some wonderful (and free) resources for writers

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Are you finding it a bit hard to write at the moment? Me too.

Thank goodness for my morning routine of meditation followed by Morning Pages, which I had established well BC (Before Corona). It is my anchor. Even though I find it hard to concentrate for solid lengths of time right now, the habits I’ve formed over the past few years in starting my day are serving me well. My Morning Pages are now less a brain dump and more of a daily “life in these strange times” chronicle which are making for entertaining and often mind-boggling reading weeks later. It’s bizarre to see life changing so quickly as the journal fills up. I’m very glad I’m writing everything down. I might share some, at some point.

But how to stay motivated with my actual writing?

The internet is a mixed blessing, to put it annoyingly simply. It is a source of endless distraction and I have found myself losing hours and days to browsing and scrolling, my original purpose in going online long forgotten by the time I realise what I’m doing and how much time has passed. It is also a way to feel frustrated, horrified, angry and despairing for humanity - one only has to go on Twitter to understand why the world is burning.

But on the flip side, it’s also a goldmine of useful resources, particularly for writers and creative people, and I have found some incredibly helpful and inspiring posts, courses, websites and podcasts over the past 40-odd very strange days. Today, I thought I might share some of them with you.

Writing Right Now

This is a post specifically about academic writing in the time of COVID-19 but I found it very useful and applicable to my non-PhD work as well.

The key for me during these extraordinary times is that each person ought to be given space to reevaluate what they are able to do. Thinking that you should be able to carry on as usual or, worse, be more productive is to underestimate the effect of everything going on around you. 

Writing Productivity for the Four Tendencies

Gretchen Rubin’s The Four Tendencies can be a very useful tool for figuring out how your motivation works (internal, external, both) in life and in your art. I think I’m an Upholder but when it comes to writing, maybe I am a Rebel! (side note: I just did the quiz again, I am a Rebel, full stop). This is a very useful post from Sarah with lots of ideas that feel very doable.

The Writer’s Room Podcast with Charlotte Wood

This is a wonderful podcast to get your mojo fired up again, or even just to entertain the idea of opening your document or picking up the pen again if you’ve been feeling stagnant. The standout episode so far for me is the interview with Jerry Salz. He reminded me so much of my old boss in London! Jerry’s brilliant article How To Be An Artist is a worthy addition to your bookmarks and self-motivational arsenal.

Originality did not conveniently die just in time for you and your generation to insist it no longer exists. You just have to find it.

Charlotte’s interview with Jerry is full of amazing truth bombs like this.

I would also recommend A Mind of One’s Own, which is Charlotte Wood’s podcast from a few years ago, designed for writers with lots of tips on how to enrich your creating life.

Tim Clare’s 100 Day Writing Challenge

I once saw Tim perform at a slam evening in London, about 11 years ago now. Scroobius Pip performed one of my favourites of his poems, and Tim was also awesome, reading from his memoir We Can’t All Be Astronauts (which I read later and really enjoyed). He’s a refreshingly honest, bold and witty writer. This is a writing course that, as the name suggests, is a daily prompt for 100 days, delivered by podcast (with an accompanying transcript). Tim is a genuinely enthusiastic course leader and when he says “I’m proud of you, well done for getting this far” each day, I really believe him (thanks Tim!). Already it has encouraged me to take a small idea and just run with it, and it has brought a lot of joy back into writing for me. Highly recommended.

Writing with Dev

Everything sucks until it’s finished, and most things still fucking suck. The bottom line is, we don’t write to be praised or paid or get a profile or win prizes. We write because it makes us feel better.

Another writing course delivered virtually with the Australian writer and comedian Catherine Deveny. You can watch her excellent, upbeat and irreverent writing course videos via Facebook or Youtube. She’s a great cheerleader, particularly when it comes to trusting and believing in yourself: “You have to become your own self-saucing pudding.” (a lovely image there).

Each lesson has heaps of prompts and writing exercises, which Dev does with you in real time. There’s a wealth of material and she has very kindly made it free but you can donate an amount of your choice, or buy her book and writing poster, if you’re able to.

