Author: Christine

Christine http://www.mombie.com I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Co-Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm the current president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

30 Days of Posts!

My goal with this blog in June was to post every day, completely avoiding any expectations of writing ‘well’ or being insightful.

I just wanted to write daily.

And I’ve done it!

Gold star for me! ??

I definitely wasn’t insightful and some posts barely had enough text to count as a post but I was consistent and put *something* up every day.

And that makes me really happy!

I struggle with consistency so this is a real victory.

I’m going to keep posting in July but I’m going to plan things out a little more and not just hope that something postable floats into my consciousness.

I don’t think anyone has been reading this month but, just in case, thank you for spending a little time with me words.

See you tomorrow!

A GIF of a person in a dress waving two balloons, one is a 3 and one is a 0.
Image description: A GIF of a person in a dress stands on a road with field and a lake behind her. She is waving two balloons, one shaped like a 3 and one shaped like a 0.

When to move and when to rest…who knows?

A light-haired dog walking among some white flowers.
Image description: My dog, Khalee, in the middle of some white flowers with green leaves.

Yesterday, I did something weird to my back and all the muscles winched themselves two notches tighter.

All last night and today, I have been alternating between resting and moving.

I took a couple of short walks.

I lay down on the floor for a while.

I did a little yoga.

I sat in my chair with a massage ball on a few pressure points.

I stretched a bit.

I lay on my bed with a pillow under the small of my back.

It’s a tricky business, back pain, and it’s damn hard to know whether to keep moving or to get more rest.

I guess I’ll have to keep figuring it out as I go.

Not the boss of words today

I generally find it pretty easy to write.

Sure, it might be hard for me to actually get myself to sit down at my desk but once I have the document open and I start typing things usually flow pretty well.

In fact, I often describe my writing as bossing words around.

Today, however, I was not the boss of words. They did not want to pay any attention to me and they flatly refused to line up on the page in a logical fashion.

Luckily, I’ve been writing for a long time. These kind of days are going to happen. They don’t have any special meaning about my writing, or my writing skill, they aren’t a sign of anything.

Today’s frustrations only mean that today was frustrating.

There’s always tomorrow!

A GIF of a monkey typing.
Image description: a monkey (or maybe a chimpanzee) in a pink shirt types on an old-fashioned typewriter.

Real Live Conversation

A gif of Spongebob Squarepants with the word conversation appearing over his head.
Image description: GIF of the character Spongebob from the show Spongebob Squarepants (a rectangular yellow sponge with huge eyes and skinny arms and legs who wears shorts, and a shirt and tie) moves his arms over his head and as he spreads his hands, a rainbow appears. The word ‘Conversation’ is in white at the top of the GIF.

Largely by happy accident, I ended up in a delightful and lengthy conversation with my dear friend Alex M those evening.

It was so wonderful to be able to sit unmasked (at a safe distance) and to be able to have the sort of long, rambly, connected-but-not-direct conversation that I must enjoy.

One of the weirdnesses of the pandemic is how carefully planned everything has had to be. And that has meant that more of my conversations have had to be more focused, direct, and clearly purposeful than I prefer them to be.

It was an absolutely treat to be able to reconnect and chat freely, I look forward to more of those conversations in the future.

One of my favourite views

The trunks and leaves ?of four large maple trees very close to one another next to a fence.
Image Description: The trunks and leaves of four large Maple trees very close together next to a fence.

This is me in my hammock.

Image description: Christine, a woman with short brown hair wearing a purple hoodie, can be seen from the shoulders up, lying in a gray and orange hammock. She is wearing sunglasses and smirking.

This is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.