Kristie

#Photographer // #Writer // Drystone Waller // #Scotland

Author of 'Drystone - A Life Rebuilt' out 7th August 2025

#Neurodivergent // #Covidisnotover // Pronouns She/Her

(Banner image is five images of the cover of my book 'Drystone - A Life Rebuilt' which features five stones in green, yellow, purple, grey and blue on a beige background)

Profile picture is of a woman with short brown hair, wearing ablue denim jumpsuit with a black and silver belt with green spring fields behind her

Book Pre-Order for those in the UK: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15919/9781846976469
Website - Photography and Writing: https://www.kristiedegaris.com/
Website - Drystone: https://www.thedrystonecompany.com/
Links: https://t.co/xqk5Wa5CUL

Public Key

npub14jpa6gl7wn9rplrvdg64r4364zflvcfcthe885zn87zragk3z4dsjvjhhl

NIP-05 Address

kristiedegaris_at_mastodon.scot@momostr.pink

Profile Code

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Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub14jpa6gl7wn9rplrvdg64r4364zflvcfcthe885zn87zragk3z4dsjvjhhl

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Published at

2026-05-13T17:42:58Z

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Event JSON

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Last Notes

2026-03-30 11:51:55 UTC

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Reviews call it brutally honest and lyrical. Unputdownable, with an extraordinary literary voice that resists tidy resolution while still delivering real arc and growth. One review compared it favourably to Eat, Pray, Love, but with, one might argue, considerably more grit and considerably better prose.
I’ll take that ;)

2026-03-30 11:51:42 UTC

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For potential readers, here's a little about the book. It is a memoir about navigating a fractured past while learning the ancient craft of drystone walling in the Scottish Highlands. Readers are a witness to both my undoing and the rebuilding that follows.

2026-03-30 07:08:12 UTC

My book 'Drystone - A Life Rebuilt' will be out in the US and Canada now. That's very exciting, but the downside is that the energy it takes to promote a book overseas is sadly not available to me right now, maybe ever.
So, if you've been waiting to buy it, you can. If you've been waiting to order it into your library, you can. If you've been waiting to tell your friends who are reviewers at the NYT, you can ;)
#Books #Writing #WritingCommunity #Reading #ReadingCommunity #USA #Canada
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/116/316/856/163/855/368/original/95e84f522c373839.jpg

2026-02-26 13:09:52 UTC

THREAD
1/
I’ve gotten quite a few messages from disabled people who benefit from AI in the same way I do but feel unable to admit to it because they are scared of backlash.
I will start by saying I am informed and understand concerns about AI, they are real. AI is energy intensive, data centres use water, a resource that is already scarce in many places, and the companies behind these products are unethical in so many ways.
#AI #Ethics #Scotland #Disability #UK #LLM
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/116/137/087/067/759/825/original/09e6cd98fbf682b3.jpg

2026-02-23 18:09:39 UTC

THREAD
1/
On the BAFTAs
I understand that years of media conditioning have trained us to reach for polarised, black and white opinions, but what happened at the BAFTAs is not well served by outrage or by denial. I remind you that two things can be true at once.
#BAFTAs #Tourettes #Writing #UK #News #Scotland
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/116/121/297/571/516/900/original/4d6acdb7e30dcc39.jpg

2026-02-02 16:12:23 UTC

Just a reminder that if you like my writing on Substack, it’s very likely that you will also like my book ‘Drystone - A Life Rebuilt’
If you buy it on bookshop.org you support me and indy bookshops.
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15919/9781846976469
#Books #Book #Writing #WritingCommunity #Reading #Scotland #UK
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/116/001/905/919/274/467/original/2cc8cc48852005c8.png

2026-02-02 08:41:28 UTC

The Wuthering Heights people remember is not the book Emily Brontë wrote.
I read it just in time for the release of Emerald Fennell’s adaptation. She has said Wuthering Heights left its greatest impression on her at 14. Here’s my interpretation at 41, feeling world weary & no longer susceptible to the charms of beautiful men who behave badly.
It turns out it isn’t really about love at all, but about inheritance, race & power.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/wuthering-heights
#Books #Scotland #Writing #UK #Reading

2026-01-31 08:35:16 UTC

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The stones under it are perfectly level so it will just sit on top of it. The actual bench is a piece of local Oak and has been fixed to the stone supports. The protruding stones are fixed once built into place.

