Welcome to The Hearth. This space is dedicated to personal reflections and life outside of academic research. Browse the posts below for insights into my daily routines, navigating life as a neurodivergent PhD candidate, and finding balance beyond the university.
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Who am I? Recovery, discovery, and peace.
It’s undoubtedly been a long time since I last posted on my blog or any of my social media accounts. Some of you may have been wondering where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing, and others may not have even noticed my absence at all. Honestly, if the shoe were on the other foot,…
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Book-sell blurbs for YA
I have recently been trying to think of ways I can help overworked, time-poor, teacher librarians (TLs), particularly those with smaller teams or working by themselves. In a conversation with one of my TL colleagues, she got me thinking about how time-consuming and difficult it is for one person to read ALL THE BOOKS (not…
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Book review: See you on Venus
I visited my old workplace recently and I got to talking with my lovely library ladies about new books that had come in over the past year. I didn’t realise how much I missed buying for a school library collection! So, I have decided to help them out a little by reading some of the…
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Working on campus for two weeks
In the last two weeks in February, I worked on campus and it was a lot of fun. This is my third work visit to Wagga Wagga (fourth overall so I’m starting to get the lay of the land) so I thought I’d do a bit of a run down of what’s been like to…
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Reviewing and rating books: A deeply personal act
The following Tweet popped up in my Twitter feed the other day and it got me thinking… There are a couple of issues within this tweet, including the concept of authors trying to influence reviews/ratings of their books, but the one I want to focus on is the act of rating and reviewing books, and…
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Reading for me
The past 12 months have been incredibly liberating in terms of my reading material. From Dec 2015 to Dec 2021, I read nothing but books I could recommend to my students. Since leaving the school library/classroom and moving into the world of academia, I decided to read only that which got me super excited. Don’t…
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One year of being an academic
Today marks my 1 year anniversary in my not-so-new job. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed this year. So, instead, I’m going to list a five big things that I’m proud of. 1. I am a PhD candidate Most of you would already know that I passed my Confirmation of Candidature process…
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Reviews of Rainbow Reads
I’ve been reading a bit of LGBTQIA+ fiction lately and thought I’d do some quick reviews! Clearly I’ve been reading lots of MLM (man loves man) fiction and need to discover some other reads – suggestions welcome in the comments please! Young Adult Fiction Heartstopper is an oldy but a goody and is widely acknowledged…
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2022 Intentions
My long-time readers will know that I’ve developed a bit of a habit in reflecting on the year that’s been and writing my intentions for the year ahead down. I’m a little late to the party this year as it’s the last day of January and I’m only just getting around to this… Oops! Better…