I’m Clare. I write about travel, time, and the moments that quietly shape us — and I’m curious where that writing might lead next.

If Not Now began, quite simply, as a distraction — something to stop me drifting back into work mode when I was supposed to be relaxing. Each day while travelling through Italy, Portugal, Spain, England, and Singapore, I took out my laptop and wrote. Sometimes it was just notes; other days it became full stories of what had unfolded — conversations, missteps, small moments, the texture of a place.

Over time, those daily pieces began to connect. What started as a way of staying present slowly morphed into something more reflective. Less about where we were, and more about what travel makes visible: family, memory, loss, connection, and the questions that surface when life slows down enough for us to hear them.

My writing sits between observation and reflection. I’m less interested in itineraries than in the ordinary moments that linger — the ones that quietly change how we see ourselves and the lives we’re living.

This site is a home for that work, and for the stories that emerge when we give ourselves permission to pause — and occasionally ask: if not now, when?