What is author Krissy Kneen grateful for?

I'm thrilled and honoured to have the deadly author of Affection: a memoir of love, sex and intimacy as a guest blogger here today. I first met Krissy Kneen back in 2007 at one of Australia's top independent bookstores Avid Reader in Brisbane's West End. They threw me a launch for Not Meeting Mr Right, and have been taking care of me ever since.

I'm pleased to say that Krissy and I, with a shared love of good stories, quality times and an appreciation of integrity in writing, we have become friends over the years, and now we share the appreciation for further study, as she has taken on the daunting and inspiring task of enrolling in a PhD.

Reading Krissy's gratefuls below, was a good reality check for myself, having completed my studies some years ago. And the reminders were timely also. I'm sure you will all find something that speaks directly to you in some way also.

Krissy says: I am grateful that I have been given the opportunity to do my PHD:

I could do the reading without the degree. This has always been the plan. For a short time my husband and I began reading philosophy to each other whilst making dinner. This was one of the most lovely things I have been involved in. We read about and then discussed ideas whilst preparing a really wonderful meal together. It brought us together as a couple and also helped us to remember that the philosophical questions we were grappling with in real life were the same ones people had struggled with for centuries. This knowledge is comforting.

Problem is, when the ideas became too difficult or more accurately, too complex in their explanation, we stopped reading and returned to our old habit where I cook dinner alone and he checks his emails or continues working. The intellectual stimulation petered out.

Returning to study this year could feel overwhelming. I am certainly more challenged now than I have been in years. The good comes with some terror and stress and insecurity but I must remember to always be grateful for the challenges I have accepted. Beginning my PHD journey makes me grateful in these five very important ways.

1) I am grateful to be reminded that I am capable of complex thinking.

2) I am grateful to be reminded that there is never a right answer or a right way of coming to an answer.

3) I am grateful to know that everything I am trying to do creatively has been tackled by someone else and therefore - most importantly - I am not alone.

4) I am grateful to be invited to join a group of women (and men but I am particularly loving the women right now) that I admire who have already done their PHD (including you Ms Heiss).

5) I am grateful for the amazing minds that I am having to wrestle with - Susan Sontag, Georges Batailles, Michael Foucault, and Wilhelm Reich (where have you been hiding all my life?) and the wonderful thing is that this is just the beginning.

To get a hold of all good books, including Krissy's Affection, drop into Avid Reader seven days a week. And sure and swing by her blog.