Adventure Time
A Tribe Blog entry from 24th February 2024
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It's been a funny sort of week. Any other author who would have just released a book might have been in full-steam-ahead marketing mode. Not me; I've had a bunch of other work commitments to attend to this week which has drawn me away from being able to do more writing and poetry work.
I'm caught between a rock and a hard place really. I can't drop a lot of my other work just yet as the writing currently isn't able to support me living. But, I can't make the time to promote it and turn it into something that can sustain me as I have other work commitments. Its a tricky situation to be in, and that's why I'm so thankful for everyone who has already bought a copy of "Born Anew" or become a paid Substack member, as it brings me just a little bit closer to being able to achieve that.
Born Anew
“Born Anew” is a collection of over 20 poems reflective of my inner and outer journey of the past few years. Some poems are more light-hearted and optimistic. Some explore the bleakness of realising …
All that being said, there have been some developments and reflections this week that are worth sharing with you all.
Looking Back
I'm writing the first part of this post while sat on a bench overlooking the River Avon in Bath, having an early lunch before I head to record a poem with
. She messaged me a few days prior to this asking if I was free for an interview. Thankfully, having nothing on my schedule, I was able to make time to head up to the office in Bath and record. We also filmed a poem as part of that, which I look forward to be able to sharing with you soon.
Following this, I made my way to spend some brief time with friend and Over To The Youth mentor David Cordes and the holistic vet Dr Nick Thompson, along with their partners, a little way outside of Bath. It was a blissful experience to walk the countryside around where Nick lives with the dogs. I couldn't stay for long though, as I had to make my way back to Bath to spend the night with some friends.
Looking back on this weekend, I really couldn't be more blessed to have such great friends and connections in my life. Growing up, I struggled to feel truly close to the people around me, and faced with challenges in my life I could only internalise all that I was experiencing - something we discussed during the walk. While its now resulted in a lot to unpack within myself as part of David's Journey Home course, the gift of it all is that I've developed good writing capabilities and plenty of material to write about.
Another conversation that came up over the weekend was around failure - specifically, how failure is demonized as a be-all-and-end-all and not as a learning opportunity. This is especially true in standardised testing in school systems, whereby students take a test, some pass, then those who fail get no chance to review, learn from their mistakes and build something that is more meaningful to show. It's a topic I definitely want to explore more, possibly even in the form of a poem, so stay tuned on that.
Looking Ahead
This weekend's trip gave me a flavour for adventure that I mentioned I was craving in last week's post, but I'm still not quite satiated yet. I've got a few small trips in the pipeline, and getting the ball rolling on some longer ones, but I find myself becoming very impatient at times. Perhaps it's a sense of urgency at the "quickening" happening with the change in humanity's state that makes me as such.
Outside of that, I'm looking forward to working on a few new poems with videos for Substack, including a version of the one I recorded with Tess. A lot of the poems that featured in "Born Anew" came from my own experience, but I'm starting to find that more and more of the poems I'm writing are stemming from specific prompts or ideas from elsewhere. I look forward to being share those with you when they're ready.
I'm also finding that I'm being called to do more and more interviews or podcasts with people - I had two separate people come to me this week saying they'd like to record conversations with me as a host. I'm suspecting there might be a place to do that alongside the poetry that I'm currently doing. I'd love to hear some thoughts in the comments on this.
Once again, thank you for all your support, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.