Down Time

Tl;dr: My debut poetry collection is available for pre-order NOW under a NEW NAME and will officially launch in January! If you like nostalgia/memory, confessional writing, and a poetry collection with a dedicated playlist, snap up a copy here: https://reconnectingrainbows.co.uk/book/ybs/

Also, this website will be taken down sometime soon but the previous posts will be moved to the new one.

Rest is pretty elusive. It has been for some time now. I haven't written a post here since August, when I was championing all the reasons I don't use Substack. While the past three months have been eventful, I haven't given myself much time to rest. I've written some new pieces—poems, flash fiction—but have reserved most of my creative energy for performances and submissions (and the OPL's Poetry Bake-Off, of course!) I know all writers go through these phases, but I worry (unnecessarily) that this means I'm drying up.

Down time is important for writers. We need those periods of quiet observation, peace, and mindless tasks to, in the words of a fellow poet's former teacher, "leave ourselves alone". Creation happens regardless of where we are or how beaten down we are by wider circumstances. It will always be there, but forcing ourselves to create instead of rest only makes the task of translating ideas into words more untenable.

Case in point: In lieu of even one proper day of rest, I've experienced a different "down time". I feel myself sinking, lowering. I feel both insignificant and a burden, never-quite-right in appearance, hardly motivated enough to look at my own writing or believe I was the one who produced it. I performed a set of poems at the Oxford Indie Book Fair and couldn't bring myself to rehearse them beforehand. Even though everything went well and it was a terrific opportunity (big thank you to Niall at Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre for inviting me!) that's not a good sign. My mental health matters just as much as my physical health, and it's not doing so well.

So I need rest, and a lot of it.

But I'm also using the term "down time" as an announcement: this website will soon be demolished and its content moved to a new platform. I mentioned this in my previous post, but I morally cannot use Wix. I know revoking my single membership cannot stop a genocide, but collective action only works when there is a collective, and I would much rather join the many who have deleted their Wix accounts for this reason.

There'll be a new website soon, and I won't take this one down until around then. It's useful to have a publication history available for writing submissions.

I'm also changing my name. After all the rejection, edits, insomnia, and feigning pride, I have a book coming out in January 2026. It's a poetry collection. It's about memory and relationships, which I have written about at length on this blog, but will now be in print and available to buy. I'll finally have my place on a bookshelf, but under the name Leatrice. And if you want to know where that name comes from, I can tell you in private, if we're ever fortunate enough to meet.

In the meantime, if you're interested in the collection, you can pre-order it here. The cover was designed by my brilliant best friend, Cailin Byrne, who's not only a graphic designer/digital artist but also a cosplayer and avid romantasy reader (follow her at @cailin.in.character)

For now, enjoy some down time yourself. Hanukkah started on Sunday, Christmas is on its way, as is Geimhreadh (winter solstice); no matter what happens, we must remain resilient, compassionate, and harness the power of our communities to keep going. Watch the sunrise on the 21st, if you can. It's the time of year when most of us do try to rest, spend time with loved ones, and hope the midwinter isn't too bleak.