I should be writing. I mean that’s what you are here for. And I’m trying, really I am but there is only so much a woman can say before she runs out of words, right? Only Joking! Well only a bit. See, I just got distracted. I went to a training day on how to…
Oh, my days, I am so excited! It’s begun! It started yesterday! Oh, I can’t tell you how excited I am! (I know that’s a lot of exclamation marks, but this is exciting!!!!!!!!!) I look forward to this every year. Planning as the summer ends, by now I have reached a fever pitch of giddiness.…
The one where I can't write for the tunes in my head.
Imposter syndrome is alive and kicking. Sat there in the crook of my arm, right next to the dog. It sneers as I sit here on the sofa, trying to type. ‘A real writer would have a desk,’ it whispers, ‘or a shed, or a table. A real writer would have a room of one’s…
Image chosen by my Grandson, pointing out that we need to hurry so we can play another game. I used to really admire stories of women who’d get up at 5 am, before their kids woke, to write their novel - banging out 2000 words before breakfast or staying up into the wee hours to…
I am a writer of lists My life could be measured in my to-do lists, their contents varying depending on the stage of my life. Early lists might have included Do Homework Try not to argue with sister STOP BITING NAILS Find missing library books Early motherhood saw lists as the only way to function…
I once said to Michael Sheen - you don’t get to say that very often, do you? I once said to Michael Sheen that saying you wanted to be a writer when I was growing up was like saying you wanted to be an astronaut. For a girl, growing up in the relentless poverty of…
Remember me going on about winning A Writing Chance Award with New Writing North and the very lovely Michael Sheen ? No? Well you cant have been listening! Back in the summer I won a place on a writing program for underrepresented writers and this weekend we are all heading off to the BBC in…
Do you write? Are you a writer? Obviously, I do because I never stop bloody going on about it. It’s a weird thing writing, a weird passion. And that’s what it is for most of us – a passion, an obsession. Not an anguished struggle – well it's that’s as well. It’s certainly not something…
I meet her down the bottom of the alley. Litter needs picking again. She’s off to get her paper, leaning on her stick, dodging curled lottery tickets and discarded masks. She’s a bit Daily Mail, if you know what I mean but she’s always out in her garden. Her roses are stunning, not a black…
In spring 2021, in an uncharacteristic moment of bravery, I decided to practice getting rejection letters for my writing. hands trembling I hit send and entered my first writing competition. In all honesty, I didn’t read much about the prize, there was a bursary, the chance to work with a mentor to develop your writing,…
I quilt. Bear with me, there is a point to this. I make beautiful quilts. They are quirky, unusual, stunning - ask me nicely and I’ll show you my Harry Potter bookcase quilts. I have no difficulty in calling myself a quilter, even when meeting fabulously famous quilters, whose skill I could only ever dream…
Bordering Grey 