Tired, but excited, but tired

on trying to get 'all' the things done in a short amount of time

Jun 04, 2025

My dear Muser

I feel absent from this space. My to-do list has looked a little like a complicated mind map drawn by spiders on crack.

The below image gives you an idea of what my mindmap looks like.

I’ve madly scribbled things on and crossed things off as I prepare to be away from home for eight whole weeks. It’s the longest I have been away from home since I bundled the family into the four wheel drive to drive around Australia in 2010. Back then, I was taking them all with me. This time, I am taking M but he comes home after four weeks and I continue on.

My middle son is joining us for M’s last week and will stay with me for another week. A privilege to still be part of my sons’ lives.

In case you missed it, I’m heading off to Europe. I’m coining it as Baby’s First Trip to Europe as I’ve never been there. When all my peers were taking gap years there in their twenties, I was trying to keep my ex (and me) alive. My twenties aren’t something I look back on with that same fondness that others do.

I’m thinking that while I travel, I’ll send missives out to the world about what I’ve been up to. I tend to journal more when I’m travelling and I’m looking forward to the space that travel gives. I won’t bore you now with the itinerary other than to say there’s a lot of time in Eastern European apartments with austere furnishings then a month in France.

During my time in France, I will be spending three weeks at the Chateau d’Orquevaux on a writing residency. I’m still pinching myself that I get to have this amazing experience and spend three weeks creating and being around creatives. I’m going with a Plan A and Plan B on what I’ll work on as it’s all dependent on what I discover in the first five weeks in Europe.

Lately, I’ve been under the pump with work as I’m a one woman show and I need to make sure everything’s going to run smoothly while I’m away. I’ve scheduled emails, spent time with my coaching clients to set them up for a wonderful couple of months and organised my retreats for later this year. I’ve hit that manic point where sleep is a distant memory and if I keep this up I’ll get sick and collapse on the plane (my throat is already sore)…

When I get home, I’m going to hit the ground running with a Group Coaching session, Writing Momentum Chapter 3 starting and a retreat at a new venue. I’ve tried to plan for a smooth re-entry to life back home.

Right now, I’m allowing some things to be a little bit messy so that I can fit in a moment of rest before I fly out tomorrow night. Like this. I could spend a load more time on it and potentially never send it (or pack to leave tomorrow), or…

So, my dear Musers, thank you for allowing me the grace to be messy here and for this post to be what it is.

x M

My writing retreats

I sent a bunch of things out into the world last week about my three retreats later this year and August now only has two places left at it. If you’re keen for a writing retreat, you’re welcome to message/email/book into my calendar to find out more or go to:

Other things coming up later this year with me

These may be things that are helpful for you. If so, I’d love to see you there. They both kick off in August

Group Coaching series - Monthly group coaching calls dealing with some of the big issues for creatives
Writing Momentum Chapter 3 - A weekly online writing group where I provide prompts and thought-provoking questions from a poem. For all kinds of writers including those who love to journal.

Are you a Melbournite?

Open House Melbourne has a callout for your stories of the city. They are collecting stories to be part of a special exhibition on the Open House Melbourne Weekend this year. Find out more here

Did you miss these posts about books I’ve read?

There was meant to be a load more of these but I suspect I will never catch up with this as I’ve already read about 30 more books that I’m not going to get around to posting a review. These two were great and are hard recommends.