In the words of Kylie - So Now Goodbye...

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This may be one of the last blogs I write on Vamoosh. I feel like the time of pondering, typos and some insanely accidental made up grammar is gone.  I also feel it’s time to write with purpose, see if I can make a wee contribution. So maybe... this is goodbye.

There is a silence around this blog, like it’s too honest and I don’t quite realise I’m doing it. (I do.) I wonder if all women who write with a confessional tone have had this experience. Or maybe, it’s cos, as the title says, my blogs are a bit shit. So the next step is to step outside Miriam a little further, and write on a theme, better, with an editor, to try and net out the pondweed. You’ll never guess what that theme is (you can.)

I feel it’s relevant to tell you why I’m ready to shift-up a gear. Today marks the end of a huge campaign my PR company was running for an arena show, 30,000 tickets to sell over three nights. It was a huge change for me in terms of numbers, but in terms of PR just a few different tricks and maneuvers; and it feels significant.  At the same time I have been hired by a client to do far too much work for a borderline insulting fee. And it’s been really difficult to manage. I should have said no – I know I should have. I know NOW. But it’s made me realise how much the onus is on me to make decisions that suit my worth – and my work’s worth. Alongside this I’ve been reading (obsessively) the opinions and work of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who has stepped out with extraordinary wit and intelligence to make a difference to how women see and place themselves. I feel inspired to take a deep breath, pool my powers and head on up to the next level. DING DING.

I have really enjoyed expunging the odd thing on this platform. A few blogs have had lovely warm reactions, which has been amazing – and I feel no disappointment about the ones that haven’t. You only learn by putting yourself out there. I like long explanations of little things, and I know this can be a problem when one is reading stream-of-consciousness. Don't expect a huge shift – SOZ – just more chatter, moments from my wee life and maybe a little more background on how we got here. So for now I’ll say thank you so much for reading. I hope to see you on the flip side. 

PJ Harvey, John Donne on National Poetry Day

PJ Harvey read this in a break in her extraordinarily powerful Glastonbury Festival set this summer. When I feel listless, dispirited and terrified by what's happening, maybe it's best to seek solace in the fact that humans have been utter morons before. Let's hope there is enough wisdom between us to rescue ourselves from too huge a fuck up this time round. On and for National Poetry Day... and my sanity.

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

John Donne 1624 (in the voice of PJ Harvey June 2016)