2026-01-30 10:36:23 UTC

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It is always good to revisit our builds. Photo from this morning, our drystone bench weathering beautifully on the banks of Loch Voil. To see more...
https://www.thedrystonecompany.com/

2026-01-30 10:35:57 UTC

I call myself a fair-weather waller. I don’t do drystone work through the worst of winter. If you have ever jammed numb fingers between cold stones, started a morning by sledgehammering apart a frozen stone pile, or done a pee outside, bum exposed to biting winter air, you will understand why.
Drystone season is almost upon us. This year we have a run of really interesting jobs and I have a new ambition, learning to drive a digger.
#Scotland #UK #Sustainability #Nature #Art
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/983/596/825/771/408/original/7f78ccfe5df3cc78.jpg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/983/596/824/769/718/original/4b42c7c3355c4683.jpg

2026-01-28 08:39:09 UTC

I don’t write about being chronically ill very often, mostly because I’m still thinking it through in real time.
This short piece is about effort, belief, and what it’s like to live in a culture that insists improvement is always possible…even when your body says otherwise.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/effort-without-improvement
#Health #Scotland #UK #Writing #WritingCommunity #Books #Reading #Women

2026-01-27 07:17:49 UTC

THREAD
1/
I’m lying here in the dark, waiting for the sun to rise and thinking about the Fortingall yew.
Experts place its age at around 5,000 years old. A path leads towards it, and along the way, stones mark the events in human history that it has seen. It’s seen a lot. Too much, maybe. It looks tired.
And yet stones are not remembered this way, though they have seen more.
#Writing #WritingCommunity #Reading #Scotland #UK #Climate #Sustainability #Books
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/965/830/553/355/274/original/b617f1b1bb93d886.jpg

2026-01-24 21:43:43 UTC

Since the Second World War, we've said 'never again' like we were casting a spell of guarantee. But 'never again' was a commitment, and we did not keep it.
The world has witnessed the rise of fascism in the United States, and the most disturbing part is that almost nothing stood in its way.
Feeling deeply worried. For my kids. For us all.

2026-01-21 14:58:33 UTC

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7/7
And this is a multi-generational effort! The conversation has always come back to ‘well, we can’t really be sure, can we?’. We can. Emily Brontë was sure. The characters are sure. The only uncertainty seems to appear in the hands of white readers.
END

2026-01-21 14:58:08 UTC

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6/
In the UK, we like our outsiders gothic, tormented, and, crucially, white. But one of the most iconic, enduring characters in British literature is a brown man who refuses to be contained, or polite, and is bound obsessively to a blonde, upper-class white woman.

2026-01-21 14:57:50 UTC

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5/
We are extremely comfortable talking about the violence of class in Wuthering Heights, but the moment race enters the picture, everything gets oddly evasive. His ‘darkness’ becomes mood. Liverpool becomes just any old place, apparently famous only for docks, shipbuilding and a surprisingly great quality cotton. Any insistence on ambiguity does not come from the book. It comes from the reader.

2026-01-21 14:57:31 UTC

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4/
What interests me is not whether Heathcliff was meant to be brown, because the book answers that question very clearly, several times. What interests me is why so many British readers have insisted on treating this as debatable.
Yes, the novel is brilliant on class. Brontë clearly knows exactly how to write class cruelty. But what she is doing with Heathcliff is different, and it is racialised. His appearance is used, relentlessly, as evidence of moral corruption and social inferiority.

2026-01-21 14:57:11 UTC

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3/
He is found by Mr. Earnshaw in Liverpool, at the height of British imperial trade, including the slave trade. He is called a ‘dark-skinned gipsy’, a ‘Lascar’ (a sailor from India or south-east Asia). Nelly Dean tells him his father could be an Emperor of China and his mother an Indian queen. This is not vibes, this is exposition!

2026-01-21 14:56:57 UTC

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2/
It is not ambiguous. It is not subtle. It is not subtext. Emily Brontë is doing everything short of stopping the novel and saying, ‘This man is brown as fuck. Please keep up.’
Heathcliff is described again and again as dark-skinned. Not as a metaphor, but dark in actual appearance, explicitly contrasted with the whiteness of the Earnshaws and the Lintons.

