‘You need to do more squats,’ said my friend. ‘When your muscles are stronger, your knees won’t hurt as much.’ I stared at her. ‘Yeah, no,’ I snorted. ‘I can’t actually do squats at all.’ ‘Well,’ she said, the cogs in her brain clearly struggling with the concept of someone being unable to do squats, […]
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Surviving Chronic Illness Has Arrived!
‘I’m think about writing another book,’ I said to my friend. We’d just been shopping and we were walking along the platform of the train station, talking about my second book which had just been published. ‘I’m feeling the itch to start my third book. It seems I can’t stop writing!’ I laughed. ‘Any idea […]
Gifts and Graces: A Tale of A Book Signing
I walk into the bookstore, arms wrapped around my box of books. (I always bring spare books to book signings just in case. Call it professional paranoia.) I spot a table set up for me and my author friend who will be joining me. Unhurriedly I set up my paraphernalia and relax on a chair […]
Is Singledom A ‘Season’?
‘Don’t worry, your singleness is just for a season,’ my friend reassured me. ‘Why don’t you use this season to work on yourself?’ Ugh. There is so much in these two seemingly innocuous sentences that irks me. Beyond the misconception that once you work on yourself the right partner will magically appear, summoned by your […]
You’re ‘Lucky’
I have been told I’m lucky for not having kids. Usually this is in the context of well-meaning friends sharing their heartache over their kids going off the rails. They lament to me about their heartache and then say something along the lines of ‘You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with that’ or ‘You’re […]