12 Personal Essays in 2024 Challenge

I haven’t given my blog much love or attention over the last couple of years. I wasn’t in the headspace to write, at least not the personal essays I’m known for. But in the words of George Costanza: I’m back, baby. I’ve made a commitment to write one essay a month in 2024 — a slimmed down version of the #26Essays2017 challenge I set for myself in the first year I was in Vietnam. I will be experimenting with structure and form, so you might see some weird stuff. Please stick with me. Some essays will be short, and others will be split into parts because they are long. Maybe I’ll end up publishing them into a collection. Who knows?

And here are those essays, in order of my having written them:

Essay 1 – Lessons in Forgiveness from a Lifetime of Betrayal

Essay 2 – My Submission to the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Inquiry

Essay 3 – 101 Things I Know For Sure

Essay 4 – As It Happened

Essay 5 – On Apologies

Essay 6 – Stitched Up: Her Present, Our Past, My Future

Essay 7 – Mothering: All The Things I Did

Essay 8 – Alienated Grandparents: What Are Your Rights?

Essay 9 – If I Could Turn Back Time

Essay 10 – A Few of My Favourite Things

Essay 11 – Acknowledging the Pattern: My Journey Through Family Estrangement