2026-01-21 14:56:13 UTC

THREAD
1/
First time reader of Wuthering Heights here. Yes, Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” finally forced my hand. Admittedly, I'm coming to this late.
I’d heard the rumours that Heathcliff was brown, and based on the tone of those discussions, I assumed this was one of those literary debates. Something implied, maybe intuited. Subtext argued over in seminars by white men.
I am laughing so hard right now.
#WutheringHeights #Books #Reading #Writing #WritingCommunity #Scotland
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/933/663/980/623/455/original/e807d53aa6d6d1c9.jpg

2026-01-09 19:26:52 UTC

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7/
We live in a culture where people will spend £4.50 on a coffee without thinking twice. I was charged £9 for a filled baguette the other day. But we hesitate over paying for a book that took years to write, a book about a life that took years to live. This doesn’t just devalue books. It devalues the act of making them.

2026-01-09 19:26:37 UTC

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6/
This isn’t about unrealistic expectations or ingratitude. I didn’t expect my book to make me rich. I don’t expect every reader to pay full price, or to buy it at all. I do expect that years of skilled labour should not be reduced to a figure that is truly disgusting. And to be clear, what I earn at full price is just over £1, so it was pretty disgusting to begin with.

2026-01-09 19:26:22 UTC

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5/
No one would suggest a therapist should be paid pennies because it makes their work ‘more available’. No one expects to go to work for a year and be told they’re being paid in exposure. Yet writers are routinely told that the trade-off for visibility is the acceptance of being underpaid to the point of absurdity. And it’s not just Amazon, although they lead the charge. All of publishing is almost completely unregulated in this way. In what other industry could this happen in broad daylight?

2026-01-09 19:25:53 UTC

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4/
We’re encouraged to think paying an author 20p is normal. At least it’s accessible, at least it’s out there reaching more readers. Of course I want people to read the book. I didn’t write it to sit untouched on a shelf.

2026-01-09 19:25:38 UTC

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3/
I put my whole life into my book. Not in a romantic way, in the literal sense. It was written alongside parenting, illness, recovery, physical labour, money stress, and, for the first time, understanding my life as a very difficult whole. I put my kids second more often than I’d like to admit (they dread me writing another book). I sacrificed social life and mental health. It contains real wisdom, lessons learned the hard way, the kind that cost time, relationships, health, and certainty.

2026-01-09 19:25:17 UTC

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2/
I want to be very clear about what that number represents. It’s not symbolic, it’s not a rhetorical flourish. It’s the actual amount I earn when a book I spent years writing is sold on the world’s largest retail platform. I see other authors shouting about this: ‘Best time to buy my book is now, cheapest it’s ever been.’ Fuck no. Don’t buy my book now. Don’t buy it from Amazon. Buy it from an indie bookshop at full price.

2026-01-09 19:24:52 UTC

THREAD
1/
My book, Drystone - A Life Rebuilt, has been out for only five months. A mere babe in the book world. I’ve just seen that Amazon are currently selling the Kindle edition for £1.99. That means I earn less than 20p if someone buys it.
Twenty-fucking-pence.
#Writing #WritingCommunity #Reading #Book #Books #Scotland #Publishing
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/866/769/617/641/408/original/61b75d3fc79471e4.jpg

2026-01-09 07:45:39 UTC

I’ve just published a new piece of writing.
It’s a serious literary work that sits between essay and narrative, and it’s concerned with women’s anger and imagination in the aftermath of violence. This is the kind of writing I want to be doing, so your support means a lot.
The piece moves between memory and fantasy to examine what happens when justice and repair are absent, and imagination becomes one of the only remaining sites of agency.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/kristie-the-bastard

2026-01-05 18:23:47 UTC

A completely frozen Lochan na h-Achlaise, with the Black Mount in the background, from this afternoon.
Fun fact. I’ve been learning Scottish Gaelic for two years now and had to double check when I heard this name, but yes, Lochan na h-Achlaise does indeed translate to Loch of the Armpit.
#Scotland #Photography #LandscapePhotography #Landscape #Glencoe #Snow #UK #Nikon #DigitalPhotography
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/843/881/323/168/411/original/a3d8a0945f4e0f50.jpeg

2026-01-04 09:42:11 UTC

I’ve just finished The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis, & there’s an excerpt I can’t stop thinking about.
It’s about how ways of knowing are never neutral, never free. How every system sharpens certain understanding at the expense of others. And how, in pursuing clarity, we sometimes lose things and forget they were ever there.
A short piece from me, and the excerpt itself. Take your time with it. Let it work on you.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/i-can-no-longer-see-venus
#Writing #Reading #Scotland #UK #Books

