I've been using Discord voice/video chat features to body double with those in my local writing group. Some days I'm alone, sometimes joined by 1 or 2. Up to 7 of us at any one time. ALL of us have pushed our projects forward. Company. Central activity. Deep appreciation.

here you go

Home Ed rarely happens at home. It is learning about the world through active participation in the world. It doesn't look like following a curriculum designed for a school setting, based on classroom learning while isolated from the world. Can you register easily? open.substack.com/pub/tamaraki...

3 separate times, first in Lyon, France, then Auckland, NZ and then in Sydney, Australia I’ve stumbled into an impromptu writing retreat, then I’ve been taken over by respiratory infections. My lungs crack and pop. Each time I was loved, and forced to take better care of myself.

I mean, the lesson is so simple really.

Monday:
An 8 year old’s +1 at a funeral.
Pausing to sniff a rose and contemplate how kindness towards yourself and others contributes to be a wonderful default setting for life.
A recalibrating solo swim in ocean baths moves from a yearly minimum to a more regular event.

Surreal moment as I left Hobbiton on Friday 13th... couldn't believe I'd drive through the Windows background.

Back home for a wee while. Long enough for cicadas, crows and kookaburras to fill up my ears.

Clothes washed. Bags repacked, bags are lighter this time. Last trip until this time next year.
See you soon, Tāmaki-makau-rau.
See you much later, Loughborough.

For now, sunsets and writing.

Canberra… unexpectedly creative. Significant headway on the writing. Looking forward to waking up to write more! A rare vibe, hope it sticks around 😉

Breathe art in, hold, feel, transmute a voice and then let it out. #WritingDay

Anyone else turn a wall into a pinboard to plot books? Just me? Love to see your real or imagined walls 🖤🖤🖤

Well, Meta has cut LGBTQI content and accounts. Fast becoming very toxic over there.

I've downloaded my fb content. It looks like Bluesky and Substack are now my spaces... ah MySpace... whatever happened to Tom?

My FB journey, Feb 2008-Nov 2024? That's on you, Marky.

Grateful for the light in the dark that's called Bluesky... although I have had a Midnight Oil earworm since joining. Let's hope no mining, though.

Hi from Australia.

Some Loch Lomond to go with your Eck