Dear readers,

Happy new year!

2022 was a pivotal one for me in many ways.

We moved house

We moved halfway across the country in order to pursue a quiet country life in a small village, surrounded by woods. This has long been a dream of mine, being an HSP and finding city/suburb life increasingly loud and overwhelming. Though of course the realities and practicalities of moving are quite stressful, particularly when you throw a bout of covid and three somewhat anxious cats into the mix. I’m happy to say that the cats have adjusted better than I had ever anticipated, which just confirms for me that we made the right choice, also for them. Our old neighbourhood was getting increasingly busier, and we lived on the intersection of a bus lane and a bike path (frequently used by mopeds). Now we live at the end of a dead end street, with a tree-lined path separating us from the streets coming in from the opposite side. Down the road the other way is where the sheep live. And the forest is a short walk away, with bigger ones in easy cycling distance. So I’ve been ambling happily around the countryside, taken up watercolour, and gotten to know a bunch of lovely people in the neighbourhood. While J has to commute 3 hours each way to work. Well, who ever said life was fair? (He can actually work from home most of the time).

I had some poetry readings

Another big moment for me. Actually, several. I’ve been posting my work online on various platforms for years, done some poetry videos, and even had some micro fiction featured in a writing competition, but actually performing live with my own very personal work… Well, that was something else. I did amateur theatre in my youth, and have always been decent at reading out loud with feeling, but boy do I ever get stage fright. Despite this, sharing my work (with my mother as my accompanying musician, on the harp) was magical.

I had a couple of readings in a nature reserve in Almere, near where we used to live and where most of my poems were written. Even though very few people came, it was a very special and meaningful way for me to say goodbye to the place I’ve lived the longest in my life. I also had a reading at a storyteller festival near Oslo, where people actually showed up to hear me. On purpose. People I’m not related to. And the feedback I got was amazing. Several audience members said I had moved them to tears. Looking back, I still marvel.

These events were a catalyst for me. Though I’ve struggled to complete new work since the last event in September, that’s also partly due to moveapalooza. And a lot of ideas have been mulling around in my head along with fragments of poems, short stories and novels. On that note:

A challenge: writing a poem every day

I literally had this idea a few days ago, so it’s still sort of a work in progress, but it seemed right and meaningful to start it on the first of January, and so I did.

The idea is, as the heading indicates, to write a poem every day. I won’t publish all of them because most will probably be kind of crap. It’s taken me two years to write roughly 15 poems I’m satisfied with. But I do aim to do a sort of weekly digest/best-of post, probably on Sundays, so watch this space.

What I want to achieve with this is more focus, staying in the creative flow, and being more consistent with publishing content.

I might decide to do themes either by subject or style, or I might just do whatever tickles my fancy. I fully expect to fail at this, but I also fully expect to learn something from it.

To kick off this project, here is today’s poem.

A newsletter

Another idea I’ve become quite enamoured with is writing a monthly newsletter. I often feel like my interests and my content is so scattered all over the place, and a newsletter seems like a good place to gather it, and to gather my thoughts.

Most likely, a theme of sorts will come to me over the course of the month – possibly tied to the season, or some life event, however it has not crystallised at the time of writing.

What can you expect from my newsletter?

Thoughts and ideas around writing, books, creative life, maybe some poems or other short pieces of fiction, and maybe some beautiful nature pictures I’ve taken or paintings I’ve done. Time will tell.

Sound interesting? Sign up here. You can of course unsubscribe at any moment.

The cost of a creative life

So far my creative endeavours cost me not only time and effort, but money. In submission fees, travel, venue costs, harp rental – you know, the usual stuff.

And so I’m asking, if you enjoy my content and have the means to do so, please consider making a small financial contribution, to lighten the load:

Buy me a coffee or paypal.me.

This will always be optional, and I completely understand if you have other priorities – times are hard lately.  ❤