2025-12-31 13:18:20 UTC

Bliadhna mhath ùr / Happy new year when it comes
Photo is from this morning, looking over the River Tay as the sun rose. -5°C and beautiful.
#Scotland #Perthshire #Photography #Scottish #Landscape #LandscapePhotography #Nikon
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/814/358/939/580/772/original/bce0b2e423a4b808.jpeg

2025-12-13 19:05:31 UTC

Hello friends in Scotland 👋
I have a lot of children’s books and clothes (used but in excellent condition) that I was planning to donate to a charity shop. Before I do, I wondered if there’s anywhere locally (I'm in Perthshire) that would pass items directly to families who might need them for free - community groups, mutual aid networks, schools, or similar?
I’d much rather they went straight to someone who could use them.
Any suggestions welcome, thank you!
#Scotland #Perthshire

2025-12-12 13:01:04 UTC

As I have been fully focused on the book, I’ve let photography fade a little into the background, but it was my first great love and I can’t wait to get back to it.
Here’s is a 35mm film image that captures some of the magic in the Tomnah’a polytunnels.
#Photography #FilmPhotography #35mm #Scotland #FilmIsNotDead #BelieveInFilm #Flowers
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/706/709/495/764/270/original/e587f64695d202d3.jpg

2025-12-11 11:10:36 UTC

Watching people debate mask efficacy on national TV in the UK is surreal.
We trust masks for surgeons, healthcare workers, and every kind of airborne hazard.
Even basic blue surgical masks cut risk by around 50–60%… which, in case you’re shit at maths, is still miles better than 0%.
I feel like I'm going crazy,...but that's what I get for reading the news.
#Covid #MaskUp #UK #Health #Covid19 #Scotland

2025-12-11 07:55:18 UTC

A GENTLE PSA
Getting sick doesn’t do what you might think it does.
Viruses can only create new variants when they spread. More infections = more replication = more mutations = more chances for a fitter, more evasive strain to appear.
Very few viruses give lifelong immunity. Most immunity to respiratory viruses fades, and with high levels of transmission, new variants appear often. That’s why we keep getting sick.
Getting sick doesn’t fix the problem. It drives it.
https://xkcd.com/2557/
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/699/821/959/260/518/original/7575af4fd1ea5cd1.jpg

2025-12-09 09:26:22 UTC

THREAD
1/
I’d like to share a small publishing milestone.
‘Drystone - A Life Rebuilt’ has gone into a second print run.
And because publishing is famously opaque, and there are so many wildly unrealistic ideas out there about how it all works, here are the numbers in plain terms...
#Writing #WritingCommunity #Publishing #Reading #Authors #Books
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/688/879/824/663/224/original/155d8ec578e1339c.jpeg

2025-12-07 14:42:30 UTC

THREAD
1/5
I want to pick up another part of the ‘nature cure’ problem
When a woman writes about the outdoors, people often reach for the same narrative template. She walked, she felt better, the land healed her. It can read as wholesome encouragement, even harmless, but the effect is anything but neutral.
‘Nature cure’ quietly shifts the focus away from the systemic forces that harmed her in the first place.
#Scotland #Writing #WritingCommunity #Reading #Books #NatureWriting #Nature
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/678/801/258/226/145/original/2f3547c1f3200aae.jpg

2025-12-06 10:35:27 UTC

Thread
1/4
Recently at a Q&A, the chair asked me an excellent question: Why do you push so hard against the idea of a ‘nature cure’ when moments in your book Drystone - A Life Rebuilt might look like exactly that?
The answer is simple.
#Reading #Writing #WritingCommunity #Scotland #NatureWriting #Nature #Land #Women #Author
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/672/167/756/621/469/original/f4cc497df233063c.jpeg

2025-12-04 08:40:35 UTC

A young woman I know is putting on a play as part of her thesis. Attendance is in-person or via live stream.
Serina is Covid Conscious & her play shares the lived experiences of everyday people with the pandemic.
Let's throw our full support behind her!
#Covid #covidIsNotOver #covid19 #Glasgow #Scotland #Theatre #maskUp
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/660/386/037/985/495/original/e7f991b2ba04c4bb.jpg

2025-12-03 13:24:44 UTC

High Renaissance vibes.
'The Last Pupper'
(My ex-husband saw this on his way to work today and I am so jealous)
#Scotland #Dogs #Art #Photography
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/655/842/514/867/319/original/45e17a2140284e6b.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/655/842/513/982/265/original/525f8f11e60b75e6.jpeg

