Published in Just Write·Jan 21Member-only7 of My Best Writing Stories of 2021Overcoming Writing Block, Winging it to Mastery, Morning Pages, and More — With Excerpts — Let me take you back in time and inspire your writing all over again. 31 August 2021, My Pretend Editorial Team Provides Me With Expert Advise “I take notes like a proper secretary. I have a list with questions. Were two of my story ideas still timely enough to pursue…Writing3 min read
Nov 23, 2021Member-onlyBeauty is an Essential Ingredient for the Sanity Of HumanityBut Some of Us are Better Prepared for It than Others — Some things in life are stable and remain with us no matter what happens. Breath is a good example; breath as the air you breathe or, some might say, are being breathed with. Breath enters, animates, and leaves until the next inhalation. Exhaled back into the surroundings you currently occupy…Mental Health3 min read
Published in Just Write·Aug 31, 2021Member-onlyMy Pretend Editorial Team Provides Me With Expert AdviseHow Regular Meetings With an Imaginary Advisory Board Helps Me Write Better, Faster, More – No Zoom Required — Editorial meeting minutes. Private and Confidential. Present: Steven Pressfield, Guyon Espiner, Simone de Beauvoir, Marie Colvin and Sitara Morgenster. Notes taken by Sitara Morgenster. Subject: Sitara’s work and journalism career. Stranger than fiction? Oh, yes, it is. The only person in the meeting not imaginary is me. It’s a sunny…Writing3 min read
Published in Correspondent New Zealand Aotearoa·Aug 30, 2021Member-onlySea Shepherd Asks US Court To Ban New Zealand Seafood ExportsThe New Zealand Government Is Failing To Protect Rarest Dolphins — In an attempt to help protect the now critically endangered Māui dolphin, Sea Shepherd hopes a US court will ban New Zealand seafood. New Zealand’s government is not doing enough to protect one of its native dolphin species. The country’s seafood exports to the US amount to about NZ$200 million. …New Zealand3 min read
Aug 29, 2021Member-onlyWhat Living In a Forest Is Teaching MeOn The Heroic Task of Existential Joy — Never have I done anything heroic in my life. At the same time, it can be said that each and every newborn baby is a hero. You and I managed to be born against so many odds. Apparently the chances of our biological mothers and fathers getting to know each…Nature3 min read
Aug 28, 2021Member-onlyRediscovering the Lost Art of ForagingFree Food Found Near You, By You — It started when a friend and I were leaning over my veranda railing and looked down on weeds taking over the grass, sown by the previous owner of my house. Not mowing my lawn had given a whole lot of ‘weeds’ a chance to pop up and present themselves to…Nature4 min read
Published in Correspondent New Zealand Aotearoa·Aug 27, 2021Member-onlyIf Rita Angus Had Been Born In Europe or the States, There Would Be A Museum Dedicated To Her ArtAbout The New Zealand Artist Fiercely Dedicated To Expressing Her Visual Intelligence — The United States has Georgia O’Keeffe, the Netherlands has Vincent van Gogh, New Zealand has Rita Angus. Well, that’s how I see it and feel when I see Rita Angus’ paintings. Had she lived elsewhere in the Western world, there would by now be a museum dedicated to her. Rita…Art3 min read
Published in Just Write·Aug 26, 2021Member-onlyComing To Terms with DisorderHow my writers block came & went thanks to Joan Didion’s Inspiration — If anyone would scroll through my previous stories, they might notice gaps in time. I pretended it would just look like I was working on other pieces elsewhere. Although I was doing heaps of “research for future pieces” (the classic writers’ procrastination trick), that was literally not the whole story…Writing Life3 min read
Published in Correspondent New Zealand Aotearoa·Aug 25, 2021Member-onlyPet Pigs in the ForestA True Story of Off-grid Life — I’d never seen a pig in my forest until a new neighbor bought the house across the road and befriended piglets from the woods behind his property. Five years of no pigs; only birds, mason wasps and other insects, spiders, geckos, frogs, mice, worms and, occasionally, a possum. …Nature4 min read
Aug 24, 2021Member-onlyResearch Suggests You Should Smile — Even When You Don’t Feel Like ItHow to hold a Pencil between Your Teeth For an Instant Shift in Happiness — It’s annoying to be told to cheer up and smile, especially by a stranger in the street. But imagine someone telling you to put a pencil between your teeth, promising it will lift your mood in ten seconds. There’s no shortage of advice on how to be happy and have…Happiness2 min read
