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Vanessa Smith

@normalness.bsky.social
2.4K followers 7K following 6.6K posts

We're all normal to ourselves. I write. I hate hustle. I love shiny objects. Can't even influence an ant. Anthropology & sociology graduate. Author of books. Spoonie. And much more. www.normalness.com

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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 34m
New Year must mean a new you, right? Well, I'm here in my "can't take this shit seriously" mode to offer you a sweary way to review your year and plan for the next one. payhip.com/b/P7e9b
payhip.com
New-Ness
New Year must mean a new you, right? Well, I'm here in my "can't take this shit seriously" mode to offer you a sweary way to review your year and plan for the next one. New-Ness, a journal for those who hate journals. The details: It costs
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 55m
And about how challenging hope is right now.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 2h
The Second Time Podcast Episode 17 – Week 24 This week is about the risks I face that others don't. normalness.com/2026/10/02/t...
normalness.com
The Second Time Podcast Episode 17 – Week 24 - Normal Ness
Image description: The words “The second time podcast” in black text on a purple background. There is also a sketch of a computer and mouse.     You can listen to this podcast in a number of places: S...
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 3h
Case study in why I’m glad I’m no longer working in Australian media. They really do expect you to just unthinkingly republish their press releases.
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Reposted by Vanessa Smith
💜 phonakins 🍉🌲 @phonakins.com · 20h
These wages range from $7.15 to $9.80 per day, far below the minimum wage in the community. This means that incarcerated people working on Victoria’s roads will be paid as little as 90c per hour. End forced and underpaid labour in Australia @ourfairgo.bsky.social
abouttime.org.au
‘The Opportunity Doesn’t Make the Conditions Fair’: People in Prison to Be Paid $1 Per Hour to Fix Victoria's Roads
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 23h
I forced myself to do 45min of job applications. It’s not much but it’s all I could face. It’s very hard to keep doing this. And I don’t have capacity to freelance (well, market it, working is easier than marketing). I dunno; it has all just gone on for too long.
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apricot @areyoshi.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Looking for tips for managing autistic burnout, asking for a friend (no, seriously! I'm having trouble articulating to them how I manage my own.) This is for a fellow creative and comic artist, so please feel free to share your experiences ❤️ #autism #burnout #disability #artist #comics #comicoop
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Exactly!
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I’m not all that happy with the changing of the months. It just reminds me how hard this year has been and how little I have to show for it. Oh, and that I still have no income.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I’ve been feeling sad today because I haven’t been writing and I know it’s not my fault because I can’t do it when under stress, but I miss it.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Past me was awesome for making a batch of dough and freezing it.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I have forced myself to do a lot of necessary, boring, and difficult things today so I’ve pulled some cookie dough balls from the freezer and now I get fresh cookies for afternoon tea.
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Dianna Gunn Does (Fictional) Murders 🇨🇦 @diannalgunn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Staying housed is essential, especially when you're disabled, and October first is just two sleeps away Please help El get their rent paid - donate if you can, share if you can't. It all helps
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💜 phonakins 🍉🌲 @phonakins.com · 29/09/2026
Thank you Kim for using my link to order a free box of EveryPlate! I got $25 credit for you doing that. I hope you enjoy your meals! www.everyplate.com.au/gw/share/C55...
everyplate.com.au
Select Plan | EveryPlate
Get meal kits delivered with EveryPlate and our affordable meal delivery plans! Quick & Easy ✅ Premium Picks ✅ Meat & Veggies ✅ Veggies ✅ Family Friendly ✅
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I was convinced that clock went to 60 after 59 😂
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Looks fancy!
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I got made redundant which meh, it wasn’t a dream job.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I’ve definitely failed a lot in the past two weeks because flares & medical appointments took up my time. There’s no real point to this post. I’m just over being in limbo. It’s an unpleasant place to live.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My inbox is exceptionally quiet today and it’s making me feel sad. Honestly, I kind of want to see a rejection at least 😂 I’ve been living in this limbo since mid April and it’s so challenging to take care of yourself and do everything necessary.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I can definitely verify it’s hard to find a job right now.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It is really hard out there. Nearly 6 months of looking for me.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Ah, salty is good for me 😂 I need extra salt.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
