The Hearth (and an update!)

Hello!

I have been exceptionally quiet these past few months. I have been pretty quiet on the writing front, it is true. But I read at a lovely event called The Hearth on Thursday evening. It was the first time in a long while I’d read publicly, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So much so, I want to share some delightful photos (credit to Julia Henning), and officially welcome myself back into the site I set up some months ago (haha… ).

It’s been a funny old time of it recently. After the dizzying high of Sydney, the past few months have seen me take a bit of a beating, and some highfalutin ideas come crashing down to earth. A lot of things I had taken as constants (despite their relative newness) were stripped away, and I found myself back at square one. It is in that square that I am still somewhat situated; and whilst I am gently nudging my way back by creating a more consistent workload for myself, I do feel that this year has not gone on as it began, and it is highly likely it won’t end that way either (though, I do not want to cast speculations. I am, at heart, an optimist and a dreamer).

The Hearth, in many respects, represented a return to form for me. After months of silence, where my work never saw the light of day (and when it did poke out its head, it was rejected; I’m not complaining about that, it is expected, but it’s never nice), I experienced terrible nerves the day of. Like I said before, I had not read publicly in over a year. I did not doubt my ability, but equally, I wasn’t taking any chances. My pride had taken a severe beating, so I could not fail this time.

The feedback on the reading has been, overall, positive, and I want to thank the Hearth Collective – Lauren, Alicia, Mel and Emma – for not only giving me such a wonderful platform to kick myself off from, but also allowing me to share the evening with other such talented writers. There was a lot of love in the room that evening.

So, with a slew of unplanned days ahead of me, I will be doing (or endeavour to do) more semi-regular posts, on plays/films/TV I have seen, opinions I have, or updates on what I am working on. I imagine I’ll start out trying for once a week, probably on a Sunday or Monday, then fall back to bi-weekly, once a month, once every two months, and so into oblivion. But in all honesty, I hope I can keep it regular and plentiful. I have a few posts planned for the next few weeks, so watch this space. I may even have one by tomorrow.

Anyway, enjoy these lovely photos, and I’ll be writing soon.

Much love, CJ xx