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things are changing...

When I started this Substack, I was about to turn 70 and knew that I didn’t want to feel like I was on the downhill stretch of my life. I was curious about the experience of ageing in a modern world where getting older doesn’t need to mean that we are becoming feeble or unimportant. I wanted to explore how I could show up in a fast-moving world without getting caught up in the rat races.

In the end I didn’t write much about it because I stumbled into what feels like the rest of my life. I’m afraid I can’t tease out the threads sufficiently to provide a step by step narrative, but I can sum it all up by simply saying I found myself. My authenticity. My creative spark. And everything changed.

I don’t know that it would be accurate to say that my Self was ever lost, but since adolescence (a long, long time ago!) I have been distanced from the one thing - writing - that defines me, or would have defined me if I had let it. Yes, something happened. Something made me feel that I was only good at wordsmithing, but not good at thinking, which is, of course, a precursor to writing. I have spent a lifetime loving words but fearing expression.

At the age of 70, it was time for a change. I was ready to change.

Publicly I went very quiet for more than a year while I carefully worked to discern the direction I want to go at this point in my life. First and foremost, I have been embracing my writerly soul, finding my voice, my passion, and a new depth of authenticity. Learning to say what I think. Privately, I have been writing more than I have ever done, in a variety of genres and forms. You will see that I have changed the tagline on my website to My Writing Pilgrimage which feels significant and absolutely spot-on.

Second, I have been diving into the life and times of the medieval woman I first encountered nearly a decade ago, St Birgitta of Sweden. Although I’ve been interested in her for a long time, my relationship to her has felt increasingly personal over this past year, and my extensive research is developing into a book. I will use my website and its blog to discuss my research and her pilgrimage, but I want to use this Substack space to write about my own pilgrimage, my journey into a writing life, where I can give a warmer and more personal “dispatch from the road” about my writing - not just about a specific writing project but about my process where I can share my discoveries and writings as I explore voices, genres, and forms. I am changing the name from Ageing Creatively to Following the Thread to illustrate that this is what is happening as I follow Ariadne’s thread through the labyrinth of life.

The posts here and on Ariadne’s Thread will be separate and distinct, and I hope that you will consider subscribing to both. I know that many of you followed me on Substack because you thought I’d be writing about the ageing process. I’ve changed the game plan because as I started to write about ageing creatively, my process took on a life of its own. Instead of writing about ageing creatively, I embraced it and let it lead me on what feels like the most important and exciting adventure of my life. As I say on my website: Who knew that being in my 70’s could be so fun?

I hope you’ll stay with me here!

Read more about St Birgitta on Ariadne’s Thread: A writer’s pilgrimage