Writing as a Spiritual Practice with Dr Polly McGee

This is the perfect course if you are feeling blocked, uninspired or unworthy (maybe all three). The ball of sunshine and positive energy that is Dr Polly McGee will put a big smile on your face and have you itching to create a writing ritual that serves and nourishes you.

I really loved this course - it felt like I was checking in with a wise and encouraging friend each day. Polly really encourages you to think of your writing as a service to the world and shares so many tips and tools to start writing and creating with purpose and soulful intentions. Highly recommended!

Helen’s Word Stay Home Writing Retreat

One of my PhD supervisors got me on to this. While it has an academic flavour, I’d highly recommend it to any writer. I’ve only just started it but so far it’s all about not only making time to write but developing robust strategies to maintain your writing practice. Helen also encourages you to write by hand to give your eyes a break from a screen and your fingers a break from the keyboard, which I am all for. I’m about to go and watch today’s “after writing” video now!

I’m doing my best not to be hard on myself for not being a productivity machine - the standards of the world we lived in two months ago no longer apply, really, because that world is gone. For now, at least. As Helen says, setting simple and attainable goals is probably most helpful.

What about you?

I’d love to know if you’ve found any helpful resources like these to keep you motivated and interested during this time.

zucchini and butterbean soup

Crumpets are a surprisingly delicious soup accompaniment.

While summer might have taken its last breath, weather-wise, down here, the zucchini are still holding strong. Continuing my fierce wish to make use of everything I have, I made this delectable soup with some thick-skinned zukes that were verging on marrowhood. It was so good it made me wish zucchini season would last forever.

Zucchini and butterbean soup

Makes at least 4 generous bowls

Oil and butter (sufficient to brown the vegetables, how much depends on desired richness)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 small green chilli, finely chopped
650g zucchini (roughly two large ones), chopped
3 large leaves silverbeet, stems and leaves, chopped
1 x 420g can butter beans, drained
A handful of frozen peas (about half a cup, or thereabouts)
Stock of choice (vegetable, chicken or even old pesto jars rinsed out, or a combo of all three), to cover
Fresh dill, parsley, thyme and mint, a handful of each, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A wedge of fresh lemon per person, to serve
Grated parmesan, to serve

I melted some butter in a saucepan for a different recipe and was so determined to use every skerrick of precious fat, that I decided I’d use the same saucepan to make the soup. To each their own. I added a splash of olive oil too.

Place the pan with oil and butter (in your desired quantity, but a tablespoon of each would be ample) on a medium-high heat and saute the onion, garlic and chilli briefly until they are starting to soften but not brown. Add the zucchini and silverbeet and cook, stirring fairly constantly, for a few minutes or until the vegetables start to soften and colour slightly.

Add the drained butter beans and frozen peas, stir to combine, then cover with the stock. I take this opportunity to rinse out any jars with only a teaspoon or so left in them (pesto is ideal for this recipe) and add that in too.

Bring the pot to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft and completely cooked.

Add the fresh soft herbs, stir to combine, and cook a moment or two longer. Season to taste, then puree with a hand blender until completely smooth.

Ladle into waiting bowls, squeeze a little fresh lemon and sprinkle with a bit of grated Parmesan.

Savour, with some good bread (or crumpets) alongside.

14 comfort reads for isolation or a long weekend

With everything that’s going on in the world, and everyone either in lockdown or being urged to stay home, I think we need the comfort and escape of reading more than ever.

Here are some of my favourite reads when I want to shut the world out for a while.

Stephanie’s Journal by Stephanie Alexander

This is one of my favourite books (it’s one of my mate Veggie Mama’s too!) - it is the diary Stephanie Alexander kept in the year 1997, which turned out to be a momentous one for her. She closed her famous restaurant in Melbourne, opened the Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder, and held three residential cooking schools in Tuscany with her friend Maggie Beer. I have read this countless times - at least once a year since I bought it in 2001 sometime. It’s just wonderful. I particularly love reading about the cooking school in the magical Tuscan countryside, and all the mouthwatering food they cooked. It’s also a retreat back to a simpler age, where Stephanie’s mention of fax machines and “the internet” are very charming indeed.

