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Read about my journey into becoming a creative freelancer, interviews and reviews with great authors, and advice on writing and creative living.

If there's something you'd like advice on or a book you'd like me to take a look at, do get in touch, I'd love to hear from you.

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Dec 31, 2020
5 min

Your Most Popular Posts of 2020

I’m not sure if a summary of 2020 is a good idea. Besides, Charlie Brooker’s show and Flo and Joan’s song sum it up far better than I could. So I thought I’d do something else. Rather than dredging up a whole load of things we’re all perhaps taking a break from (I am currently floating in a cloud of denial, wine and sausage rolls), I thought I’d share my most-read blogs of the year. Thanks to you lovely lot, there have been an awful lot of views of my posts this year. Maybe y

Dec 16, 2020
3 min

What Can I Say About 2020?

Today in my diary I’ve written that I want to post my last blog before Christmas. For the last seven days I’ve been isolating with my toddler and so my brain has been taken up with making train tracks, cutting out snowflakes (flowsnakes) and playing ‘kicky ball’ outside to use up some energy. Right now I’ve been granted a tiny window of my own to do something for myself. So here I am, sat at the computer, wondering what on earth I can say about this year. I need to plan my la

Dec 12, 2020
7 min

Flash Fiction and Motherhood with Laura Besley

The Almost Mothers by Laura Besley made me cry. Several times. In pitch-perfect vignettes she explores everything from early motherhood to self-doubt to infertility. Her light touch and poignant stories meant I have already read it twice and would quite happily sit down and read it again. Intrigued by how you fit such powerful emotion into very short stories, I talked to Laura about her writing process and how she arrived at this beautiful collection. It’s quite astonishing h

Dec 2, 2020
5 min

Guest Post: Liz Champion and Writing ‘Slice of Life’

Liz Champion is a writer, teacher, and communications specialist from Yorkshire. She writes a Slice of Life blog about the highs and lows of her everyday life. Her first book, Cake, anyone? Scenes from everyday life in extraordinary times is out now. Seeing as it was rather similar to me, I was intrigued at how a global pandemic finally gave her the push she needed to achieve her writing dreams. Read on to find out more. My slice of life blog posts are exactly that — slices o

Nov 11, 2020
4 min

The Power of Perspective

I just watched Nikita Gill perform some of her work, Maidens, Myths and Monsters and her novel in prose The Girl and the Goddess at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The piece she performed (beautifully) was about Hera, the jealous and fiery-tempered goddess who cursed many and caused suffering to countless gods and mortals. Yet we see her at the start of her life. Consumed by her own father, raped by her own brother. Gill’s words are lyrical, lamenting the fear and distrus

Nov 5, 2020
3 min

How I’m Coping With Calamity

Like most people I know, I’m in a state of pre-panic. Just because the awful reality of lockdown and a Trump presidency have happened before, it doesn’t make them seem any better. I wonder if, knowing everything we went through the last time, they might even be worse. Looking up can help me notice things don’t look so bad. This was also a good place to try and catch falling leaves and find interesting sticks. There’s always something to make you smile if you look for it. And

Oct 21, 2020
4 min

I’m Angry But Trying To Channel It Creatively

I’m feeling cross. Having now been placed on ‘Tier 2’ in London, there’s going to be no more social engagements for me (unless I can brave the London cold of an evening). Yes, of course, I understand the reasoning and I want everyone to be safe (or maybe just for Jacinda to be my PM) so of course I’ll do it. But I’m still cross. It’s my daughter’s birthday soon. She’s three and so has very little idea of what is ‘supposed’ to happen on birthdays. She knows there’s cake and pr

Oct 14, 2020
4 min

What Being A Working-Class Writer Means To Me

It’s nothing about money and it’s everything about money. It’s eating arctic roll and thinking Vienetta is a fancy pudding and having your Christmas presents put into a large box to make them feel more special. It’s thinking fish only comes with chips or in a frozen rectangle with a packet of parsley sauce. It’s wanting all the things on the telly but knowing better than to ask for them. It’s never having Kickers or Fruit of the Loom or Nike and Mum joking about how she bough

Oct 7, 2020
4 min

Playing For Ideas

There’s something strange about expectations. I find that positive ones are far worse than negative. Let me explain. If I’m worried about teaching a tricky class, making an awkward phone call or running a difficult distance, negative expectations can be a good thing. Invariably I get so worked up about how terrible it’s going to be, the actual thing itself is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. But the reverse has proved itself annoyingly true. Returning home after li

Sep 26, 2020
4 min

Don’t Be a Slave to the Routine

Discipline. Stamina. Routine. I’ve lost count of the number of quotes and advice that tell you that in order to be a writer, you have to write every day. No exceptions, no excuses. I’ve tried every technique I can think of, but I just can’t do it. My writing is typified by bouts of extreme enthusiasm and lots of words, followed by huge chasms where I stare at the wall and wonder how I ever thought I was a writer. There’s a bit of a theme, here. My habits and enthusiasms are t

