Cirrus@Austlit

'Every day is the same. I get up, make myself a coffee, and mumble ‘good morning’ to my wife Cleo, who is always up before me. She pacifies me with some encouraging words. I scratch Meowphistopheles (my cat, if you couldn’t guess) under the chin and start work. After a quick scroll through several rejections to stories I’ve submitted, I can feel my mood start to dip, so I distract myself with another scroll, on social media this time. Often I wind up wandering the house looking for sources of inspiration, sometimes picking up a book or taking a nap after lunch. Most afternoons, Cleo suggests a walk to clear my head, which we do as the sun starts to sink below the horizon.' (Introduction)