I recently posted on LinkedIn that I had a really interesting conversation (over exceptional coffee in Melbourne) with another female academic. This all came about because (insert music denoting drama/doom/death) I had just applied for a new job. For those in academia you know why this is an unsettling thing, it is as if the entire process is designed to make you question your abilities, career choice, and sanity.

In addition to this my husband recently had surgery to fix a detached retina – which has resulted in an 8-week hiatus from ‘normal programming’ in the Treacey-Minack household. I have been working from home with others covering my teaching (my colleagues rock!).

Just before all of this my first solo-authored book had been published and launched, Reframing the Past: History, film and television (Routledge, 2016). A labour of love and insanity that grew out of my PhD (so effectively had an 18-year gestation).

All of which made me realise I had drunk the Kool-aid. I had begun living to work, not working to live. I’d lost sight of my passion – history, specifically, screened history. And I want it back. So, this blog.

Along with finally engaging with all the various social media platforms expected within academia these days (Facebook is a personal space, I refuse to concede that to the general public!), I am going to start writing about all the things that I think about and questions that I have about Screened History, History, teaching, lifelong learning and the difference between a vocation and a career.

I may be screaming into the void, or may begin to find others like me, thinking similar thoughts, and with similar questions. Or I may just develop into a better writer. I can live with any of those outcomes.