Scribbles, Self-Doubt and Slight Chaos
Scribbles, Self-Doubt, and Slight Chaos
A new business venture…
(Or: Is It Still a Business If You’re Wearing Pyjamas and Fixing Toilets at 1am?)
I didn’t mean to start a business.
Not really.
I just wanted to make something for my daughter.
Something that made poetry feel less like pressure and more like play.
Something that didn’t assume she already knew what a metaphor was (or how to decode a poem before breakfast).
And then… something sparked.
That tiny idea, a scribbled worksheet, a wonky Canva template turned into a full-on creative storm. Fonts were chosen. Pages were drafted. Prompts were tested. And somewhere along the way, I remembered how much I love making things that help people learn. Especially the curious, messy, brilliant ones who don’t fit into neat boxes.
I called it Wonder & Scribble because that’s how it started.
Wonder, first – the spark, the questions, the “what if?”
And scribble – the doing part. The brave, unfiltered, slightly chaotic beginnings.
A Peer Perspective (and a bit of a crash)
As a peer specialist, I talk a lot about living with instability.
Not fixing it. Not fighting it. Just… learning to live alongside it.
And honestly? That’s exactly where I’ve been lately.
The last few weeks have been full-on. Ideas flying, pages building themselves in my head at midnight, the kind of focus I don’t usually get for this long. I’ve felt sparked (maybe even a bit too sparked). (There may have been spreadsheets at 3am and several emergency cups of tea.)
But of course, after the spark came the crash.
The past few days have been slower. That kind of foggy slow where even brushing your teeth feels like admin. My energy’s dipped, the self-doubt is loud again, and everything feels like it’s dragging itself over the finish line in jelly shoes.
Also, is it really a business unless you’ve made your first sale? 😂
(Asking for a friend… who is also me. Still holding out hope.)
The Plumbing Incident (A Short Interlude)
Oh! Did I mention the 1am toilet emergency?
Picture me: disassembling walls, removing makeshift panels, crawling through cupboards, and looking for a stopcock in places no one else would even consider. I was torch-in-mouth, muttering about diaphragm valves like I was born to do this. Water splattered me in the face more than once. I definitely made things worse before my husband stepped in, located the actual stopcock in less than 25 seconds, and fixed the whole thing with the quiet confidence of someone who didn’t rip up half the house first.
He stood in the hallway shaking his head and said, “It’s like watching Benny Hill does plumbing.”
I was later nicknamed Mario AND Luigi. A solo tag team of delusional confidence and mild heroic chaos?!
And honestly, fair.
I finally crawled into bed around 3am, damp, defeated, and massively entertained, quietly cracking up to myself in hysterical laughter! That night, I slept for about 2.5 hours before dragging myself into the next day like a plumbing ghost with a Canva tab open.
The Reel That Turned Into a Feature Film
Also, a quick word about the reel I thought would take 1 hour.
It took 5.
There were fonts. There were music licensing errors. I changed my mind 17 times. At some point, it stopped being a short reel and started becoming a full-blown, emotionally layered documentary. Think “Wonder & Scribble: The Musical (Director’s Cut)” with bonus transitions.
I did publish it in the end. But not before briefly contemplating setting fire to Canva.
What’s Next
Despite all this – the fog, the plumbing, the accidental film production – the first poetry pack is nearly done.
It’s gentle, flexible, and full of permission to be messy.
It’s made for neurodivergent learners, home-ed families, and the wonderfully weird minds that don’t always get the support they need.
It’s also my first ever resource, and I’m genuinely proud of it (even if I’m also quietly terrified).
So if you’ve been following along – thank you.
If you’re new – hi. Welcome to the scribbles.
And if you’re sitting on an idea of your own, wondering if it’s worth it… this is your sign.
I’m still tired. Still doubting. But still doing it.
And I think that counts for a lot.
Nicole x
(Founder, Scribbler, Peer Specialist, Slightly Frazzled Human with a new fear of screwdrivers and toilets and a Canva Tab Open)
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