​I met Alycia W Morales over breakfast the morning before the 2023 Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. While I figured out whether I liked North Carolina style grits and why the bacon didn’t bend, we chatted about books and writing and life. Over the course of our conversation, I learned Alycia had lost a son only a few years before. His name was Caleb, he was only 19 when he died.
How on earth does someone navigate grief like that? How do you pick yourself up and keep going, day after day, when the grief and loss is so raw and heartbreaking? I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like, and yet Alycia has faced her grief and written about it in her new book.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this Kid's Guidebook before its release, and I can thoroughly recommend it. Simon Camilleri is an Aussie children’s author based in Melbourne. He’s a poet, a reader of Scripture and has a heart for equipping kids and families with resources to make them think and grow in faith. 
Wow God! Thank you. Sorry. Please is, as its title describes, a kid’s guidebook to prayer. The book opens with a short note to parents and then launches into a rhyming, lesson style story about prayer. ​

A spindly branch of wattle blossoms from the bushland at the end of my street. And a spindly 'think' from my journal where I'm musing about faith and trust and the Refiner's work of love.

***   ​

You
meet me
where the heart is aching.
You
hold me
​when the cracks begin to show.​

So... here's an honest post. 
Last month I decided to take a 'break' from social media. (You can read more about why I did that here.) That word 'break' is kind of ambiguous though, isn't it? I remember way back in high school when the boy I loved suggested we take a 'break' from our teenage romance. I quickly realised 'break' meant 'break up'. So, what about me and Meta? Are we over? Or are we just readjusting the boundaries of our relationship? 
Silliness aside, it's been a little confronting to go cold turkey on my relationship with the socials. It's unearthed all sorts of questions. And it's only been one month! 

​I'm a writer. I like to read books about writing. It helps my practice, inspires me to reflect and, when I'm finding the writing hard going, reminds me why I love putting words on the page. 
It might seem odd that writers may need such reminders, but apparently they do, because books about writing and for writers are plentiful! 
The House That Joy Built, Write For life and The Fearless Writer are three books about writing (and creativity) that I've read recently. I enjoyed them all, but I was left weighing them up at the end.