Apr 5, 2020
5 min

Celebrating Amazing People #2

Much more lighthearted and unusual this week. I was reading the introduction to Cathy Newman’s book Bloody Brilliant Women and I came across an nun from the 10th century who wore golden gowns and argued with the male clergy. I loved the idea of a celebrity culture existing back then around kings and bishops, and thought she was just too interesting not to delve into a little more. Hope you enjoy it. Pride Comes in Many Guises The two thralls slopped through the mud. After a h

Mar 27, 2020
6 min

Celebrating Amazing People #1

Like most people at the moment, I don’t know what to do. Scrolling through endless feeds and WhatsApp messages bring a strange feeling into my gut – helplessness. So many people working hard to help others, while I spend the day checking in online for my students or finding ways to amuse my toddler. Somehow, in the general scheme of things, it doesn’t seem like enough. In an effort to help out, I thought I’d turn my hand to providing some light relief. But what do people want

Feb 1, 2020
3 min

Thickening My Skin

You may have noticed a large gap since I last wrote a blog. I certainly have. I’m currently working my way (very slowly, baby/job/rest of life permitting) through The Artist’s Way. It’s a wonderful book that is forcing me to stop and look at when I really stopped writing, stopped believing I could do it. For me, creative things have always been a hobby. A nice little thing you do on the side to make your day a bit brighter but certainly not something that should substitute ‘r

Jun 2, 2019
4 min

A Week of Silence

“The world is only tolerable because of the empty places in it…when the world’s filled up, we’ll have to get hold of a star. Any star. Venus, or Mars. Get hold of it and leave it empty. Man needs an empty space somewhere for his spirit to rest in.” Doris Lessing I spent almost all of last week entirely alone. No work, no friends, no family, no baby. No distractions. My very own writing retreat. At first, it felt strange. I noticed the passing of every hour. Teaching is hardly

Oct 22, 2018
3 min

Finding My Voice

Over the past few weeks, something strange has happened. In the tiny bubbles of time I get between work and baby, I’ve started to write again. At first, it wasn’t much. A few scenes that barely reached 300 words. Some thoughts, a memory, nothing substantial. But it was something. I opened up ‘stickies’ on my laptop. Down the right side of the screen is one giant note with all the days of the week, with enough for two months’ worth. I get to the end of the day and log how many

Nov 15, 2017
2 min

How to have a Magical Time – Reading or Writing

We al love the idea of leaving the dreary hum of normality behind. Magical realism, science fiction, fantasy, call it what you like, almost everyone can think of an example that has transported them to a new world and made them come back to earth with something lingering in the back of their mind. Yet if you get them to explain the story, you’d think that it was the background world, the places and events that things happen in, that make them special. In fact, it’s very often

Oct 26, 2017
3 min

Non-Fiction (like pie) is your Friend

My shelf is in danger of falling down. We put it up to replace the bedside tables, so it hovers above our heads, laden with all the stuff I used to cram into those drawers. A basket filled with far too many tubes of half-finished hand cream, assorted earphones, toe separators, the tiny glass pig I brought back from China years ago. And, of course, books. At the moment I’m reading six. There are a couple of literary magazines, one novel, and four non-fiction books. Herein lies

Oct 13, 2017
3 min

Mental Maintenance

Recently, I’ve found myself with more time on my hands. This freakish turn of events has led to all sorts of developments. There are things in drawers and cupboards that haven’t seen the light of day since I moved house that have been turfed out and ruthlessly chucked out. I’m actually up to date on my marking and my ‘News in Slow French’ podcast. I’ve been swimming twice this week. I’ve even *gasp* managed to keep on top of my writing and produced a fair trot of words. What

Oct 6, 2017
2 min

What Does Progress Look Like?

Everyone loves to feel like they’re progressing. The problem is, for some things, outcomes are not quite as tangible as we’d like. If I were an aspiring baker, I’d continue to work on my crumb texture, or perfect the proving of my bread (I only know these words because of Bake Off). As a runner, that’s also an easy one. I do a slightly longer run, I get a quicker time, I manage to do one more speed interval or hill run without feeling like I’m going to die, and there it is: a

Oct 2, 2017
3 min

All Change (Shift Your Focus to Re-Energise Writing)

The leaves on the tree outside my window are dying. But they are so beautiful in their death. Near the top, they still have green hearts, tinged with an acid-bright red. Towards the bottom, they’ve faded to yellow, as if dipped in custard. Every year this tree stands for months with naked branches. Not until March will I see the blossom falling like snow on the road outside my house. It’s not the only thing to have changed. My desk is now in a different room – the living room

Sarah Scribbles

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