When I was 15, I sang the Hallelujah Chorus. I practised for months, with the choir on Wednesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays and in private on all the other days. I sang until I had the notes just exactly right and did the final, enormous dress
Because I am a staggeringly good procrastinator, I read a lot about writing and post a lot on writing forums. This helps me to feel like I'm making progress without actually doing any work. But you see, I'm coming unstuck. People keep saying that the core
If I weren't mental, I'd be spending today in a secret laneway bar with my hand inside a man's pocket and my other hand around a drink with a hipster name like 'Pimms No. 1 jar' (because good drinks come in mason jars, also daisies), and I would be listening
Facebook calls this a "life event". As in, "Henry Smith likes your life event." There are other ways you could describe it, too, like "What are you guys even doing?" and "I thought this already happened ages ago?" I think I will choose to call it, "This dude
We stood by the beach, just me and you and a couple of balloons that were really memories. We stood in the salty air and it stung my eyes and I looked to you to take my hurting away and you hugged me and you were so warm. We stood
During "episodes", which is what I like to call periods in which I feel like a sack of hell because it means they will be over one day, I sometimes feel like I've forgotten how to do things. It causes me a lot of grief
When I was a kid in the 80s—when we were allowed to say things like “women can achieve anything”—teachers often asked us to write about women who inspired us. Groundbreakers, usually, women who had done things no other woman had done before. The first woman
Earlier today I was reading this piece from Annie Stevens on Daily Life. I say 'reading', but I mean 'shouting at'. I think I probably understand her point. Mental illness has been popularised by shows like Girls and maybe United States of Tara and even Offspring. I've talked
I realise I've been quite heavy on the whole 'I am such a bad mother because I don't like going outside' this week, but I'm afraid it must continue for one more day. This is a piece I wrote for the ABC's very important disability portal,
Some of the smallest things I accomplish take the most work. Like tonight, Georgia had an open choir rehearsal, which meant all the parents could come along and listen. I lost my head about it all day: this is the kind of thing a kid will remember
We talk about actors choosing roles that are Oscar bait: impaired, emaciated or just general down-on-their-luck characters. The characters themselves challenge an audience often more than the acting. The Storyteller is a bit like this. Stories about Auschwitz are harrowing. It would be close to impossible