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Category:

Writing

Writing

Spring-cleaning & gratitude

by belinda September 27, 2020

I’ve been clearing out boxes of my mementoes, in lieu of our upcoming move. I’m not a hoarder generally, but the one thing I hold on to is paper: letters, postcards, photos (when we used to print them out!), ticket stubs, event programmes. I’ve got shoeboxes labelled per year, and each one is brimming over with words. We’ve moved so many times in the past decade and I’ve dragged these ten or so boxes around the country with me each time, so today I decided that enough is enough.

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September 27, 2020 0 comment
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Writing

Creativity in Times of Crises

by belinda August 17, 2020

The thing about creativity is that it doesn’t wait until it’s convenient. As a writer, I’ve always had visions of taking myself off to a villa in Tuscany (surrounded by lavender fields), where I’d live in solitude for a few months and complete my bestselling novel. There’d be peace and time to write, and no distractions.

But that’s not how it works.

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August 17, 2020 2 comments
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Writing

Ruin is a Gift

by belinda July 30, 2020

It’s not like I haven’t been writing, because I have. Just not here.

Little poems have come to me in fragments, repeating sentences in my brain like a bird knocking on the inside of my head, desperate to be let out. They aren’t necessarily good poems but the good thing about my current stage of life is that I’ve started to care a bit less. I still seek affirmation, but that is now infused with a healthy dose of not trying to please absolutely everybody, all of the time. This feels intensely liberating.

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July 30, 2020 0 comment
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Writing

Birds on a Wire

by belinda May 3, 2020

So many feelings, but so difficult to express them. They sit bundled up beneath her skin, like flies trapped against a window. Like a tangle of white cords, with nowhere to plug into. Is this how non-writers feel? What do they do with these feelings, if they don’t write them down? Do they disappear back into the body, like a pimple that isn’t popped? Poison sent back down into the self again, because the carrier does not have the means to release it.

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May 3, 2020 2 comments
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Writing

Grieving Lost Things

by belinda April 14, 2020

It feels like we’ve reached a phase in this pandemic where we have nothing much to say to each other. We started out all cocky and optimistic – things were a novelty. Let’s bake guys! Let’s exercise! Help others! Share memes! But with the end of the long Easter weekend, everything just feels extremely…meh.

We’re starting to get on each others’ nerves. We’ve watched all the things we wanted to. Read all our good books. Work may be trickling in, or not at all, and we’re starting to worry about what the future holds. And then enter home schooling, which began for me today, bringing with it a whole other set of frustrations and challenges.

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April 14, 2020 10 comments
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Writing

We Need Things We Can Touch

by belinda March 31, 2020

Put away the glare of worlds within those squares of light

Because we need things we can touch

 

We need the metallic smell of yeast

The touch of dough in the webs of our hands

The comfort of butter

 

We need to light candles

on our tables and in our hearts

We need the Autumn sun to leak out of the sky

and into our skin

 

We need to notice how the clouds are in pieces

How the moon is a rind

Watch the leaves gather in silent groups

as the trees are suddenly unburdened

 

We need hugs, warm ones. Long ones.

To breathe each other in and to rest there for a bit

Because now we can.

 

We need to hear voices

Ones we love and miss

Hear their fears and their joys

because we hadn’t really been listening

 

We need to press pen to paper

Trace words with our fingers

Make the music

Paint the colours

 

We need soil in our fingernails

To press a seed into the warmth

To watch that green shoot heading

upwards towards the light

 

Put away that rectangle, which reflects where you are not.

Because we need things we can touch.

 

March 31, 2020 2 comments
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About Me

About Me

Belinda Mountain

Writer. Blogger. Overthinker.
Likes to eat/read/exercise.
Asks good questions.
Cannot tell a lie.
South African currently in The Netherlands.
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An amazing lightning quick visit to Amsterdam to s An amazing lightning quick visit to Amsterdam to see old friends and meet some new ones. I didn’t take any iconic city pictures because we were on our bikes and it was too terrifying to stop 🤣. The pace in this place is frenetic and everyone is edgy and uber cool. Vondelpark was zinging with an air of Spring and there were rollerbladers, picnics, joggers, dogs and bees and flowers everywhere. Now we just need things to open up so we can return again and see it properly - what a place😍. #amsterdam #vondelpark
I realized the other day that I don’t talk much I realized the other day that I don’t talk much about my day job on here! I’m a copywriter and co-own a content agency called Black Mountain (that I started 8 years ago with Cath Black @a_black_cat ).

Covid has changed all of our worlds - it’s heightened our need to communicate with others. We’re human and this isolation is not normal - we’re all seeking connection, inspiration & hope. 

This doesn’t only apply to our personal lives, it also influences how we want organizations to communicate with us. With this in mind, I wrote about 5 key attributes companies need to incorporate into their communication, in order to reach people during this pandemic (& beyond). 

If you’d like to read, the link is in my bio🤓 #copywriting #communication #blackmountainagency
Happy Valentine’s Day from the land of red bikes Happy Valentine’s Day from the land of red bikes & good doors. Eat something sweet. Take a nap. Tell people you love them❤️ #valentinesday2021
It feels like I’m living in one of those Christm It feels like I’m living in one of those Christmas cards my mother & her friends used to send each other once a year, featuring red-breasted robins & snow covered trees. I want to show her all of this but I can’t, so I post it here instead🤍
We walked to school in the snow this morning, the We walked to school in the snow this morning, the whole neighbourhood out on the streets, pulling kids on sleds and walking with their families. These two ran in without a glance and now I have 6 hours ahead of me without home schooling, snack fixing or squabble mediation. Amazing.
It’s pretty magical out there today ❄️ It’s pretty magical out there today ❄️
Early morning hockey drop off. Something so libera Early morning hockey drop off. Something so liberating about riding my bike back through the silent forest, mist rising from the water, watching duck families setting out and birds waking up in the trees.
Another pretty challenging week but there is light Another pretty challenging week but there is light somewhere in this tunnel✨. Kids are getting into the rhythm of online school and are feeling a lot more settled. They’ve joined a hockey club & started making friends. We’re signing a lease today for the apartment of dreams🤞and we’ve “called the ship” so our furniture/stuff should be here end of February. Oh! And it’s looking highly likely that kids will return to actual school on 8 Feb. Lots of good stuff interwoven with the stress. Thanks for all the kind messages and have wonderful weekends xx
Home schooling & lockdown totally kicked my ass th Home schooling & lockdown totally kicked my ass this week (limping over the finish line here). But the sun is shining and the sky is blue. And the PM here says it is their “highest priority” that primary schools go back on 8 February - so we live in hope.
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Popular Posts

  • Pesso wedges Win R2000 with Pesso Shoes posted on February 7, 2020
  • We Need to Stop Making Things Easy for our Kids posted on January 29, 2020
  • Grieving Lost Things posted on April 14, 2020
  • Our Age Shouldn’t Limit Us posted on March 4, 2020
  • The Light Years & the ‘Beautiful Awful’ posted on October 9, 2019

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    February 21, 2021
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    February 6, 2021
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