Doing it slowly.
In my lil wellies.
Hi! I’m Keris. I’m an author writing about writing and books, music and films and TV, cats and life and food.
Well I said in December that my word for 2026 is SLOW. I suspected it would be hard - and it is - but it’s also been lovely.
The hard part is catching myself when I think I JUST NEED TO DO THIS AND THEN THIS AND THEN I’LL BE ABLE TO DO THIS AND THEN
I cannot do all the things all the time. That was literally the point of picking this word.
And not doing all the things has been lovely, it’s just a little disconcerting. I was reminding me of something but I couldn’t think what… and then I realised. It reminds me of when we took Harry out of school and we didn’t have to fight over homework and rush out of the house in the morning or stress about any number of school-related things, and it felt like cheating. Like, can it really be this easy?
So even when I start to panic that I still haven’t finished my novel or got my money courses up on my website or haven’t earned enough and can’t afford a Harry Styles ticket (just a normal one, not even an insanely priced one), I tell myself that this is okay, this is good, this is what I wanted and needed and it’s all going to work out. (I hope.)
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So what have I been doing?
Aside from getting roasted by Joe?
Good question. Let me check my phone…
Joe is now on a course five days a week until April, which is a big change! He’s loving it and I love that he loves it. And now Harry has a thing every Monday for eight weeks, which means I’m alone (apart from Noodles) all day Monday.
This has not happened for, I don’t know, fourteen years? And it’s why I’m shifting my Substacks around so I can have Mondays just for me. To do what? Not entirely sure yet…
Wow, this is sad, all the photos on my phone are of Noodles.
Our ceiling got fixed! The Christmas tree was collected! Harry Styles announced a new album! And then a single! And then a tour!
I took lots of photos of daffodils through the kitchen blinds.
Joe turned 17 and I put his face on his cake, which he requested twelve years ago. Better late than never.
I saw Marty Supreme at the cinema twice, because Joe is obsessed (he has seen it thrice!). Then I cried so much during Song Sung Blue that the row shook and Harry held my hand. We also saw Rental Family and it was lovely.
Joe and I are still watching 9-1-1, even though it’s not very good. He got a projector for his birthday so now we watch it on the big screen/wall. (Next time he’s at his dad’s, I’ll be borrowing the projector for a Heated Rivalry rewatch.) (Yes, of course I watched Heated Rivalry.)
I’ve never been an audiobooks person - there are just so many podcasts - but I’ve started listening to non-fic audiobooks on my paper round and I enjoyed Debbie Gibson’s memoir and found The Last Parenting Book You’ll Ever Read really comforting. Next up is Everything We Do Is Music by Elizabeth Alker.
I don’t think I’ve cooked anything new or interesting apart from this, which I didn’t think could possibly be as easy as it looks, but it totally was. Also: delicious.
How’s January been for you? Slow? Too slow? Neverending? Let me know if you make that bagel.
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Like you I wanted (and needed) to try and slow down in 2026, but it's not always easy. I am proud of a little win this week though.
I found myself with a rare empty evening. Usually, I'd see it as an opportunity to get something done - get stuck into writing for Substack, finally start one of those jobs around that house that keeps getting put off, or spend some time batch cooking. But I also noticed that I was feeling tired. There was nothing that urgently needed to be done, so I gave myself permission to just relax on the sofa with a book (I might even have had a little catnap). Best of all I didn't feel guilty or like I was wasting time.
Thanks for your reminder that it's okay to take it slow.
That dog looks nothing like you. It is, however, really cute.
January has been mainly stress, exams, bugs and sisterhood. And I have had something approaching a social life - a trip to the cinema to see Wicked (and the posh cinema where they bring you bottles of wine and you sit on a sofa), theatre to see Rocky Horror with Jason Donovan, an epic night of bowling, food, drink and karaoke to see off a college to pastures new (never going to forgive him for leaving), a night of trash on the telly with friends and a Burns Supper last night.
Also dealing with the sudden death of a wonderful human and news of the serious illness of another.
A small oasis of calm when I took my son back to college on Skye. I usually stay in the college but they were full that night so I went a hotel in the next town 13 miles away. It was a very long scary dark drive there in the evenings but I coped. But bliss was achieved by sitting on a very comfy sofa in the bar reading my book (Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors) and drinking my way through a whisky flight of delicious Skye whisky.