2025-11-30 18:32:22 UTC

If you can't attend my event tomorrow (1st December) at University of Glasgow, it's available to live stream at the link below
https://uofglasgow.zoom.us/j/84847985257?pwd=5cTX0Q1TL0A7Oc9VlxXGZnaurgAwdy.1
It's going to be an interesting and lively conversation about my book Drystone - A Life Rebuilt, writing, publishing, life. Chaired by the brilliant Simon Kövesi. 1pm start.
I believe you can also ask questions via the livestream.
#Glasgow #Scotland #Event #Reading #Writing #WritingCommunity #Author #Books #Book #Accessibility
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/640/064/171/989/030/original/49f6f6694e1fe02a.jpeg

2025-11-17 20:57:14 UTC

I've completely abandoned any promotion since my book, Drystone - A Life Rebuilt came out in August because honestly, I'm sick of it. Sick of talking about myself. Sick of thinking about my past. Sick of being online loads. All three are incredibly bad for me. So, while I'd love it if you bought my book (it's genuinely really good) I'm not willing to rinse myself to persude you.
(Either I'm fucking terrible at promotion, or I'm twenty years ahead ;)
#Books #Reading #Scotland #Writing
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/567/024/988/815/774/original/1237ea1efddb28e0.png

2025-10-13 11:22:07 UTC

I never thought I’d be writing about philosophy, but pragmatism has become the most useful way I know to survive modern life.
Not a grand theory, not a magic pill or perfect fix - just a way to see what actually works.
This is the first in a series of essays on pragmatism.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/what-works-when-nothing-does
#Philosophy #Writing #WritingCommunity #Reading #Scotland #Article #Pragmatism

2025-09-14 06:39:16 UTC

A long, chewy Sunday read.
Reviews are powerful. They can frame a book as art, or reduce it to cliché. I wrote this essay after my memoir was reviewed in ways that felt less about the text and more about leaning on stereotype.
But it isn’t just about one review. It’s about how criticism itself works: what it elevates, what it dismisses, and how those choices can shape which voices are valued, and which are quietly pushed aside.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/literary-criticism-under-review
#Reading #Writing #Books #Scotland

2025-08-31 18:02:01 UTC

Just a quick reminder...
If you’ve read my book, 'Drystone - A Life Rebuilt' I’d be grateful if you left a review wherever you prefer.
This isn’t a plea for 5 star ratings; it’s a request for honesty. Books are personal: I dislike plenty, feel neutral about many, and love a few. Whatever your response, reviews really help. A wall of 5-stars is wonderful, but it can also feel suspicious to readers. A mix of perspectives shows the book is being read seriously.
#Books #Bookstodon #Reading
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/124/686/496/695/329/original/d497eb952138813c.jpeg

2025-08-23 15:30:24 UTC

If your book club is #Reading my book 'Drystone – A Life Rebuilt', I’d be glad to join you for an hour’s Q&A, online or in person (if hyperlocal). No fee, just a chance to talk about the book and your questions.
It’s always interesting to hear how 'Drystone' lands in different lives, and I’d love to be part of those conversations.
If this is something that would work for your club, drop me a message/email.
#Scotland #UK #Books #Bookstodon #BookClub #Author #Writing #WritingCommunity
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/115/078/786/018/298/983/original/cf50a3322bec93ed.jpeg

2025-08-07 08:28:21 UTC

No longer just a thought, a proposal, seven messy drafts, a pre-order...
DRYSTONE - A LIFE REBUILT is officially launched!
#Scotland #Books #Bookstodon #Writing #WritingCommunity #Book #Memoir #Nature
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/986/508/047/327/994/original/239993f4a6655620.jpeg

2025-08-06 08:28:06 UTC

Lots of you have been asking how to order my book Drystone - A Life Rebuilt outside of the UK and as we approach the official launch date (tomorrow!) I'm hearing it's already more widely available internationally. Now's the time!
#Books #Bookstodon #Book #Writing #WritingCommunity
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/980/853/124/896/711/original/a4739b623a4d4de2.jpg

2025-07-24 11:26:36 UTC

The launch date feels more theoretical by the day. My book, Drystone – A Life Rebuilt, is already out in many readers’ hands and in bookshops across the country.
If you spot a copy in the wild or if you’ve picked one up, I’d love to see a photo.
And if you’ve read it, a review on your preferred platform would mean a lot. It really does help.
Here it is in Toppings St Andrews (spotted by a friend)
#Books #Scotland #WritingCommunity #Bookshops #Author #Writing #Book
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/907/961/102/324/987/original/d69a2e63fd5f45cc.jpeg

2025-07-20 20:57:23 UTC

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And of course, it’s not just Gaza. Atrocities have been, and are being committed in many places Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Tigray, Yemen. But Gaza has stripped something bare for me.

