Summer Inspirations Part 4: Debbie Millman’s “The Remarkable Life Deck”

Goal setting has long been a practice that I have used in my creative and academic careers as well as my personal life—I have big goals, little goals and all sorts in between. I write them down, I revise them regularly and I break them down into actionable tasks, (Thanks to skills I learned inContinue reading “Summer Inspirations Part 4: Debbie Millman’s “The Remarkable Life Deck””

Summer Inspiration Part 2: Walking

I am including my morning walks in my little series on summer inspirations even though my morning walks are not necessarily specific to the summer– I am pretty dedicated to them all year round—however, I love my summer walks best of all and am definitely most inspired by them– not only because I don’t haveContinue reading “Summer Inspiration Part 2: Walking”

Writing Retreat- Day 3

Writing Retreat Day 3 – I am back from my walk and settling into another day of just getting it done, plain and simple. There is no doubt I work WAY better like this – immersing myself – concentrating on one thing at a time. (Multitasking is a myth!) And although my “real life” makesContinue reading “Writing Retreat- Day 3”

Do or Die Writing Retreat

Writing retreat on the eve of day one. The family has just left and I am setting up my workspace before I head to bed so it is all ready for me when I wake. The plan is to write/edit my derrière off for 4 days with appropriate breaks for swimming, yoga, meditation, walks onContinue reading “Do or Die Writing Retreat”

It’s a sign

I am sharing academic writing specialist Jo VanEvery’s newsletter here; It struck a chord with me because in it she talks about Brené Brown’s book //ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mamalegato-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=1592408419&asins=1592408419&linkId=bc5ebb4a1529736950a0377df1dc6eb6&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff“>Daring Greatly;  Brown’s work centres around shame, vulnerability and failure all of which I having been pondering quite deeply lately. I’ve read some of Brown’s work previously, yet,I admit to … Continue reading “It’s a sign”

Resistance is Futile (and deadlines are looming).

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit”. ~Aristotle I have a little card on my desk that has this quote on it and I come back to it again and again (and again). I fully admit to being very distractible. Sometimes I try and go easy onContinue reading “Resistance is Futile (and deadlines are looming).”

Censors Working Overtime

“Censor the body, and you censor breath and speech at the same time. Write yourself. Your body must be heard”. (Cixous, 1975) This quote from Hélène Cixous (The Laugh of the Medusa) has, without a doubt, been my guiding light throughout the last three years of my PhD journey, and if I really take aContinue reading “Censors Working Overtime”

Take Aways from my freakin’ writing retreat–Day 3

Realizing that I won’t get everything I wanted to get done, done… but also realizing that I STILL got more done than I would have if I hadn’t been here…  Also, “Why haven’t I done this before????” (oh, yeah, many children, 2 jobs…) Note to self; always bring more coffee than you think you willContinue reading “Take Aways from my freakin’ writing retreat–Day 3”