20 Things About Me

A change in normal proceedings...

Jul 03, 2024

This week in a little switch up from the usual, I thought I would share some random facts about me, so you can get to know me better. Quite a few people are new here (yay, welcome) and I’m also usually relatively private so I don’t often share too much about me. So I thought I’d challenge myself, after all my word for the year is Visibility. I also read another newsletter where the writer shared facts about herself and I found it deeply fascinating and connecting.

I’m not sure why I chose the things I did, or left out other things but I am trusting the process and I hope it helps you get to know me.

I have lived in Mexico for over 13 years. I became obsessed with Mexico when I learnt about the Aztec (Mexica) people aged 10. I was captivated, seeing the drawings of the temples. Since arriving here I have felt at home in a way that feels otherworldly, like I lived here before. Mexico has stories woven in layers in its very landscape and it always keeps me fascinated.
Stories woven into the walls in Oaxaca- Photo by Nikhol Esteras

I have visited 26 of Mexico’s 32 states and have lived in 4 (Oaxaca, CDMX, Nayarit and Morelos)
I often get mistaken for being Australian. Even when I lived in London and worked in pubs during my summers from university, people would ask me where in Australia I was from. Now, I wish I was, because my family lives in Australia and I wish sometimes I could just go and live there with them. After spending time in Australia with my family, even fellow Londoners say I sound Aussie. (I claim that the North London accent is really similar to the Aussie accent).
I was a travel writer for a decade. My favourite piece I wrote during that time was one of my first and was for BBC Travel about the Lacandon Maya. I had done book length research on the subject because I was also writing my first novel, set deep in the Lacandon jungle, so the piece flowed easily. My novel was called Between the Blossoms of the Ceiba Tree. Think the Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) meets Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), although not nearly as well written as either.
Researching in the Lacandon Jungle, Chiapas in 2016
When I was at secondary school I used to go to the local bookshop on my way home from school and head straight to the travel section. It was rare to see me reading a book set in England (I couldn’t think of anything more boring), I used books to travel while I was stuck in rainy England. Nowadays, I love books set in London.
I have a piece of lead in my cheek and in my leg, both pencil-induced injuries. The first, I was walking down the stairs with a newly sharpened pencil in my hand and I tripped and stabbed myself in the face, the second, I fell off the sofa onto a pot of pencils…I kid you not. Both times doctors said it wasn’t worth the hassle to get them out. I say I was born to write, I am half made of lead at this point.
I studied Religious Studies and Spirituality at university up to PhD level (although I never finished by PhD). I am obsessed with cults and studied them extensively for my master’s degree. I listen to every podcast about cults and read ever story about them. There is definitely a cult novel percolating in my head…watch this space.
I feel things very acutely. I can walk into a room and sense how people are feeling. I often know things about people without being told. I can also walk past someone on the street and suddenly feel how they feel. I have had to work very hard to know where I stop and others begin.
Ecstatic dance is one of my favourite things in the world. I came across it after I decided to no longer drink alcohol over 6 years ago. Sunday morning, 11am, sober dance party- it’s my church. Some people dance with each other, moving with each other’s energy, but I tend to dance alone…see above. You can move through so much in one two hour dance. It’s like therapy for the body and soul.
I do most of my clothes shopping in second hand stores. I find it so much more inspiring than shopping in regular stores because it’s the luck of the draw and I love a bargain (and it’s way better for the environment). It has meant, though that I have worn lots of shoes that aren’t quite the right size and I am paying for those poor decisions now.
Completely off brand, I am a huge fan of Formula One. I used to watch it as a kid with my dad and about 5 or 6 years ago I got back into it. I know a lot, too much, about it (ask me anything). And my favourite driver is…the one and only Lewis Hamilton.
Breakfast and Formula 1 was a big pandemic ritual and it continues on
I’ve always been the spiritual/hippy one among my mainstream friends and the normal/mainstream one among my hippy friends. I seem to straddle a middle ground and move closer to the different sides in different moments. I have a whole lot of earth in my natal chart despite being a fiery Sag, so I think that might be why. A friend recently described me as having a ‘mystic quality’…I loved it!
I make friends with trees everywhere I go. In each place I have lived I have had a favourite tree. I consider them friends and chat to them. They are wise wise beings who have a lot to teach us. This started as a child with the tree outside my bedroom. One year when the council came to cut it back I cried, but then the next day I realised that the branch facing my window had formed a perfect heart.
My favourite tree friend in Mexico City
I don’t have children and for most of my adult life I haven’t wanted to be a mother. I was always told I would regret it, so I interviewed people who had made the same choice and were now past childbearing aged to see how they felt. You can check out that piece here. Despite not wanting to be a mother myself, I am obsessed with motherhood and how mothers are treated in society. These themes seem to end up in so much of my work. I also LOVE being an Aunty…it’s my favourite job.
I’m a really good sleeper. I am almost scared to write this lest I jinx myself but I have always be very fortunate in sleeping well and anywhere. An ex once told me that something he loved about me was how I could sleep with abandon on a hotel bed where the sheet had half come off, revealing a less than clean mattress. Generally it takes a lot for me to make it worth losing sleep over. (I’ve had spiders fall on me, cockroaches crawl across my face and I’ve gone straight back to sleep).
For the 28 years I lived in England, I don’t think anyone would have referred to me as shy, if anything they might have said the opposite, but since I have moved to Mexico a number of people have called me shy. I conclude that I am extroverted in English and introverted in Spanish. In Spanish I am a much better listener too, but in English I’m way more sharp and sarcastic.
I ritualize my life in many ways. Morning routines, candles, moon rituals, solstice rituals, writing rituals. I feel like rituals offer us the most beautiful way to be intentional with our time and energy and ultimately our life. I also follow signs and trust in magic. There has been a lot recently and it has been a lot of fun to enjoy.
I like to do jigsaws while I am writing novels. It gives my subconscious a chance to kick in and I often end up working out the missing pieces of the novel as I find the missing pieces of the picture before me.
Despite loving Mexico, I still think my favourite city in the world is London and I am not unconvinced that I might end up living back there one day.
My spotify is a mess, my liked songs go from mantras and ceremonial songs to Afrobeat, Drum ‘n’ Bass, 90s RnB, Peso Pluma, Mexican pop and Cumbia. I always freeze when someone asks me to connect my Spotify on a road trip, because its too embarrassing to share.

Now, that’s more than enough about me, tell me about you, what do with have in common, where do we differ?

Writing this newsletter is an act of love and joy. I am committed to delving into the beautiful, the messy and the sublime that is this act of creating through words. Ultimately, my goal is to remind you that you are Write As You Are.

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