Category: Life Writing

I hate admitting this, but I’m a fearful person. The list of what I’m afraid of is long and detailed. Some fears are fairly typical and global, like the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected many people. Before the pandemic, I was not much of a germaphobe, but that’s near the top...

My eating disorder has gone to Canberra, Australia’s national capital. The eating disorder has travelled there within the pages of my diary collection, acquired by the National Library of Australia (NLA). There, the eating disorder will be open to public scrutiny. Canberra is an eight-hour road journey from where I...

I’ve broken yet again. What hope have I got? I wonder, but I must have hope. Must not I, for when I think there is none, I want to die because one cannot live without hope. (Diary excerpt, 1991) I’m 40 years old. The next day I regress further.  I’m...

A decade ago, my husband and I purchased an elliptical machine from a store that specialized in exercise equipment. The purchase price included a complementary session with a personal trainer. We took advantage of this offer, mostly to get some valuable pointers on how to use the machine and all...

Eating Disorder Awareness Week (EDAW) 2024 will take place in Korea from February 28 to March 5, with all seven sessions examining the theme of Epistemic Justice. The question of how to reflect the lived experiences of the eating disorder sufferers, and those of the mental health patients themselves into...

When I turned 80, I felt that my life was almost over. Deciding I needed some social connection and a new challenge, I joined June’s local community writing group. A year later, I have published my first book. Rather than stay at home and feel sorry for myself, I went...

So, you want to write your memoir? A memoir is a story about part of your life. What part do you most want to write about? Why? My memoir, A Girl Called Tim, is about my life with an eating disorder from age 11 to age 55. As I entered...

… i got your book A Girl Called Tim out of the library and i literally read the whole thing in one day because i just couldnt put it down … it was the first book i have ever read that describes exactly how i feel … i wish that...

I have been struggling with my eating disorder for a very long time and in the past two and a half years, quite badly. The act of taking sick leave for a long time is not necessarily accompanied by an obligation to cooperate as a patient. For example, an eating...

My first pregnancy was going beautifully…until it wasn’t. We were doing things in the traditional order: we married, bought our first house and, after nearly a year of trying, were expecting our first child. I was ecstatic. I had always looked forward to being a mother. After years of praying...