Unfinished Thoughts

Back in March 2020, when the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic and the UK headed into the first of its three lockdowns, I took one of the characters from my Power of Zero series and made him write a diary. The daily posts, which I kept up through all three lockdowns, were meant to help me make sense of what were unprecedented events. By viewing the daily reality through the lens of my story world, I managed to keep the overwhelm to a level I could handle.

Right now, in April 2025, I feel as if I should be reaching for the same remedy since – along with the change to our personal lives – the world seems determined to go off the rails again. It could work, too, seeing that my Power of Zero world revolves around a found family of a gay couple and the two boys they’ve rescued from a pimp, and the rhetoric and changing attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ and other marginalised communities are truly alarming.

But I find that the surge of hate is only one of the ingredients of the current hell brew.

There’s the shadow of war, a fraying of economies all around the world, the threat of big tech, the many attempts to overwhelm us to the point of apathy and, finally but not least, my attempts to process my own history, to see who I am as a writer and where to put my efforts to improve. And while I can do little about the ‘what’, my dominant Context strength is fascinated by the why of these changes.

There’s nothing better than looking at a stack of notes written over time to sift gold from dross and see patterns that weren’t apparent up close – which this section of my journal is for.

Unfinished Thoughts

safe spaces

JackieSue25@60| Unfinished Thoughts

Every person deserves to have a safe space.

Not now and then or in the middle of a crisis, but whenever it’s needed.

And those safe spaces must be truly safe. Not to the outside observer, but to the people who shelter there.
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Seeking the middle ground

JackieSue25@60| Unfinished Thoughts

President Trump’s tariffs have caused upheaval and debate everywhere. From US citizens in Ohio, who think it’s a useful measure that will help them back to prosperity, to governments preparing retaliation, to stock markets freaking out, to penguins wondering how they ended up in the middle of all this.

Commentators who disagree with Trump’s measures rile about bullying and a disproportionate response to globalism and integration. Those in favour speak of protecting the US and restoring its industrial capacity.

And neither is entirely wrong.
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Stuck Isn’t Lazy

JackieSue25@60| Plot Twist: Me+ Unfinished Thoughts

Every writer knows the feeling of getting stuck. Whether a character isn’t cooperating, a scene doesn’t gel, or we’ve no idea how to get out of the corner we’ve plotted ourselves into – there are thousands of descriptions of “stuck”, and shelves filled with books explaining how to get unstuck.

Yet from conversations with other writers I’ve learned that “being stuck” is deeply individual…
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Thirty-Three Years

JackieSue25@60| Unfinished Thoughts

Thirty-three years are more than half my life.

Nearly twice as long as the time I’ve had with my mother.

A PhD, six jobs, two houses, nine cars, a tandem, two cats, a business, and 30-odd books fit into that time.