Something major and important that will change everything

I’m confused. And I’m a news junkie too. It’s a bad combination.  I think if I watch just a little more bloodshed and misery, I might understand the world better. It might all become clear. It doesn’t. Today tanks roll through Ukraine, asylum seekers could be flown to Rwanda, Boris Johnson is Prime Minister. How

Admitting we’re only human after all

I’ve just come back from a restorative trip to Greece. Sun, sea, sand… yes and storms, wind and rain. It was too cold for the beach in the first week so I went on walks in the hills and gorges. This period away was intended to allow me time to stop. To get off the

A Writer’s Life: The Joy of Research

For me, one of the great priviledges of being a writer is time spent doing research. In most walks of life if you rocked up on someone’s doorstep and asked to nose around, they’d most likely tell you where to go. Explain you’re a writer, however, and they’ll happily share their life story! What follows

Essential trips

Ugh, I hate lockdown.  Okay, for those of us already ‘home-working’, it’s not that different – I can still put on a wash or drop the forgotten PE kit/homework up to school (when it’s open), and the fridge still beckons every half hour.  But I keep hearing about other writers feeling “just SO inspired” (huh!),

Drowning in apples

Looking for an activity to put off getting down to writing? I’ve found a new diversion.  The apple tree in the garden offered the perfect excuse. First, it was so full of heavy apples after the sunny weather in April that the main branch split from the trunk, needing propping up. Then the apples had

All work and no play

When the country was first locked down, I wondered what the big deal was. I’m a writer. I choose to spend every day shunning society, sitting alone in my house. Even when my regular work dried up, surely this was the opportunity every scribe dreams of, right? Now I’d have time to write my long-delayed