Category: Writing
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‘Twas the Day Before Publication
And all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse… Well, the first part of that is true, but in reality I’m definitely stirring part in panic and part in excitement. Learning to Breathe has been an idea, a hope, a dream of mine for a decade, and tomorrow it becomes […]
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Editing is Surgery
Editing is a strange business; editing your life story is even stranger. It is, as I put it to a friend yesterday, a bit like performing surgery on yourself. Some of the surgery is cosmetic; word choice and grammar, other parts of it are deeper and a bit more complex. There are certain parts that […]
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5 Books That Have Shaped My Writing #BookLoversDay
On National Book Lover’s Day – I wanted to share some of the books that have shaped my writing… Sometimes, you read a book and it remains with you long after the last page has turned; more often that not these books for me are ones I can’t read without a pen and notebook next […]
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We All Need a Cheerleader
On Wednesday I pressed ‘send’ on the full first draft of my book. It will probably be a different book by the time it hits the shelves, but the idea that I’ve written a whole book feels strange. It’s been all consuming for the past few weeks; long days and long nights with my eyes […]
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I Write To Make Things Real
“I find I need to put things into words before I can believe that they are entirely real.” Frederick Buechener I’ve always read to make sense of the world. When I was first diagnosed with depression back in 2004 I devoured every book and memoir Amazon could deliver; I did it again as my mental […]
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Piecing Together My Story
Our memories are funny things, aren’t they? Some things we remember with an almost film-like quality, others are half formed and still others are fragmented snatches of time stitched together. As I’ve been writing, I’ve been faced with huge gaping holes in my memory. Some of those holes are the natural ones of growing older […]
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The Writing Risk
Writing is a risky business. Especially when you and your life is the subject of your writing. I’ve just pressed send on an email which contains the first draft of a chapter of my book. It’s the first time any part of my book has been read by anyones eyes but mine. My heart is still […]
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Learning From Our History
“Oh yes, the past can hurt, but you can either run from it, or learn from it.” Rafiki Over Christmas, I found myself rewatching the Disney classic “The Lion King” and these words that I’ve heard perhaps hundreds of times before stopped me in my tracks. As I’ve been reflecting on the years, delving into […]
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#OfferYourStory
Over at ThinkTwice we’ve been encouraging you to #OfferYourStory, whether it be to friends or to the worldwide web to celebrate World Mental Health Day and it seems like a good time to announce that parts of my story and some of the things I’ve learned about mental health and theology through my studies and […]
Rachael Newham 