that philosophy and also has lots of journalling prompts which would make for great morning pages diving.

I loved this piece about how we think with our whole body. Most of us instinctively know that our bodies hold a wisdom it can be hard to verbalise, but this explains some of the science behind it. 

You also see that we’re not separate brains, coolly observing each other. We’re physical viscera, deeply interacting with each other. The important communication is happening at a much deeper level.

The case for double dinner. They had me at ‘double dinner’.

Marian Keyes is a national treasure. Do you follow her on Twitter? Do it. She was on the You’re Booked podcast this week and anything she reads is what I want to read ( I’d actually read most of the suggestions which makes me sure of her good taste) So if you’re looking for some fiction reads, definitely start here. I’m currently reading Exciting Times after seeing it on the list, and it’s helped me get my fiction reading mojo back. I love salty female protagonists, what can I say.

25 essential notes on craft. This is super interesting if you deal with story telling or writing or creating of any kind. And really, isn’t life the ultimate creative act? So it’s for all of us then!

To really engage with craft is to engage with how we know each other. Craft is inseparable from identity. Craft does not exist outside of society, outside of culture, outside of power. In the world we live in, and write in, craft must reckon with the implications of our expectations for what stories should be—with, as Lorde says, what our ideas really mean.

Like a hug with words, from a therapist. On falling apart and it being okay. Send it to those who need it.

‘The new habits of giving grace to ourselves and to others, of checking in, of loving, of being open about our struggles– could be so huge if they continued for our distanced culture. Imagine if we kept it going. Imagine a post-covid world where we are talking, where we are opening up, showing up—but in person, too. Maskless! When we can hug and touch each other on the arm casually! When we can care and fall apart without a pandemic background, and still let that be okay.’

And finally, seeing as it’s Valentines weekend - some greek words for love that you might not have heard of and a song to listen to whilst looking at the sky.

After writing morning pages for the past three years, and talking about it for almost as long, I’ve created a group and support system for those who want to embark on this incredibly meaningful process. Building a daily morning pages practice helps us enter in to a conversation with ourselves, create a safe space to play with ideas and reflect on how we see and feel about the world. It also priorotizes something that is just for you - sounds good right?!

in order to create art that is meaningful,

we need to look at what we find meaningful.

Morning Pages is a way to do that. 

Starting and sticking to a creative practice of any kind can be tricky! And what makes tricky things easier? People who get it. 
Using the close friends feature on Instagram and a private facebook group, on Monday - Friday every week I will;

• support you with daily accountability prompts 
• answer any questions you have about process/practicalities
• encourage you to reflect on your practice in new ways
• share art based and written prompts monthly which you can use to enhance your pages

You’ll also be part of a community of people who are also turning the morning pages into a ritual, and let me tell you, they’re the best! We support and encourage each other.

You can join the group via Patreon. Any questions, come see me on IG!

Here’s the thing - I’m not sure ‘failure’ really exists.

Some things we know for sure; there is doing and not doing. Meeting set expectations and not meeting them. But the word failure feels very far from actual outcomes of those things. Oftentimes, when we stop doing the thing, or don’t meet the expectations (set by us/society/others etc) there is so much learning in the endeavor, so much growth, that to call it a failure would be a massive disservice.

Related - when things end, or we ‘quit’, hopefully it just means that needs are no longer being met, that the thing we think we’ve ‘failed’ at is actually just no longer serving us. 

I think listening and realising that is the opposite of failure. It’s commitment to self, something which we can never see as a failure