2025-07-20 20:40:33 UTC

I don’t know how to talk about Gaza. Not because I have nothing to say, but because what’s happening there has altered something in me so fundamentally, I’m not sure even the language I know fits anymore.
So much now feels inadequate or pointless. I don’t know how to relate to a world that permits this, and I don’t think the shift I feel is reversible, and maybe it shouldn’t be.

2025-07-20 07:06:30 UTC

My book is out in two weeks. This is the essay I’ve waited longest to share.
It’s about body, desire, shame, strength, and what happens when you stop letting the world shape you, and start shaping the world instead.
For years I contorted myself to be wanted. Now I build. This piece is about that shift, from performance to permanence.
It’s a longer read. Perfect for a Sunday. I hope it finds the right people.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/what-i-build-will-outlast-every-man-who-ever-wanted-me
#Books #Bookstodon #WritingCommunity #Scotland #Writing
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/884/289/005/148/900/original/f97144e2439355ed.jpg

2025-07-14 15:35:25 UTC

My book Drystone – A Life Rebuilt is out in just three weeks.
I really believe in this book. It’s honest about important things, quietly subversive, funny, easy to read, and I’ve poured everything into writing it and getting it into the world as far as I can.
If you can, I’d love your help. A share, a preorder, a message to someone who might love it, it all makes a difference.
Info and links below.
#Books #Bookstodon #Scotland #Writing #Reading #Women
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/852/292/502/499/142/original/bff98ec1f6a16ea2.jpeg

2025-07-08 07:43:23 UTC

!New Essay!
We’re being trained to only notice extremes. Outrage or comfort. Villain or hero. Horror or hope.
But most harm doesn’t look like that. It lives in the middle. Quiet, familiar, easy to excuse.
This essay is about what we’re missing… and what it’s costing us.
https://shorturl.at/TPZFX
#Scotland #Writing #WritingCommunity #Books #SocialMedia #News #Women
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/816/489/530/982/273/original/cac69f624bf1919a.jpg

2025-07-02 07:55:44 UTC

Something small and very dear to me went live today on the wonderful Caught By The River.
'A Slower Tonic', is a photo essay. An adapted excerpt from the book accompanied by some film photos that I took.
It’s about the usefulness of slow things. Slow living, slow thinking, slow making.
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/a-slower-tonic-ada
pted-excerpt-and-photo-essay
#Scotland #Photography #FilmPhotography #Writing #FilmIsNotDead #BelieveInFilm
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/782/553/634/211/380/original/91564695c85a4b1b.jpg

2025-07-01 15:52:16 UTC

I am beyond pleased to share that I am featured in the latest issue of the world renowned Smithsonian Magazine (July/August 2025).
To see my drystone work, and my voice, recognised, and to take up space in a field where women are still few and far between, means more than I can say.
I was so proud to show my daughters this.
"I realised really quickly for every stone I can't lift, there's a stone that a man can't lift"
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/my-drystone-work-featured-in-the-smithsonian-magazine
#Scotland #Culture #History #Article
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/778/766/872/374/634/original/d72f9cfbc41e5273.jpg

2025-06-30 06:52:32 UTC

New piece of writing on how British politeness and 'manners' are the last surviving pillars of the Empire.
'Not all legacies of the British Empire are loud. Some are quiet, habitual, and dressed in good intentions. In the UK, tone still trumps truth, and politeness remains more culturally sacred than justice.'
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/please-thank-you-and-other-forms-of-control
#Writing #WritingCommunity #Culture #Scotland

2025-06-28 05:40:44 UTC

I'm in The Times Magazine today. 2000 words of my writing (an adapted excerpt from my book 'Drystone - A Life Rebuilt')
And it's not really about living with my ex husbands. It's about the roles women are handed and how I just absolutely refuse!
#Scotland #Women #Writing #WritingCommunity #Books #Bookstodon #Writing #Photography
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/759/378/243/281/596/original/ab12b798fe91918e.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/759/378/253/524/237/original/cb693cb8c3e83409.jpeg

