Tag: chronic fatigue syndrome

  • The inspiration(s) behind Dark Mode

    The inspiration(s) behind Dark Mode

    I started writing Dark Mode in July 2019 while on residency at Varuna, the National Writer’s House. I remember opening a blank Word doc and thinking, okay, now it’s time to start a whole new book. My first book, My Name Is Revenge, had come out in April that year. I’d also just received a…

  • Ep 63 How not to write a memoir with author Bronwyn Birdsall

    Ep 63 How not to write a memoir with author Bronwyn Birdsall

    After contracting glandular fever as a child (aka mono), Bronwyn Birdsall ended up with such bad chronic fatigue, she missed six months of school. This was at a time when there was still significant stigma surrounding the illness. Bronwyn grew up in Sydney. At age 24, she moved to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and worked…

  • Publishing deal news!

    After so long, I can finally share this news! I’ve signed a two-book deal with the incredible team at Ultimo Press for my new novel, a psychological thriller. It’s been a long strange journey to get here but it turns out deep in my soul I’m a crime writer. I probably should have guessed when…

  • My only resolution for 2022

    Happy New Year! This morning I woke up early and went for a swim, and while the ocean waves slapped me in the face, I resolved to not complain about anything. To be clear, that was my resolution for the day, ie January 1. There’s no way I’m going all year without complaining. Have you…

  • The relative shape of a human

    When I first met up with Monica Michelle via Zoom and asked how she was, she replied “A relative shape of a human.” I recognised the feeling. Monica hosts Explicitly Sick, one of the podcasts from the Invisible Not Broken network. She lives with Ehlers Danlos Type 3, fibromyalgia and POTS, and after having to…

  • Ep 28 Burning out with Dr Yumiko Kadota, author of Emotional Female

    Yumiko Kadota was a junior doctor and working hard towards her goal of becoming a plastic surgeon in NSW. But the demands of her workplace became increasingly extreme, and she found herself dealing with bullying, sexism and racism, as well as unreasonable hours. If anyone should know how important sleep is for the body, it…

  • New Year’s resolutions for 2021

    If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that there’s no point making plans. I planned all kinds of things last year, including that I would be in Canada over this holiday season to finally visit my family after four years of CFS making the journey impossible. Instead I’ve spent three damp and soggy holiday weeks in…

  • Ep 9: The healing power of creativity

    When we invited Karin Foxwell on James and Ashley Stay at Home, she said, ‘my work as an art therapist is the best job in the world.’ Art therapy is a creative form of counselling, as Karin describes. Her work focuses on military and emergency service personnel who live with PTSD as an after-effect of trauma…

  • Falling victim to medical gaslighting

    Since getting diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2017, one of the most helpful things has been learning specific terms that describe aspects of the illness. I think this is partly because the existence of a given term is proof I’m not imagining what I’m experiencing. It’s real, and other people have experienced it –…

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