My Life in France by Julia Child 

This is one of my favourite books. It is just pure joy, from start to finish. Julia finds herself in a foreign country, not speaking the language, knowing very few people and wanting to discover her purpose in life. "At age thirty-seven, I was still discovering who I was," she writes. I feel very similarly! Her delight in discovering the pleasures of food and cooking, and her incredible work ethic and refusal to give up on a project she believed in wholeheartedly, is a balm for the soul for anyone feeling a little cynical or dejected. Never give up! 

Mariana by Monica Dickens

This book is a real delight. Persephone Books refer to it as a “hot water bottle novel” and that’s exactly what it is - a book you can curl up with on the sofa and escape into. Mostly set in England between the world wars, it’s the coming-of-age story of Mary, whom we follow from childhood right through to the early years of the Second World War where she is desperately waiting to hear whether her husband has survived the bombing of his ship. We see Mary’s idyllic childhood summers at her grandparents’ country home, her school days and life at home in a London flat with her widowed bohemian dressmaker mother and actor uncle, her hilarious adventures at drama school and eventually travels to Paris, and all the misguided decisions, in love and all else, she makes along the way. It is a very funny, poignant and heartwarming book all at once.

84 Charing Cross Road / The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff

“I used to go to English movies just to look at the streets. I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for. I said I'd go looking for the England of English Literature, and he nodded and said: ‘It's there.’” Oh, this glorious book. What a treat. If you love London and books, I highly recommend it. It’s as charming and delightful as everyone says.

A Basket by The Door by Sophie Hansen

This book has barely left my side since I bought it last month. Full of gorgeous photos that capture the beauty and abundance of each season in country mainland Australia, Sophie’s words and recipes are a true delight. It’s a stunning book, beautifully styled and put together. I have made so many dishes from it (a rare thing for me, despite adoring cookbooks and having perhaps a thousand of them) and everything I’ve made, from the sumptuous apple butter to the nutty wholesome oatcakes, has been sublime. As the title suggests, leaving “a basket by the door” for a friend, neighbour or family member when they might be in need of help or nourishment is a beautiful thing to do at any time, but particularly in these times, it is a wonderfully kind and thoughtful gesture. A lovely cookbook to escape into to help you make the most of the abundant autumn (fresh food-wise) we’re currently enjoying in Australia.

The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard (five books in total, this is the first)

Anyone who hasn’t read this series is in for a marvellous treat - and now would be the perfect time. I discovered the series in 2015 - I snapped up the first in the series at the local charity bookshop, and the next day I bought all the rest!  The series follows the fortunes of an upper middle-class family, the Cazalets, before and after the Second World War, with five books in all. It’s utterly enthralling, like ‘Enid Blyton for grownups’ as one of my friends put it. If you want a series to get lost in, I highly recommend them. 

Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes

This has been a great escapist read for me since the first time I read it, borrowed from the Glenorchy library when I was about 21, desperate to travel, live abroad and see Italy with my own eyes. It’s so evocative and poetic, filled with affection for Italy and food, and reading it now is like sitting down for a coffee or limoncello with a friend you haven’t seen for 10 years or so but who is just as vibrant and thoughtful as they ever were. There are lines in this book that I often think of (“may summer last a thousand years” for example) and images that are so poignantly brought to life - like the man eating Christmas Eve dinner alone in a trattoria, cracking each fresh walnut one by one - that they have never left me. Armchair travel at its best, this wonderful book always makes me feel hopeful about the future and reminds me that beauty and joy can be found everywhere, and that it’s never too late to do something magical, whether it’s planting a garden or chucking it all in to buy a house in Italy.

The Tea Chest by Josephine Moon

This is a lovely curl-up-with-a-cup-of-tea read (fittingly!). The Tea Chest follows the journey of an Australian woman who moves to London to open a tea shop (like T2 or Whittard’s but with a magical element!) and the lives of various other women she encounters to help her make this dream a reality. All of the women have their own demons to battle and the story ultimately is about resilience, following your dreams and trusting yourself.

