Hi! My name is Alice.
Well, it’s not, but let’s say it is for these purposes.
Alice is the name I chose to write under so that I wouldn’t have to deal with those awful people on the internet who try and find out where you work as soon as you say something they don’t like (for example ‘I am a woman and also a human being.’)
Alice is the name that keeps my writing safe from my job in local government from the board I sit on from my personal social media from anyone who is unkind. I am a huge fan of Emily Writes and she has made me very, very scared of the internet people. I mean, not all of them, I’m sure you’re very nice and never make rape threats to strangers.
Alice is the second middle name my mother would have given me if she thought she was allowed to give me two middle names. Who does that? (Me! I do! All my children have two because I like names and I don’t wanna have to choose.)
Alice is the name of both my Dad’s maternal grandmother and my mum’s paternal grandmother.
Beyond this fake name, the truth is I’m not always entirely sure who I am these days, if I ever was. Writing my book has given me an awful lot to think about, but thinking isn’t quite enough - and there’s not much time in the day for the doing.
Writing the book—and this Substack—isn’t about claiming to have it all figured out. It’s about documenting the becoming. The murky, tender, fierce, and occasionally absurd process of being a working mother in midlife who wants more than just to survive.
So, hi. I’m Alice. Let’s keep going.
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