Year 1. Moon 1. Day 1. As the people of the MthR LnD quest to create meaningful lives in this rapidly shifting future Europe, MthR’s expansion throughout land-and-mind-scapes continues to both inspire and disturb. Sara Mansfield’s resetting of the MthR LnD’s calendar to mark the advent of Singularity is causing uproar across the provinces as well as in the non-partisan state of Mont Blanc where this move is being heralded as bold, necessary and inventive; as well as political, egotistical…
Hello, I hope you’re able to step outside and just breathe during these many glorious and tumultuous rainstorms. I’ve been finishing the recording of the audiobook, The Madness of Sara Mansfield and can’t wait to share it with you this Sunday 31st October, originally a day for honouring the dead. The traditionally anarchic May Day saw the launch of the e-book and it feels fitting to begin publishing my work aligned with more meaningful cycles. The audiobook has grown in ways…
Hello online Friends, It’s been a while and I hope you’re easing beautifully into autumn! When I stopped blogging I had no idea how long that would last. I just knew I’d kinda said all I wanted in this format – and perhaps I’ve learned all I can too. If I’m brutally honest with myself, I want a lot less ‘light’ friendships (because I’m very good at hiding behind these) and maybe need to clear space in the mind to…
It’s occurring to me why Suzanne Simard’s Finding the Mother Tree has struck such a chord in my heart. Yesterday I remembered this poem written over a decade ago (first poem in the Prophecy: conversations with my Self pamphlet, from 2010, available as free download from my webshop, link in bio). What Simard is writing about, I knew all those years ago. Well, I didn’t have the understanding that Simard writes of because I’m not a scientist, I’m a poet,…
I’ve been raving about Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard to friends for a while now so wanted to share some thoughts on this occasional review section of the OUTSIDER blog. Some elements of this book are difficult to read, especially explicit detailing of scientific experiments made in commercial forests through the spraying of toxic glyphosate herbicides designed to kill off all other plants who might be ‘stealing’ nutrients from trees marked for harvest.Simard writes, “I stared at my…
An interesting conversation growing from my recently published novel, The Madness of Sara Mansfield (link in bio), is people wanting to discuss why I’ve put it out as Copyleft.I love this. I love that people are thinking about the implications, and want to talk to me about it. The main response I get is people worrying that I’ve spent six years writing a book only to leave it wide open to interpretation, that someone else could take the book and…
Why I don’t love a pruned hedge
June 16, 2021Hello friends,I’m aware that some people get a bit upset about my original use of grammar and punctuation. This is absolutely okay. I’m not the writer for everybody and I fully embrace that. However, instead of presuming that my writing is inferior because I don’t follow the rules, I wonder if they might consider the fact that writing this way is an act of rebellion – a way for me to fully embody this wild and natural world that inspires…
In The Madness of Sara Mansfield, these words are attributed to Medha, a character who is activist, mother and grandmother. Medha is a fierce, determined woman living in defiance of the expected order of things. This has been an overarching theme of her life, and that of her ancestors, and yet she struggles to pass this onto her daughter, Saraswati, without squashing her at times. All of the characters in this novel speak from the first person perspective so that…
Thank you so much again to everyone who continues to support the book! I’m so delighted. I had also set myself the challenge of reading the book in its entirety throughout May on my InstaTV, but realised quite quickly this isn’t something I have the creative capacity for at this time. A close family member’s health declined rapidly yesterday and I don’t feel I have the focus for so many things just now.I want to concentrate on spreading the word…
Hello Friends! To be honest I’m all worded out right now. These past few months working with a copy-editor and proofreader have been wonderful and exhausting. Then these last few weeks were all about getting the book ready for e-readers, as well as sorting out the shop. Much to do when you’re doing it all by yourself. This is a bit of an anti-launch really – early Saturday morning on a bank holiday weekend, but I wanted a slow, quiet…