[janet gunter]

I started blogging in 2001 without a regular internet connection. I used to write blog posts on an old laptop, save to floppy and take to the internet. Ever since then I have always loved blogs, the smallness and intimacy of them. The “few to few”.

Social media destroyed the collective blogging brain and starting my own organisation/campaign meant the end of the road for mine too.

I'm coming back to it.

I love the crónica which I suppose is a Latin form of writing that preceded blogging. Crónicas are the product of being in the world, feeling the world and trying to capture moments, feelings and thoughts in a short form.

Perhaps my favourite writer of crônicas (PT spelling) Clarice Lispector, famously said

”...I only write when I want to, I am an amateur and I insist continuing to be one.”

Not to compare my talents to hers (!) but I am finding myself wanting to write as an amateur again, starting to sit with a blank screen or a blank page to scribble on.

Given I'm taking time away from the stresses of full-time paid work to try and heal my body from extended illness, I can't help but seeing this kind of writing as curative. Let's see where it takes me.

On this site, I've saved a couple of older posts, such as “Tips on leaving aid work” and “Reading between the lines” about my historical research.