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Publication Triumph in Mslexia Magazine

This may not sound very exciting, to have a short 300-word piece of creative non-fiction published in a magazine. But for me, it is a real triumph. Let me explain. I have been subscribing to Mslexia Magazine for about eighteen years, a fantastic…
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The Stories We Tell Ourselves

I realise that I'm pretty good at telling myself - and other people - carefully crafted stories that have endured over a long period of time; stories that I've never thought to question. In my non-fiction book coming out later this year…
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Write to Travel

In my previous blog, I penned a few thoughts around the curbing of my incessant travel habit. As I was writing it, I considered a poetry competition I entered last year with Trip Fiction (a brilliant online resource pairing books with travel).…
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The Curious World of Waiting

There is a great deal documented about the process of writing a novel: crafting a plot and characterisation and the story arc or the editing process, for example. There has also been much written about the finished product of a book: working…
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Creative Writing Workshops with a Danish Gymnasium

I recently had the opportunity to teach a series of creative writing workshops to students at Herning Gymnasium in Denmark. I feel so fortunate to have been encouraged creatively as a child at primary school (doubtless helping to shape me into…
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Second Prize in Trip Fiction Sense of Place Competition

I was delighted to discover last week that I had come second in a writing competition which 400 people from 35 countries entered. The remit was to write a piece of fiction or non-fiction under 3000 words that had a strong sense of place. I…
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Dipping into Novel #4, The River Days of Rosie Crow

Despite lockdown-kids-at-home-all-day-slow-progress (!), I've been working really hard on my novel, The River Days of Rosie Crow, and I'm over half way through the first draft. I thought it was about time I gave you a small peek into the…
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Sanctuary

Self-isolate! It seems to be all the radio and news reports scream out at us right now. And alright, I’ll do that. I’ll stay at home to give the stretched hospital staff the best chance possible to contain this. To survive. But I will…
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Celebrating National Poetry Day

Please click here to read an article I have written about National Poetry Day, celebrated this year (2019) on 3rd October. This year's theme is TRUTH. So, why not join in and #tellyourtruth
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Story reading to Stroke Patients

A Thousand Word Photos is an organisation that matches photographers and writers, asking the writer to create a short story of 1000 words from the image. The stories are then read out loud by actors through the charity Interact to patients…