About Me

The short version:

“I write stories and work out a lot. Marine biologist by training. She/her. Dr.”

I’m a casual contract researcher – the pandemic has really messed that up, and also a 200 tonne mountain ash destroyed our house. Insurance has paid out, but we can’t build that house the way it was built in 1965 due to the extraordinary number of overlays and regulations that come with living in a rainforest. We don’t know how that’s going to shake out. Husband is gainfully employed, but I need to contribute, and this is what I do best: I tell stories. I explain things. I get fired up and rant. I make people laugh. So, if you enjoy this blog, if I made you think, made you laugh, made you feel seen and validated – and if you can spare the cash – I’d be delighted if you bought me a coffee.

…I do like coffee.

The long version, in the third person:

Kate blogs on just about anything she gets interested in, and when she gets interested in things, it’s an intense and overwhelming experience! She was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 36, three years after handing in the thesis and discovering that a sudden lack of routine meant that her “absent minded scientist” persona went into overdrive.

This diagnosis turned out not to be a surprise to anyone who had spoken to her for more than three minutes (hindsight, eh?).

The autism diagnosis was a bit sneakier.

So Kate blogs a lot on neurodivergence, but she has also had a long and strange medical journey, resulting in a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease (now in remission: YAAAY!), visceral hyperalgesia (which is when your intestines hurt for no good reason) and hypermobility syndrome (aka hypermobile type Ehler’s Danlos).

She blogs on the management of chronic pain, on mental health, and on the challenges of working out so that her muscles can support her bendy joints. She also blogs on politics, feminism, various scattered opinions, trauma, abuse, dog training, how nice it is to sleep on boats, why she likes airplanes, and… yeah, look, whatever turns up is fair game.

Kate is an Australian marine biologist based out of Melbourne, with a PhD in genetics. Mostly she works on taxonomy and molecular ecology of feather stars and brittle stars, identifying and describing the myriad sneaky species that pop up as soon as she looks at the DNA. The storms of June 2021 destroyed her house in the woods, so at the moment she’s living in the inner west of Melbourne with a rottweiler called Amos, a ragdoll cat called Ollie (Ollivander), a monstrously affection tabby moggy named Ridcully, and a software developer husband called Michael.

What a fabulous avatar you have!

The delightful RachaelW drew my cartoon Nanowrimo alter-ego, Captain Kate of the good ship Apostrophe. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @RachaelW_Art.

What about the pants?

The pants in question were some pretty spiffy compression running pants, which give my joints a bit more support and alignment, and they were very expensive, and kind of fancy. They have since worn through after many years of faithful service, but I’m rather attached to the title.