Weeknotes

The week that started 21st October

Written by LiLi Kathleen Bright on .
LiLi Kathleen smiling with words 'Black History Month 2019' emblazoned boldy above

Attended Black in Tech Festival. Of course it was great being amongst 500-ish black folks in tech. And it was great going with colleagues too. At least 6 of us went.

Enthused to put more time and energy into black-oriented things at work.

It makes such a difference not being alone. Obviously. But, like, it’s a *huge* difference being able to rest & take a break and for the work to continue in my absence.

I miss Afro Tech Fest and I’m excited about its return in 2021!

trees line the river Thames, view from above

Writing

Used Kate Leth’s tip for getting to understand my characters better. Really helped ease me back into writing. Writing about my novel, rather than writing the novel itself.

Now I want to do method writing and remake my bedroom in the image of theirs.

Daily commute writing

  • Monday: Sick. Read. Slept. Audio stories. Rested.
https://twitter.com/foyinog/status/1187285567043784704?s=19
  • Tuesday: Continued writing my novel. Started getting back to my bedtime routine (hot water bottle, reading, music, meditation). Got carried away reading and went to bed at 22:30 though. (9-10 is my goal.)
  • Wednesday: Continued writing my poetry collection and my novel.
  • Thursday: Continued writing (around) my novel.
  • Friday: ???

I’ve been wanting to write during my evening commute. But actually I’m tired by that time. So I’ve been sticking to watching YouTube videos, as I planned, and reading Twitter, which I didn’t plan.

Uninstalled the Twitter app, at last, again, and Instagram too, because I’ve been spending so much time there, and because lately there’s been even more transphobic hatred and violence in my feed.

Feeling better already.

LiLi's reflection smiling in a bus window, view of London at night over the river outside
Self-portait + London cityscape

Reading

I finished reading Zadie Smith’s On Beauty. What a story. What beautiful phrases, so evocative. What a plot. So exciting to be reading, and listening to, fiction again, and still. I wonder what I’ll read next…

Trees

  • wet brown papery seeds on concrete
    hornbeam seeds
  • wet brown leaf on concrete
    maple leaf

Great time in Epping Forest learning about Woodland Ecology and Management (article about the same course in October 2017). Learned so much, and so good to be in the forest.

Introduced to witch elm, grey willow and whitebeam.

Love these tree courses and signing up for many more shortly.

Met another Natural History Museum researcher/curator as well — third one this year!

Loads of inspiration for my writing.

This week in audio

I’m loving listening to Tales From A Black Universe so much. It’s an audio collection of black speculative fiction and sci-fi short stories.

My favourite stories so far (some of):

  • The Grays of Cestus V by Erin Roberts
  • Witch Ball by Irette Y. Patterson
  • The Familiar Monsters by James Beamon
  • A Stitch in Space-Time by Nicky Drayden

Listened to nearly all the stories though, so I’m looking for more podcasts…

“What if the love that you deserve is love you never find?” 😱

Lost by Dermot Kennedy

And found Lost by Dermot Kennedy by accident. Found Lost by Luz Corrigan on my Discover Weekly.

This week in videos

The winds stopped raging, the clocks went back and now I’m off to celebrate Diwali over dinner with friends. 🕯️