Dear Readers,

I am writing again and I am loving it! In some ways I am happier and feel more at home with myself than I have for ages. I am still trying to get my head around the various platforms available to modern writers, and many of you have already followed me over to my new Substack, Ageing Creatively. I have to say that I’m enjoying Substack far more than I thought I would. It’s fun, I feel more spontaneous, and there’s less upkeep. My sense, thought, is that there is also less permanency. Ariadne’s Thread has been online for almost 15 years and I enjoy looking back through old posts – posts that didn’t disappear even when I turned my back for several years and then consolidated accounts. I also like that WordPress lets me have pages other than just my blog. On the other hand, running my own website is expensive and can be (super) frustrating at times.

Last January I declared 2024 to be my Year of Writing. My goal was to make writing my priority, to embrace my writerly soul, and to write for the sheer joy of it. If I’m honest, I only come alive when I’m writing – and yet I let way too much time slip away without putting pen to paper. I get distracted by other projects. Or I get nervous about showing my true self. I let myself go to sleep until the next wave of writing wakes me up again.

Honestly, I’m writing for myself now. I get jazzed when people read my words, but that is secondary to the joy of letting my words spill out onto paper and feeling the satisfaction of massaging them until they are just right. As I approach my 70th birthday, my focus is narrowing and I want nothing more than to honour the craft that is central to my soul and to claim the experience and wisdom I’ve gained over the decades. I am reveling in my Crone Nature!

My love of writing started as a child. I remember climbing into Margaret Pinter’s sycamore tree with my notebook and a pen. But I also remember my dismay as a teenage when I realised that writing meant having to let people see into my soul. I started to think of myself as a charlatan, lacking enough mastery of any subject to let me write with conviction. I felt stumped. My fear of criticism was profound and debilitating. Over time it grew into a fear of being seen at all.

Now suddenly I’m old(er) and I can’t bear to waste any more time. I want to say what I have to say.

So. WordPress or Substack? For a while I’m going to do a bit of cross-posting. Sparkles and Glimmers went live on Substack yesterday, but I love it so much that I’m going to share it here, too. I won’t double post often once I get a sense of what belongs where, but if you see the same essay on both platforms, just click on. Please understand that I’m playing with ideas and formats, looking for where I find the most joy and how my thoughts weave together. I’ll settle down and in. I am fascinated with the current trend of examining the process of writing and not just looking at the finished product. I started on Substack with a few essays but now I may try saving my essays for Ariadne and use Substack as a place to play with the writing process itself. Time will surely tell.

Thank you for encouraging me to write, to be myself, and to share my world. Your companionship means so much to me.