White Heart by Heather Rose

This is a book I reread every year - this is why. It’s a novel about a woman named Farley who grows up in Tasmania and who, in the face of a devastating loss (though we don’t realise exactly what this loss was until near the end), goes searching elsewhere - overseas and mainland Australia - for meaning, wholeness and love. When I first read it, aged 19, I thought it was one of the most beautifully written books I’d ever read. I still do.

The Christmas Chronicles and The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater

I have said many times over the years, and almost certainly on this blog before, that Nigel Slater could write a book about paint drying and I would buy it. If you love food and find reading about it relaxing and fun, then you will be delighted with either, or both, of these two of his, which are probably my favourites of all his books. Both are written in a diary format - The Kitchen Diaries covers a whole year of eating and The Christmas Chronicles covers only November to mid-January - and are magnificently evocative and poetic in true Nigel style. In Kitchen Diaries he shares what he cooks each day, making the most of what’s in season, but occasionally there’s takeaway or something simple eaten with a beer in front of the TV (reassuring!). CC is a celebration of his favourite time of year - Christmas, and winter in general. A cold Christmas is something I wholeheartedly embraced while I lived in the UK and this wonderful book made me look forward to winter for the first time in my life. As winter is approaching in Australia, I think I’ll have to read it again! Either way, if you want to escape from life for a while, Nigel is an ideal companion.

The Fortnight in September by R.C Sheriff

Also one of my beloved Persephone books and one of the most accomplished, most finely observed novels I have ever read. The premise is so simple - we follow the Stevens family on their annual two week holiday to the seaside in Bognor Regis. They are a typical middle-class 1930s family and have been going to the same B&B run by the same people for a very long time. Their holiday is as well-planned and thought out as their daily lives in South London, Mr Stevens has thought of everything down to the packing of the suitcases, the timings of the trains and which beach hut to hire for the best perspective. The B&B isn’t quite as comfortable as it used to be - slightly shabby, the landlady a little older and dottier - but the Stevens family do what they’ve always done and make the best of things. It’s an absolutely fascinating novel and so finely and accurately observed. Like I said, such a simple premise but the novel manages to capture all the big concerns of life within it - love, hope, disappointment, home, family, the passing of the years. I also loved how the very feeling of being on holiday is captured in this book - how the arrival at one’s destination is so anticipated and exciting, and then the days begin to roll by faster and faster and before you know it, the holiday is over and it’s time to go back home, to normal life. Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E Stevenson

Also mentioned in my Persephone post and one of my favourites of theirs. Written in 1934 and hence reflecting the concerns of women at the time, without the financial security of marriage, Miss Barbara Buncle finds herself needing to supplement her already meagre income. She does what many people think will bring certain fame and fortune - write and publish a book! She writes a novel based on her village and all the people who live in it, thinking that changing names and writing it under a pseudonym will be sufficient to hide their true identities. To her huge surprise, her book (or John Smith’s book!) is a huge bestseller and her publisher wants a sequel, but lo and behold, all the villagers have read it, recognise themselves and their village immediately (which says it all, as some of it isn’t flattering!), are outraged and determined to find out who ‘John Smith’ is and make ‘him’ pay. No one suspects the dowdy and quiet Miss Buncle for a second, which is where all the hilarity ensues - but also makes an interesting observation that people often do have hidden lives and assumptions we make about others can so very often be wrong. It’s absorbing, intelligent and very charming.

Love and Hunger by Charlotte Wood

From one of my favourite novelists, this is a wonderful collection of essays about food, cooking, sharing meals with friends and family, the psychology of eating, and how food can soothe and comfort. Wood’s observations are warm and witty, and the recipes are fantastic too (I have made Jane’s Citrus Couscous several times). Part memoir, part cookbook, this is a food lover's delight.

I hope this has given you some inspiration for delightful books to escape into and curl up with over the next little while. If you read any of them, or have any comfort reads of your own to suggest, let me know!

when the bottle breaks

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” - Andre Gide

I think we are getting a very clear message from the Universe that we need to get better at living in the moment.

When I started a daily meditation practice nearly three years ago, my aim was to get better at living in the present and meeting life on its own terms. To relinquish my need for control and simply be here now in my life instead of creating an identity out of stories, whether they were past dramas and traumas, or worries about a future that hadn’t happened yet.

