RATING: 5/5 Margaret Atwood can do no wrong in my eyes. Perhaps it is a mistake to be so uncritical, but to me the scale of her contribution to literature, her years of experience and her dedication to producing intelligent, thought-provoking and culturally necessary stories means I’m not going to write a bad word about… Continue reading Book Review: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
The challenge continues but I've hit a roadblock already as I find myself struggling to believe I can write anything worthwhile and therefore not writing at all. After some success with writing over the last two years – finding a rhythm, managing to produce short pieces that people enjoyed, even getting them published on platforms… Continue reading The Fiction Cafe Writers 30 Day Challenge: A Brave Post
After a long (and tough) break from writing, I'm returning with a writing challenge! It is September after all, a time for new beginnings and my favourite time of year. Tomorrow also officially marks the end of the school holidays (resounding cheer?!) and my chance to return to a little guilt free writing time -… Continue reading The Fiction Cafe Writers 30 Day Challenge (Day One)
I like to pretend I am the conductor of an orchestra, like the ones Pa took me to see when I was small. We'd sneak in at the interval and hide within the shadows, until it was safe to choose our seats. Now on the cold days, my hands become my baton, like I’m Nadia Boulanger conducting… Continue reading Urban Symphony (Friday Fictioneers)
I turned 40 this week and I was feeling very positive about it, although I have been much less so about my writing. After a year and a half of building confidence and having the words and ideas flow quite freely, I've been in a drought for while, probably 6 months of a drought. A… Continue reading Hello Forty, Goodbye Writer’s Block
It’s National Storytelling Week this week. It’s also the week my Mum turns 70 (gulp - how old does that make me?!). I find that quite fitting. After all it was my Mum, like many mothers before her and since, who introduced me and my three sisters to the magic of stories. My Mum -… Continue reading Here’s to Magic Mums
The Whispering Woods They told me not to go in there. Into the woods where the you-know-whats lurk. Huge hulks of brown fury, all claws and teeth and menace. They said terrible things would happen to me if I did. I weaved a finger into my locks as I listened... Read more here. Let Me Go She… Continue reading Published Fiction: The Whispering Woods & Let Me Go – The Sirens Call – Issue 42, Dec 2018
I remember the time you stepped on a shell and your big toe burst open all bloody. 'That's your fault' you spat at me, as Mum bent to nurse your wound. 'I'm sorry' I said, confused. You said it again with a mouthful of teeth, your bike strewn on the pavement behind you. 'I'm sorry'… Continue reading Chalk It Down (Friday Fictioneers)
Who knew such joy could come from the sound of you chewing a banana. Your nose is a little stuffed and you breathe heavily between chews, sucking the air in through your mouth and out again. You’ve chosen my knee as your dining spot, and like a chair I cocoon you as you munch. Who… Continue reading Boy
I remember peering around the doorway watching each plate shatter, splintering into a ceramic snowstorm at the hands of my mother. For some reason my memory has omitted the sound. I see her mouth open wide, her eyes and nose dripping. I see the droplets merging with the flying debris as she furiously throws her… Continue reading PUBLISHED FICTION – Shatter the Silence – the Same Online Journal – Issue 12.1, August 2018
Her Dark Materials: notes from the world of children's books
True Life Stories I Just Made Up
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