2025-06-25 12:35:19 UTC

I gave up air travel nine years ago, and I wrote about it in this new essay on Substack.
Give it a read and a share. I think I've managed not to sound too self-righteous ;)
'What I’ve realised is that flying isn’t just a seriously carbon-intensive mode of transport, It’s a story we’re sold about what it means to live well.'
https://kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/grounded-what-i-gained-by-giving-up-air-travel
#Environment #Scotland #Writing #Books #Climate #Sustainable #Article #Writingcommunity
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/744/018/419/913/599/original/139bc094187c5f24.jpg

2025-05-22 13:02:47 UTC

Had my photo taken today for an exciting thing & although I was dreading it (so out of my comfort zone) I enjoyed it in the end. The whole process made so much easier by wonderful Stephanie Ferry who did makeup/hair/light babysitting, & photographer Jo Hanley who made being on this side of the camera fairly painless. A
Photo by my daughter.
#Author #Writing #Photography #Scotland
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/551/611/960/901/883/original/cf4c06bbc9448cb6.jpeg

2025-05-06 16:56:25 UTC

There’s something so intimate about a garden. Something quietly revealing. The styles, the care, the preferences, the planning. What’s left wild. What’s clipped back.
I'm doing a wee photo series (just for myself). The glimpses of gardens you see from across the street, in between buldings, at the end of a long path, through fences and hedges.
Here's a few of my recent favourites.
#Photography #Scotland #Garden #Nikon #Photo #Flowers
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/461/913/785/084/544/original/fb00108a5f7fe989.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/461/916/546/148/396/original/a8746006c567f147.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/461/917/393/019/982/original/fb60756705bcddb6.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/461/928/300/040/590/original/486dca65b3654141.jpeg

2025-05-06 11:55:50 UTC

I wrote a book. It’s called Drystone – A Life Rebuilt.
If you like:
Non-Fiction (but make it literary)
Stone (but as metaphor too)
Feminism (but quiet and feral)
Men (but as minor characters)
Land (but not romanticised)
Motherhood (but honest)
Then congratulations, this very good book is for you.
https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/drystone-a-life-rebuilt-kristie-de-garis/7836359?ean=9781846976469
#Books #Bookstodon #Scotland #Women #Writing #WritingCommunity #Nature
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/460/737/240/136/560/original/42ba2cb8891e4b4f.jpg

2025-05-05 11:43:05 UTC

Just a reminder that I send pretty great, definitely eclectic, always interesting newsletters
All good stuff. No spam.
You can subscribe at the bottom of the page.
https://kristie-de-garis.ghost.io/i-contain-multitudes/
#Newsletter #Books #Bookstodon #Scotland #Author #Women #Photography

2025-05-04 14:05:29 UTC

My daughter took these photos of me today.
I truly hate having my photo taken but around her, someone I am very comfortable with, it was fun and relaxed. And I think it shows!
I also like that I look like *me*. I think that's because she knows me so well.
#Photography #Books #Scotland
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/449/914/847/738/679/original/4f6da5128f9c28f5.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/449/914/843/544/585/original/4a55ab43f54483b4.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/449/914/846/230/295/original/186db330275c56ed.jpeg
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/114/449/914/856/036/592/original/fd5de2daa9336cd9.jpeg

2024-12-30 14:06:10 UTC

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no! But she loved Slime rancher.

2024-12-30 14:05:42 UTC

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it's one of my favourites too!

2024-12-30 11:33:28 UTC

The End of Summer - 35mm Film
#Photography #FilmPhotography #BelieveInFilm #Scotland #Garden #Nature #Film #WomenInPhotography
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/741/554/688/176/556/original/429bce161f3cb85c.jpg

2024-12-29 10:10:31 UTC

Perthshire
#Photography #Landscape #Nikon #Scotland #Rural #LandscapePhotography
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/735/565/959/253/595/original/41628bbc657787ae.jpg

2024-12-28 19:23:40 UTC

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:CrowKnife:

2024-12-28 19:04:02 UTC

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I learned about Emmett otter when I posted this and now I'm obsessed.

2024-12-28 19:02:56 UTC

My kid designs and builds amazing games (this one is called Slime Tycoon) and tonight, I'm just a Mom in an Ellen Ripley skin, standing in front of giant mushrooms, playing Fortnite for the first time ever.
#Fortnite #UEFN #VideoGames #MomsFirstTime
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/731/996/352/821/126/original/289c21644b5a2e1e.jpg

2024-12-28 13:11:36 UTC

Above Loch Earn - Medium Format Film
#Photography #FilmPhotography #BelieveInFilm #Scotland #BlackAndWhite #Monochrome #LandscapePhotography
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/730/616/182/568/491/original/18e3c770761a8ef0.jpg

2024-12-27 14:07:03 UTC

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Thank you!

