Add to List - #32 (Italy Edition)

River swims, For Such a Time as This and Caprese sandwiches

How many times do people give you a recommendation and you say ‘Oh, really? Cool. I’ll add it to the list!’ and then you go away and do not add it to any list anywhere?

Well, I present you with Add to List: the Sunday newsletter containing small things that brought joy, evoked an emotional reaction or became some short-lived stability for me in the past 7 days.

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Obsession

River swims.

My daily plunge in a free flowing river under a railway bridge tends to happen before I write. I find the cold, clear water restorative; it provides a mental reset for me and I feel like I can begin ‘the writing day’ once it’s done. Often, as I sit on the banks, I’ll re-read my morning pages; I’ll see the ideas which are nestled between my chaotic thoughts and my to-do lists about the village bin collection system. I let my mind run free as the water next to me. I place my characters in hypothetical situations, make notes about how they’d behave and then use this to fuel the scenes that I write in the afternoons. Wondering if the key to flow, is quite literally, flow.

Happy as a river clam

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Confession

I only just listened to the Charli XCX album.

I am too old for this, I think. Can you ‘brat’ in linen?

michaelaaa cringeXcringe?

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Shook 

England’s green and unpleasant land.

What has been going on in our country recently? Horrendous. How is this 2024!? I do wish for things to change. People in power to do something about this. We need to start addressing the way in which we refer to these terrorists in our media.

On the positive side it’s been wonderful to see positive backlash and displays of unity across London and beyond with drone footage of huge turnouts in our streets. Turns out the fascists can’t even be bothered to turn up; the people who care about change do though. There is hope in humanity yet.

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Book

For Such a Time as This by Shani Akilah

Only a couple of chapters in here but this is fantastic. This debut collection of short stories set in London is a beautiful, connected snapshot of relationships, friendship, race and isolation. There is so much heart in each one. I love the imagination which stems from seemingly simple, standard moments and how Shani Akilah hyper-focuses on relationships and the notion of human connection. The way in which they are woven together in a gripping, beautiful, provoking style is masterful. I cannot recommend this book enough.

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Cook

Devouring Caprese open sandwiches at the moment for lunch. The mozzarella out here is fantastico.

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Can’t Stop Scanning

Not a lot actually.

The instagram hiatus actually happened and my screen time is down by 2 hours a week. This week was a better week of writing too. The two are definitely linked.

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Forward Planning

Words, words and friends and family.

More writing this week. Hopefully continuing some ‘flow’. Plus, a friend is coming out to visit so we will be doing some local spots and perhaps a day out at the beach.

See you next Sunday (if not before).