I can’t say I’ve mastered it. I still get lost in drama and stories every now and then. But right now, with everything the world is facing, I am grateful for my meditation practice. For the past three years, I have been training my mind to accept every thought it has, including my deepest fears, and to listen to them with mindfulness and compassion.

And yet, until the recent pandemic crisis unfolded, I was still just as guilty as the next person of putting things off until X happens or when I’m fit enough to run a half-marathon again or when I’ve had my hair cut/brows waxed or whatever feeble excuse it might have been.

I still did this, despite having learned the lesson long ago that the present moment is all we have. A lesson which current circumstances are really hammering home.

Let me tell you a story.

A few years ago now, I was living in a tiny flat in the centre of London and I had a bottle of expensive body lotion on my dressing table. It was a Christmas gift and I'd been saving it - but for what, I'm not sure.  I would occasionally put a tiny daube of it on my hands when they felt dry and I wanted them to smell nice.  That's what I was doing one morning as I was about to leave the house for work, just picking up the bottle to put a tiny bit on my hands and be on my way. 

I must have squeezed the bottle too tightly because the next thing I knew, the bottle had broken, with jagged pieces of sharp plastic now sticking out of the thick lotion, and it had also sprayed lotion on to the floor and the wall. Just what you want when you’re running for a train, right?

Luckily, once I had wiped up the mess and got rid of the shards, I realised that if I lay the bottle on its side, with the broken side up, I could still use what was left of the lotion.  But it couldn’t be "saved" any more.  I would have to use it. So I did and, for the few weeks it lasted, I smelled lovely.

Why am I telling you this? you might ask. Because, like many epiphanies, it was a very small thing that held a much larger lesson.

Once my bottle was broken, that was it.  I couldn't save the body lotion for another day or once we move to the new house or whatever reason I wasn't allowing myself to just use it.  I had to use it now.  I had to just get on with it. The choice had been taken away from me. As it has with many far more basic everyday essentials, things we used to take for granted, now.

I don't think there is anything wrong with saving things for "best" or for a special treat. When you do indulgent things all the time, they stop becoming special and just become the norm.  So I think it's important to have a balance and definitely have some things that you do save for special times to add to that sense of occasion, and truly savour them when you do. 

But I'm not talking about buying a bottle of Pol Roger every weekend (though that would be amazing) and indulging in all kinds of extravagances as a distraction, although we all need those occasionally.  I’m also not talking about blowing your rent money on things you don’t need or can’t afford when you need to prioritise other things at this time.

What I'm talking about are the small things that you deny yourself, or put off, or only let yourself have when you’ve “earned” them, when actually those things would add so much joy and contentment to your life right now.

It could be a mug of that gorgeous, vanilla-scented loose leaf tea you love. The expensive shower gel that makes you think of ripe pears and spring flowers. New bath towels. Using the ‘good’ wine glasses, or the pretty dinner plates that your Mum gave you once a week, not just once a year.

It might not even be a thing. It could be allowing yourself to plant a garden. Get a puppy or a kitten. Learning to knit or play the piano.

Why, before everything changed, were you denying yourself these things? Why would you not have wanted to be the happiest and most fulfilled that you could possibly be? And are those reasons still valid now? It’s worth thinking about.

You never know when the choice is going to be taken away from you or when the illusion of control will be shattered. When you realise that even the ability to put something off for another time, an undefined moment in the future, was a privilege in itself.

When we save things for "later" or "for when X happens", we’re convincing ourselves that the future is going to be somehow better than what we're experiencing right now, in the present.  The truth is, the future is an illusion - it doesn't exist yet.  And the past is gone.  All we have is now.

So don’t put off your big dreams and your tiny joyful indulgences for another day, for a far off time where you envision you might be happier, more deserving, more accomplished, more worthy.

You are worthy of your dreams and your desires in life, right now. Just as you are.  

I realise that some things you want to do or treat yourself to may not be advisable or particularly do-able right now. You’re probably prioritising the basics like food and medicine and making sure your loved ones are OK over fancy hand cream, as I am.

