The Quest:
Thou wilt findeth the magic in unlikely places, seeketh out the joy that instils strength and bringeth back the sparkle.
Wilst thou join me?
Such quest friends joining me here will be:
determined to find the good in stuff
not a jerk
delighted by animals being ridiculous
good at cheering (access to own pom-poms desirable)
disproportionately excited by tiny things, things that sparkle or light up, or a combo of all of the above.
up for a good DIY adventure
able to bring snacks
open to dreaming again
a big fan of stories: poems, tales, art, design, lovely things, funny things and open to the occasional Star Trek reference. (Non. Negotiable.)
This is for the grown up whose head is equal parts daydreams and dry shampoo. We might not be entirely sure what we want to be when we grow up but we do know this: It’s the stories that matter.
We know it because for years we made friends with the imaginary, walked through enchanted wardrobes, fought battles, spoke spells, and discovered secret gardens. We still remember what it’s like to pretend we’re pirates as we sit in our sandbox ships, seeing through cardboard telescopes, fighting off the baddies and claiming the treasure for our own. We lived these stories—becoming characters out of our favourite book or creating new adventures, people and places.
We could feel these tales embiggen us from the inside out as they taught us where the magic truly is—within.
Then we grow up and life gets full. Instead of pretend baddies we face real foes like heartbreak, chronic illness, career confusion, horrible humans and get to watch our dreams be smashed up like avocados.
We’ve made too many mistakes, wrong turns and accepted more than one misleading, time-consuming side quests with unsavoury characters.
And now, when we need it the most, the magic seems to be lost.
Even at the shops we see the colourful, glittering, playful clothes replaced by grown up beige and boring sacks of linen that make us look like potatoes with handbags. (Where’s my jumper that makes me look like a stegosaurus? Where have my light-up shoes and glitter shoes gone?)
Our books are depressing and dark. TV shows no longer tell us we’re powerful and can create beauty out of small things but revolve around crime: true or made up.
Hard fricking pass. To all of it.
A dark thought shadows over our way:
Is the magic still within us? Was it ever there at all? Were we just lying to ourselves this whole time?
I say no. Or nay, whatever.
We always have been filled with the stuff of dreams. But along the way some of the magic was stolen from us by the Horrible Dark and some of the magic was given away, by us.
We made ourselves smaller, dimmer, less sparkly and far less powerful because we we were told we’re not really magic after all. (You’re too _____ young/old/unimportant/unskilled/average/ insert message of choice there.)
It’s time we took it back.
So, I’ve set this quest for myself in my work here: find the magic, reawaken lost dreams and restore the forgotten stories, through art, poetry, video, words and more.
I write by the light of a disco ball
Hey, if we haven’t met yet, I’m Keeley and I’m not joking. I have a huge disco ball in my little creator’s cabin and it throws glinty bits of light around like it really means it. It helps me find the words better, you understand.
I’m an Aussie and live in the nation’s capital with my humans, my 10yr old whippet and my rescue greyhound who steals all my shoes. I’m a dedicated adult ballet student, I do voice-over work on occasion, I have big dreams and I like my tea, earl grey, hot. #IYKYK
I’m a writer, creative director and professional daydreamer.
Honestly I’m just here because I love writing and storytelling, I want to give people hope through my stories and I want to share these tales with people who speak my language of weird.
Most importantly, I believe there is more.
There is more for you.
And there’s more for me too.
Whatever we’ve gone through to get to this point, or perhaps what we’re even stuck in right now, this is the part in all those stories where they fought back and won, right? They got their glow on, stood up to diabolical rulers, destroyed the ring, brought the garden back to life and found their way home.
Why can’t that be true for us too?
Say you’ll stay and hang? We can stay up late swapping stories, and in the morning, Uber Eats some waffles.
Want to get creative together?
In the highlight of my career so far I’ve partnered with
to co-create The Substack Soirée for you too. Sara has basically been my favourite person on the internet for years and now she’s one of my favourite people in real life too. Doing this work with her is the stuff of dreams and it’s 5 weeks of creative inspiration and goodness with the best people around. I’ll let you know when our next live round is coming up so you won’t miss it.
I’ve once again started my journey on Instagram after losing all my social accounts. I love the visual side of storytelling so it’s still a fave haunt despite it being a jerk and not giving me my account back after the jagweeds stole it but who’s still bitter? Not me. I share animals being ridiculous pretty regularly in my stories, disco daylight on the feed and magic wherever I can find it. Don’t dilly-dally now will you.
