Amy. B. Garratt

Amy aka ABG (Anxious Beautiful Goddess? No just my surname/partners!)

 

33 Years old SAHM to a Blended Family.

Mother of 1 (Bio) and 1 (Pre-made/step).

Partner of a bearded one (Jamie).

From Doncaster South Yorkshire.

Now in Brigg North Lincolnshire (since May2018).

Studying for a BA Honours in English Lit/Creative Writing via The Open University (since 2016).

Enthusiastic about sustainability/eco living.

Likes shopping small/supporting local businesses.

Reading, drinking tea, binge watching, crafting, and entertaining the kids are my main priorities!

I am an anxious, depressed and generally panicked woman about life/myself/the world at large, who decided to express herself through the joy of free writing.

I sat in lockdown experiencing the same day over and over, wondering what to do with the rest of my life.... and decided I wanted to create a collection of poetry about my experiences with mental health. I also wanted to show the love and support I’ve gained from meeting my partner, having my family and friends, and how life can change in such a short time.

I hope it can inspire people to take a chance on something they want/need to do. I’m very grateful to my parents and my nannan for investing in my dream/partnership publishing for making it a reality.

 

I wanted to add a few more things to my bio now I’ve had time to sit down haha!

Firstly, it should say Riona O’Connor not Rhona (I should have checked that first!).

 

Secondly the most recent book I’ve read is now ‘The Memory Wood’ by Sam Lloyd for The Rabbit Hole Book club as I read it yesterday!

The Rabbit Hole/Mel and Nick have been really supportive the last 13 months, as I don’t have a network of friends in Brigg (socially awkward!) but they introduced me to the book club and always have time for a chat (whether online or when we were allowed in the shop), and even gifted me some books for the kids which is much appreciated since they’re a small business. They also encouraged me to write a book review, which they shared on their social media and have sourced me books I’ve asked for (for leisure but also uni set texts!). I also found a lot of small businesses to buy craft related things from thanks to their markets and promotions.

 

I also wanted to note the support I’ve received from other female writers, as it’s really inspired me especially with following the writing prompts etc. Particularly @thetasteofmypen (Lois Rose Sterling) and @penandpendulum on Instagram who have shared my work and given me great feedback on my online pieces. Also Nell Pattison and Philippa East who I met at an author evening at the rabbit hole in March 2020 (pre first lockdown!!), who wished me success with my writing course (and I’ve also had some nice chats with Nell via social media about many topics including leggings!) it’s just great to have women genuinely supporting other women (and not in a competitive sense, just giving advice etc).

 

I think that people don’t necessarily realise how lonely depression or anxiety is, despite the fact that it’s talked about a lot more these days, people still don’t always know how to deal with it, and often you get left in isolation to kind of... get over it?

I had a really tough time after having my daughter, and didn’t really feel like I was in control for a good.... 8 months. I had the opportunity through the Truth to Power Cafe (a performance I took part in at Cast in Feb 2018, Feb 2020, and then an online version in lockdown) to express myself through spoken word and describe all the turmoil I’ve been through (especially with my eco anxiety/worrying about the state of the planet). Jeremy Goldstein and Jen Hayes were lovely to work with, and it was great to be invited multiple times to make those speeches and hear others experiences. In those 2 years my life completely changed, leaving my hometown/the experiences of being a blended family...so it was really interesting to see the difference in my life/how I was feeling as a result. I was lucky that my parents and my mother/father/nannie in law are so supportive and really helped us through that first year with a lot of love and care.

 

One of the poems I’m most passionate about is the one I wrote for my older sister Nikki about ME. It’s an illness that often gets overlooked (it’s symptoms are now described as the long term affects of Covid-19..) and I don’t often get ‘requests’ for topics to write about, but I really wanted to do justice to how she feels being isolated a lot of the time/house bound and the affect that isolation has on her mental health. Alot of us have experienced isolation as a result of Covid, but people with ME or fatigue... theres never really an end date to it.  We’re very close and it’s difficult to not be able to see her whenever we want to. She said the poem really captured her experience (I can’t say it would to everyone with ME, as the experience is very individual) but I do hope it will be included in my collection as a sort of... dedication to her and our relationship.