But things won’t always be this way.

When all of this is over, I hope you will go and do all those things you’ve put off. And in the meantime, let yourself have the small moments of happiness and pleasure in your every day, whatever they might be for you. Don't wait until the bottle breaks. Or until you’re forced to stay at home.

Tell me, how are you going to look after yourself and live in the moment today?

no-waste lockdown meal plan, week 2

Glad you enjoyed my lockdown meal planning suggestions! I know it’s a scary time for a lot of us. I say let’s try and find comfort where we can and if that’s in cooking, enjoying your food and learning to make your own sourdough or yoghurt or whatever you fancy, then I say go for it. We’re all coping as best we can.

As promised, here is this week’s plan (subject to change, naturally!) and some encouragement to use this time to nourish yourself and your family, make the most of what you have already, and waste as little as possible.

Have a look at your fridge, freezer and cupboards
We have to minimise trips to the supermarket at the moment, so it makes sense to use what you have at home before venturing out to get more. Scan your fridge, pantry and freezer and see what ingredients you have already. You could even log it all in a spreadsheet and update it as you buy or use things if that’s helpful. That’s what I’m doing, but 1) that’s my project management training and 2) I kind of like taking things to the extreme!

Make a list of meals you can make
Once you know what you have in, make a list of all the meals you can think of using the ingredients you have. This is a lot of fun. You could also write down a list of all your (and partner/family’s, if you’re cooking for others too) favourite meals and see which ones you have the ingredients in for - it might be more than you think, or you could make some substitutes (grate halloumi instead of parmesan, for example).

Make a plan
Once you have your list of dishes, organise them into a week’s worth of lunches and dinners, prioritising using up the perishable items first like fresh vegetables and fruit, already-opened dairy and protein, half-empty jars of pastes/sauces in the fridge, that kind of thing.

Be adaptable and flexible
I anticipate that my meal plan might have a few switches as the week progresses. That’s cool! I think one of the best things we can be right now is flexible and roll with things, day by day.

What about breakfast?
Breakfast is probably the meal that has changed the most for me these past few weeks.

About a month ago, I stopped having a big smoothie for breakfast, which I used to do at least three times a week, if not more. I realised that, while it was a very nutritious breakfast, with the amount of fruit, almond milk, oats, peanut butter, etc I was putting in it, it was far more calorie-dense than I needed. And of course, with everything that has happened, I’m now keen to use oats, fruit, milk and other smoothie ingredients in other ways, to make them stretch further.

So our breakfasts now are pretty simple - porridge (which I make a little extra of, to make porridge bread); toast (mostly aforementioned porridge bread, with butter and Vegemite, butter and jam, ricotta and jam; or pesto and pickled tomatoes for something more substantial); or a small bowl of plain Greek yoghurt, if we want something light. I often swirl in a spoonful of homemade apple butter into the yoghurt, which is sublime.

On with the show!

Here’s this week’s plan for me and Tom. I will update with links to recipes as I make/photograph them!

Sunday 5/4
Lunch: Zucchini and butterbean soup + bread
Dinner: Roast pumpkin pizza

Monday 6/4
Lunch: Zucchini and butterbean soup + avocado toast
Dinner: Shepherd’s pie + broccoli

Tuesday 7/4
Lunch: Pumpkin and feta toasties
Dinner: Chickpea saag + rice

Wednesday 8/4
Lunch: Chickpea saag leftovers made into soup + bread
Dinner: Pumpkin, broccoli and silverbeet risotto

Thursday 9/4
Lunch: Pickled tomato and cheese toasties
Dinner: Pasta with rich chickpea sauce (adapt this recipe)

Friday 10/4
Lunch: Baked potato with beans and spinach
Dinner: Veggie burger, salad + chips

Saturday 11/4
Lunch: Poached eggs on sourdough avocado toast
Dinner: Eggplant, tomato and ricotta bake + green beans

I’m planning a lovely roast for Easter lunch on Sunday - but am not sure which nuts I have in for the traditional nut roast. That should be a fun experiment!

What about you? What’s on your meal plan this week?