What Wyrd Shit Is She Up To Now?

Friends, hello. This week has been a beast determined to eat me from the inside out. I’ve been feeling weak and moody and hellishly frustrated at not being able to march forward at my usual pace. (Oh, and my stomach is still giving me grief.)

I sat down today, though and gave myself a good talking to. I told myself that I was pushing too hard, and I needed to slow the fuck down a bit. 

So I’ve got some self-care stuff planned for the weekend, which involves hopefully having my tarot cards read, eating excellent food, throwing back some fruit and nut butter packed smoothies and rooting around for some second-hand threads at a vintage fair. 

I thought I’d let you in on what I’m currently doing with some of my time, as in what I’m watching, reading, listening to, chowing on and drinking. It’s not overly wyrd shit, as things go. Maybe I wrote that to lure you in. What do the kids call it? Clickbait? I dunno. I’m not with the times. But I like the title, so it’ll be a regular thing. 

If you’re still reading, thanks for being here, and I hope you go away from this post with some stuff to look into. 

Reading

Darkness: A Cultural History by Nina Edwards / I finished this beaut of a book this morning and felt bereft. Edwards has a poet’s voice, and her explorations into the culture of darkness were so mesmerizing and so intriguing and so god damn inspiring. I kept having to pause to scrawl sruff in my notebook. The last thing I noted before coming to the end of the book was the line ‘Where the darkness collects .’ I have every intention of putting in a song. Once I’d gathered myself and mourned coming to the end of the book, I was rummaging through my Perlego library – which currently stands at 236 books – trying to decide what to delve into next. It’s a dozen hours later, and I’m still trying to make up my mind. 

Mslexia Issue 90 / I’ve been reading Mslexia for well over a decade, and I can’t imagine my writing life without it, quite frankly. If you’re a woman and you write, you need, need to be reading this magazine. I used to read the print version, but a few years ago, when I was living in Sweden, I decided to opt for digital, and it’s remained that way ever since. Every three months, I pay £4.99, and I get the latest issue and access to all the other issues of Mslexia that have been digitized. 

Staying Human Edited By Neil Astley / I’m not quite sure what’s going on with me, but I’m not getting much from the latest mammoth anthology from the Staying Alive series. And I’m devastated about it, to be honest. All the others in the series have had a profound impact on me in more ways than I can count on all my digits, but I’m struggling to connect with this collection, and it’s tragic. I’m not so far in, though, so there’s still time for me to find something that will pair up with my soul. 

Amazon Samples / I have many, so many book samples from Amazon it’s ridiculous. Some of the ones I’m going to look at tonight include: Motivation For Creative People by Mark McGuiness, Waking Up To The Dark by Clark Strand and Why Rebel by one of my all-time favourite authors Jay Griffiths.  

Watching 

Marianne / Started this French horror series the other day following a recommendation from a friend. It’s good. It’s really good. It’s creepy as shit and harrowing and brutal, so pretty much everything I look for in a TV show. There are cringe-worthy bits, but yeah. It’s worth giving a go. Take this word of advice, though. Don’t watch it dubbed. Watch it with the subtitles on. Unless you happen to understand French, of course. I tried to watch it dubbed, and I was like, ‘eh…I don’t think I’m going to enjoy this at all.’ But that all changed when I put it in the original French.

Listening To

Beyond Man’s album Beyond Man. / I legitimately cannot leave this savage beast of an album alone. The song that I keep crawling back to most of all is Art Beyond Man. The vocals, the fucking vocals. 

Bogwitch’s entire discography on repeat. / Oh my fucking gods. It’s just everything I’ve needed recently. It’s an irresistible blend of drone and dungeon synth and dark ambient. You have to listen. You must listen. 

Eating 

Meridian Peanut & Coconut Butter / I live for nut butter, and when I get the chance to try a new one, I fucking leap on that shit. The most recent one that I’ve inducted into my hall of nut butters (seriously, I have about six jars on the go at once) is one I found in Holland & Barrett on sale for about £1.50. (I buy most of my nut butter on sale. I’m the queen of bargains. Let it be known.) This one tastes so damn indulgent, but it’s all good stuff inside. 

Drinking 

Pukka Organic Latte (Cacao Maca Magic) / I’ve been eying up the Pukka latte for well over a year but have been too stingy to spend £5 on a packet of the stuff. It does 15 servings, so it’s not THAT much in the grand scheme of things when you consider how much it is to get a fancy latte out. And the fact it contains exciting ingredients such as ashwagandha root powder, cinnamon bark wholistic extract, and shatavari powder. But, because I’m a stubborn mule, I stuck to my guns. The other day I found it on sale at half-price and thought, ‘that’s doable.’ It’s become my daily ‘go to’ at the end of the afternoon, when I need some soothing but also something of a pick-me-up. I make it up with almond milk, and while it’s not sweet as such, it still tastes somewhat treat-like and I know it’s essentially a cup of health.