A Wednesday Roundup
Wednesday morning arrived and I wanted to have some polished essay ready to go. A draft that I could meander my way through before letting it out into the wild at night. Something with beautiful prose and a well thought out theme. I spent the last few days trying and yet it felt like everything I would write out kept falling short. I wanted to talk about the books I was reading but the way I was writing about them didn’t seem quite right. I have a post planned to talk about one of my first trips to Korea but there was something missing from it. Everything was just that slightly bit off, a little skewed, off centre. I never aim for perfection because perfection is a myth after all, but there is a difference between trying for perfection and realising the writing isn’t coming because some part of the puzzle was missing. The words would come in drips and drabs. Sometimes following the path I had laid out for it, other times just wandering off into their own world and me trying my hardest to follow them but feeling a little bit like Alice in wonderland.
These essays and posts will still be there when the time is right. But for now I think we will just follow wherever the white rabbit decides to lead us. So down the hole we go.
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Let’s walk the talk ~
Now, I don’t know if it is the same for anyone else out there or if I am some kind of special snowflake. But anytime that I write anything remotely vulnerable and personal like my previous piece, over the next few days those words come back to challenge me. They stand sentinel in front of my mind and refuse to let me pass if I don’t show them that I can actually walk out what i’ve said. They watch as I either show them I meant what I said or if I crumble and fall back into old ways and have to take another turn around that mountain.
Over the past few days they stood guard over the gates of my mind and watched as I succumbed a little bit to the old ways. To scrolling on social media (substack) and letting the whispers of comparison come. Don’t get me wrong, I love substack, it is the only social media platform I can stand but it is still inherently a form of social media. Spend too much time on it and even though the dopamine and the comparison will hit only later, make no mistake, it will still hit eventually.
It’s almost like it knew that I was being tested. I was inundated with “how to grow my substack” posts and “Make 100K in your first 6 months” and little by little I would get distracted. I would wander down laneways not meant for me just yet. try to put my writing and my ideas into neat little boxes. curate the ideas floating around in my head. niche down (how I hate that phrase, truly I do). And all it took was a few days and the well of writing started to run dry. All because I kept trying to do what other people were doing after saying I wasn’t going to do exactly that. A little foolish and hypocritical, but still honest nonetheless. I didn’t say I was an expert at it, just that I was determined to do it. It truly is a journey in resilience when it comes to doing what you say you are going to do.
Sometimes you need gentle reminders and other times you just need a shoe to the head or a glove to face to smack some sense into you. Remind yourself that these are the things you care about and this is how you will handle them. Slowly, gently and with tenderness. The way you would tend to someone’s heart. You don’t just drop kick it into emotion, you fan the flames until the fire catches. Better a coal than a flare as my dad would say because flares burn out fast and quick but coals burn long and hot and can always be fanned back into flame if need be. Low and slow but always with intention.
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I am launching a book club ~
So with that intention I am launching a book club. She is called The Round Table and I think she is glorious even in her beginning stages. The goal of The Round Table is to read translated fiction from around the world, from different authors, genres and time periods. We will do classics and contemporary’s, fantasy and mystery and anything in between, as long as it has been translated. It has always been a priority of mine to read wider than the typical American or British author and so the round table will be how we can do that (I am sure Audrey would approve). Reading widely, learning about different cultures, time periods, how all of that affects how an author writes and so many other lovely and delicious things, I can’t wait to start! Every month will be a different author from a different country of course, and then on the last Sunday of each month, I will send out a newsletter talking about our monthly pick and we can talk about it in the comments or the chat function (I don’t know how to use that, but I can figure it out).
So, for July we will be reading, The Heart of The Nhaga by Lee Young-Do, translated by Anton Hur. The first book in The Bird That Drinks Tears Series. Originally published in 2003 but translated for the first time to English in 2026. So if you would like to join, all are welcome at the table. 📚
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Top 3 Books of June ~
I kept trying to figure out what the best was going to be to talk about the books I would read in a month. I wondered if a wrap up would better suit me or if I could do this or that but this is what I have decided. Every month, I will pick the top 3 books of the month and if for that month I only read 3 books then how wonderful, my work is done for me. So as a way to keep me writing but also as a way to keep me engage and thinking as I read, I will do three book essays for each of my top 3 books for the month along with our monthly book club pick. It feels like a daunting task to add to the writing load but I think me and my brain are up for the challenge. I have never written an essay focusing on a specific book or story before and it makes me feel like I am back in school, in a fun way. So let’s see how we get on. If things fall by the wayside, don’t judge me I am just out here doing my best.
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Morning practices ~
I have started a new morning practice and I think it is fast becoming one of my favourite things. Every morning with journal and coffee in hand, I either wander down to the park near our house or I go and have a morning swim and then I journal until my coffee runs out. It has been one of the holiest things I think I have ever done in my life. To me, it is sacred and I guard that time with all my heart. I don’t care if I have to work a 9-5 again or go back to shift work, I will always make this practice a priority. It is both prayer and quiet time. I sit and watch the water, I listen to the birds and I watch the world as it starts to wake up. Some days I journal for three or four pages, other times I just sit and listen to whatever the Lord wants to say and some days I just sit in the sounds of the morning and drink my coffee. I have started to see regulars at the park. They say good morning to me or make little comments as they pass by. They all have little nicknames and stories in my head. The man dedicated man in a sleeveless top who runs at least 8km every morning. There is a group of old men who chatter as they walk by me every morning. On Saturdays there is a run club and don’t even get me started on the dogs I see.
It is not about having this productive journalling morning routine. It is about devotion and apparently it is also good for your health to be amongst the trees. but it is devotion nonetheless and I think that if you have moments and practices like this to be devoted too then you are one of the richest people in the world.
