Dear My Thirty Something Self I’m sorry Thirty Something Self but I found this today while having a sort out. After two pages of you rattling on about how you are dreading being in your forties I found myself rolling my eyes and shaking my head in disapproval. You wrote an entire NOTEBOOK about how […]
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Following on from my tweet yesterday about asking for someone to start a notebook therapy group I have decided to do a notebook based post which I hope some of you might relate to. Here are 10 things NOT to say to someone with a notebook obsession. These things will irritate us. We know we […]
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As a fortysomething writer with a full time (non-writing) day job, a husband, two teenage children (who are well into the socialising stage), a dog, three cats, a house that is never tidy (no matter how many times we clean it) and hormones which change daily (sometimes hourly), life can feel a little chaotic. My […]
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You have been working at the literary coalface for months. Your latest draft novel has taken far longer than you expected. At times working on your draft novel has felt more like going to war than embarking on a wonderful journey of creative discovery. You know far too much about your characters and after spending […]
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Bookish friends are special people ❤️ As a bookish person myself I think finding people who are mad about books is one of life’s many pleasures. Here are the essential skills that I believe are required for bookish friends. They must agree with you that happiness comes from reading books and talking about them. Romance […]
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During lockdown my loved one found unexpected joy with gardening. He’s growing all sorts of stuff and has transformed our garden. I will also say his fingers are…getting greener by the day. He’s done so well I was gobsmacked at the SIZE and LENGTH of his carrots earlier this week. 🥕🥕🥕 Now, I never thought I […]
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Last year I wrote a post on how writing about characters who reinvent themselves can spark a change in your own life. Back then writing about Pippa’s transformation in my book, Instructions For Falling In Love Again, had sparked enormous change in my own life. My post questioned whether writing about change had this magic ability to […]
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I’ve seen too many writers on social media talking about deleting stories that don’t work. The thought of stories being deleted makes me shiver. So, this post and last week’s post are part of my one woman campaign titled: nothing is wasted when it comes to writing. Some of our stories will have potential, but […]
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This post is for writers like me that write a lot and shelve a lot. Some writers I know rarely give up on a story and stay with it until the bitter end. Sadly I am not one of these writers. Underneath my writing desk I have boxes of notebooks filled with half finished, shelved […]
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This post for anyone out there who has always secretly dreamed of writing a book and has spent a lifetime putting it off. You can try to ignore it all you want. Feed yourself silly excuses like you have never written a book before. Deny you want to write a book. Tell yourself it is […]
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