I was delighted to learn that my essay ‘The Wood That Starts The Fire’ – about Raymond Carver’s short story ‘Kindling’ – made the longlist of the Thresholds Feature Writing Competition this year. I think this is possibly the first essay I’ve ever written so it was very nice for it to be chosen. It’s also the first time I’ve referred to my issues with anxiety and panic publicly – something which I’ve been uncertain about doing before, perhaps because it feels so personal.
But talking and being open helps I think – and maybe if there had been more openness about mental health issues when I was a child then I might not have felt like I was the only person going through such terrifying episodes alone.
Thanks go to the Thresholds team for selecting my essay for the longlist – and huge congrats to the other longlistees, shortlistees and winners! If you’d like to have a read of my piece then click here. To find out more about the competition and to read some of the other articles, then go to the Thresholds website.