(Char) Emily Writes

I was listening to Kerrang! Radio the other day and the presenter said something that really stuck with me: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your future plans.” That’s certainly fitting right now. Jon Mahon, the presenter, spoke about the importance of seeing the silver linings during difficult times such as this pandemic. I love listening to him in the mornings. Not only does he play some absolute bangers, but he tries to keep his listeners positive. He convinced me to see my own silver linings, after feeling upset after my degree show got cancelled. Like me, you should write down your own silver linings and perhaps stick them up on your wall. Read them whenever you’re feeling down or bored. Here are the things keeping me going during lockdown. 1. Less pressure to lose weight Since January, I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself to lose weight by a certain date. To be specific, Slam Dunk in May. However, the festival has been postponed until Se...

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COVID-19: it's on everyone's mind right now. Even if you don't want it to be, even if you say you're not that bothered about it, it's all anyone can talk about. It's turned the world into a scary place: panic buying toilet-roll and hand sanitiser, lockdowns, self-isolation... it doesn't seem real. It feels like we're trapped in a dystopian novel. What a lot of people may not realise is that the world's reaction to this virus is actually really terrifying for those with mental health issues. And the long-lasting effects could be dangerous. I've just come out of two weeks of self-isolation as I had a bad cough and was feeling quite poorly. Being stuck in the house unwillingly for so long actually had a horrible effect on my well-being... and I consider myself an introvert. Suicidal thoughts that I thought were long buried started to crop up again. By the end of the two weeks, I was in a complete hole that I wasn't sure...

Read my book review on Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper here: https://www.charemilywrites.com/post/thoughts-on-unfollow-a-journey-from-hatred-to-hope-leaving-the-westboro-baptist-church

On the afternoon of Tuesday 18th February, I received a phone call from Adam Crowther who said he wanted me to come on BBC Radio Bristol that night. I was in utter shock, of course. When I woke up that morning to go to university, I never expected that I would be interviewed at BBC Bristol that very evening. After reading 'A Letter from My Body to Myself' out at a Weston Writer’s Nights event, I decided to send it to BBC Upload, a radio show that showcases various creative work. I was fully expecting a rejection letter in a few weeks’ time. Instead, I was told only four days later that they loved the piece and were going to air it that night. To my shock, they also wanted to interview me. For the rest of the day, I was literally bouncing around everywhere. I don’t think I had ever been so excited. I was pumped with so much adrenaline that the nerves didn’t even hit me until I was sitting in the studio, waiting to go on. However, everyone at the BBC wer...