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Friends,

If you’re reading this direct on/from the blog, take one last long look around. If you’re reading via RSS or email, click on through to get that final glimpse. Because all going well, this will be my last update before we push the button on the all-new, snazzy website. My current and traditional (cough – some might say old-fashioned) format of posts listed in reverse alphabetical order is moving to something… different. I won’t give away spoilers, you’ll just have to keep your eye out! I’m very excited, it’s definitely an epochal moment for a 13-year-old-blog which has seen its fair share of such moments over the years!

Which leads me very nicely to my next bit of news. I am a guest this week on ‘The Good Girl Confessional’ podcast. Such is the brilliance of technology, I’ve embedded it here to listen (feed readers might need to click through), or alternatively you can find it at such familiar places such as Spotify, iTunes and iHeartRadio.

Listen to “The Good Girl Confessional – Ep 8 – Conversations with Karen Andrews” on Spreaker.

I’d like to thank Sandy for this opportunity and the chance to talk about some of my favourite things – blogging, writing, reading, creativity, parenting and health.

Let me be a bit more specific. Blogging? We touch on the legacy of this blog, how I helped Sandy’s come into being!, common fears I come across when teaching others about the medium. Writing? My books, the publishing process, the rise of self-publishing. Reading? The excitement of a big book event, encouraging reluctant readers and Margaret Atwood. Parenting? My shift away from that and the ‘mummy blogger’ brand. Health? My ongoing experience with Fibromyalgia (something I’ve not yet talked about very much). And much more!

Do check it out.

I have a poem called ‘Rehabilitation’ in the current edition of Verandah 34, the cover of which you see below.

Verandah 34 - includes a poem of mine ‘Rehabilitation’
It is available for purchase here and you’ll have to be quick because last I heard they had nearly all sold out!

Finally, to a difficult decision. I will be resting ‘My Creative Process’ again this November – mostly because the website re-development and other things have taken up too much my mental bandwidth! It is also going to undergo a bit of an overhaul (sorry for the mixed metaphor). But more on that later, there’s already enough exciting stuff happening. HOWEVER. I think I might still do my micro poetry #mycreativeprocessnov challenge. I created the list before I made the decision. While I could hold it over until next year, it’s also a chance for me to double down on my creativity and making NO EXCUSES because even though I am busy/tired, creativity matters. Join me? I’ll be on Instagram. (I said at the beginning of the paragraph I might do it, but I think I just talked myself into it!)

Nov 2019

I think that’s all. See you on the flip side x

karen andrews

Karen Andrews is the creator of this website, one of the most established and well-respected parenting blogs in the country. She is also an author, award-winning writer, poet, editor and publisher at Miscellaneous Press. Her latest book is Trust the Process: 101 Tips on Writing and Creativity