If the king threw a tanty when he didn’t like a pen, how mad do think he’d get if you asked him about that time he crashed a plane?
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Library Murphy’s law: Book 5 becomes available before book 4. Book 4 is scheduled to become available in 25 days, and book 5 is on loan for 20 days.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
How are you coping?
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I’m not, really. I should have hope right now but it has been so long that the idea I get to have hope feels like a giant falsehood.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Plus if he had a clue about regulatory environments and development of regulations he wouldn’t use chef vs pilot as they have massive differences.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I use moccona jars for baking stuff
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Mike Honey @mikehoney.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I took a look at the data on #ME/CFS for Australia. Hospital separations for "G04 Encephalitis, myelitis and encephalomyelitis" have been growing strongly since around 2015. Growth slowed in the early years of the pandemic and then accelerated from 2023 onwards.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It has been a bit of a morning so far. Day so far? {period of time} and today = a bit eh. Good bits but also some shitty bits. Anyway, I’m settling in to watch a long video as a kind of background to a future fiction series I have planned.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I swear some of them do it because they can’t write a fucking ending. But they go all high minded and say “it’s for you to decide”. It’s a movie, not a choose your own adventure book.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Working on it today but I think I’m going to give up. It’s a weird situation so I’m just going to see where it pans out as it happens 🤷‍♀️ Some things are too unclear to prepare for.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I love Betsy’s storyline in Ghosts too. So unexpected.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
For us the tins etc are our storm season / cyclone kit too.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I have some stuff I need to do this weekend in preparation for Monday morning.Feeling a bit ugh towards anything I need to do. Was debating a “do it now & get it out of the way” solution. Thankfully, the library intervened with the last book in a series becoming available. Choice made - book first!
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sounds just as efficient as everywhere :(
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Apparently I was half asleep earlier and shared the wrong post. That was last weeks. This is this weeks - an unusual edit round I'm working on. The Punch Edit thechronicallycreative.substack.com/p/the-punch-...
thechronicallycreative.substack.com
The Punch Edit
Being someone who has no household income right now, editing my own books is a compulsory fact of life.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I hope they’ve changed, for humanity’s sake
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
No podcast today (obviously). Other stuff took priority. As always, I’ve got some stories to tell when the right time has passed.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sheeeshh. That’s shit, even for a politician. Have their views changed in recent years or is that too much to hope for?
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I think that’s part of it, though this was a new cardiologist because I refused to see the previous one again, he was a jerk. I suspect the other part is that they ultimately want me on different meds but I can’t afford them, being unemployed. And I made that very clear in my patient notes.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It’s next to impossible.
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What in the actual fuck did I just read? That’s a politician in your area?
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yeah we had the biggest piece of shit for a CHO for a while there :(
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yeah, within metro north hospital system in Brisbane. That appointment was a year ago now but I’m pretty sure when she took my weight and height she asked why I was wearing a mask (I said something to the effect of “covid fucked me up once, never again”).
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
She was concerned I was wearing an n95 because I was infectious and she didn’t want to do a close contact activity if I was unwell. Nevermind that she unmasked and the outpatients department was taking zero visible precautions of any kind against anything…
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here's today's column on the astonishing, ongoing mistreatment of people with #ME/CFS. Please spread it far and wide: the only thing which can break the media's wall of indifference is seeing an article about the issue go viral. Thank you. 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George Monbiot
Changes in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Can your mum use a fan? My little Bunnings ones are excellent
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I wish Aldi did minis of those. I like the mini size of the real brand cos that’s all I can really eat of them but the mint ones are yummy
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Vanessa Smith @normalness.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Yeah it’s a bit pointless. I know they lack skill in phone and video appointments but I don’t internalise the lack of skill of others.
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