2024-12-27 14:04:46 UTC

Ailsa Craig from Arran.
#Photography #LandscapePhotography #Arran #Sea #Scotland #BlackAndWhite #Monochrome
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/725/162/713/632/505/original/8b69dc5d1c6d88d6.jpg

2024-12-27 08:02:10 UTC

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A dry stone dyking trail would be amazing. Regional drystone variations are so interesting and beautiful.

2024-12-26 16:20:21 UTC

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I love this local lore! It gives you such a feel for the place and the people. I cannot wait to get back up there. and that'll hopefully be next year!

2024-12-26 16:14:08 UTC

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In fact just the walls in Clachstoll and Stoer should be documented, incredible examples of single skin dykes.

2024-12-26 16:12:52 UTC

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Surprised canmore is so lacking up there, and it's such a shame because so many treasures (I saw that just from two visits).

2024-12-26 16:12:13 UTC

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Based on what I've seen they looked very planticruby to me, but of course local knowledge will be vital in confirming that. There may have been a hyper local industry going on. The only other thing they look like at all are hides for observing/hunting wildlife but there are so many it makes it seem unlikely.

2024-12-26 16:02:06 UTC

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Against that, Canmore have a nearby structure on their list (period and function undefined) I have a feeling if these were really old they would also be listed?

2024-12-26 16:01:02 UTC

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So hard to tell their age...and the original structures may have been added to, or recycled to make other things. They were perhaps first built a really long time ago.

2024-12-26 15:51:21 UTC

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I think what's interesting is the amount of them. That says some sort of industry to me which makes me think food...but of course could be cattle related. V interesting though! Do the local farmers have any ideas? They often have this info.

2024-12-26 15:50:02 UTC

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Most of our edible mushrooms don't grow on ground like that (but hard to say what it was like a hundred years ago).

2024-12-26 15:47:13 UTC

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There are (what look like) more planticrubs on the far side of Stoer, I saw them in the field when I was visiting the meteor impact site down there. So they were def used in the area.

2024-12-26 15:45:21 UTC

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And next to the loch maybe makes sense for easy access to water? (although Scotland never seems to be short of rain)

2024-12-26 15:42:59 UTC

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The grain dryers I've seen are usually bigger too and as you say, usually one per small area.

2024-12-26 15:40:29 UTC

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https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3584929
Def similarities with these planticrubs?

2024-12-26 15:35:50 UTC

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There could have been wood components to the structure originally too, maybe drying racks or some kind?

2024-12-26 15:34:02 UTC

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They look too small for animals, even for milking. If not for growing, storage or shelter is always my next guess. Seems like this loch is popular for fishing? Maybe it has always been?
Looking at an aerial photo of the area, there are quite a few enclosues nearby and some ruined structures. Looks like an area of high activity.
They also don't look like they were built very high originally (although that's hard to say for sure).

2024-12-26 15:17:43 UTC

Stoic
Medium Format Film
#Photography #FilmPhotography #BelieveInFilm #Monochrome #BlackAndWhite #Film #Scotland
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/719/787/037/859/914/original/4c0714ca14b1c14a.jpg

2024-12-26 12:57:44 UTC

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I'd have to see it to have clearer thoughts. My first thought though is some sort of planticrub? Structures for the young plants to keep sheep/weather off them until they can be planted out? They don't look like they were originally that high?

2024-12-26 12:56:15 UTC

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This *is* so like Dunadd!

2024-12-25 15:36:58 UTC

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I'm just so happy. It's a treasured possession, and I'll love it forever.

2024-12-25 15:04:11 UTC

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Right back at you! ❤️

2024-12-25 14:13:18 UTC

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👌🏽🤣

2024-12-25 13:54:20 UTC

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👋🏽🎄❤️

2024-12-25 12:44:37 UTC

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and to you too!

2024-12-25 10:10:19 UTC

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I will be checking this out immediately 😍💫❤️

2024-12-25 09:01:27 UTC

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and to you too!

2024-12-25 08:57:47 UTC

I asked the kids to make me something for Christmas...and when I say they delivered...
An otter, in a sunhat, in lollipop stick boat, fishing.
#LuckiestMumEver
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/113/712/627/759/022/222/original/4fccea0ab1a06c76.jpg