Out with the old…

I've been thinking about this for a while, and have decided to stop blogging. I'm in the midst of the Creative Writing course, and in a few short months, I've realised that whatever I think I know about writing, it barely scratches the surface. I'm learning so much more, and realising that I've been somewhat…

Reflection & Reconciliation

It's been two weeks since my ex moved out. Two weeks riding the rollercoaster of stomach churning emotions from fury to devastation. Reconciling the awful truth of his betrayal (I discovered he had been sleeping with her since the summer), and trying to understand why this has happened to me again. When we first met,…

Deceit and Discord

On 31st December 2022, my then boyfriend and I accepted that our relationship was over. It was a difficult thing to acknowledge, but we’d been coasting for some time, and it was inevitable. One of the main difficulties we faced was that we still lived together. He knew he would have to move out, and…

Legacies and Legends

Thirty years ago, I was on a date that ended in a rather unusual way. He’d passed his driving test six weeks earlier, and drove an old white Mini. He was confident, outgoing, and a little reckless. As he drove me home, we took a bend in the road at 55mph, came off the road…

Tropes and Trends

I’ve recently been availing myself of schlocky 70’s and 80’s horror movies. Halloween, Friday The 13th, Hellraiser, and A Nightmare On Elm Street. The early entries in these franchises have not aged well, and for the most part, border on hilarity. However, despite how they've aged, their tropes remain a constant. Menacing antagonist. Plucky protagonist.…

Education Is The Key To Illumination.

I recently received my EMA score as part of my degree course with the Open University. I've comfortably passed, but just fell short of a distinction. However, this means I have qualified for a Certificate in Higher Education (yay me). I am a third of the way through, and it amazes me everyday that I'm…

Powering Through

One of the biggest lessons I've learned throughout the writing process is to write consistently. The first draft of Horizon Skies took six years to complete. From 2012 to 2018, I would write in fits and starts, fitting it in with a stressful work life. Weeks would go by without me even picking up the…

False Starts and Faint Sparks

I turned 50 recently, and despite it feeling somewhat odd to acknowledge my half-century on this Earth, it has left me in a rather contemplative frame of mind. The last six months have been a bit of a mixed bag; my personal life is going through some turmoil, I'm experiencing a long period of depression,…

The Writer’s Dilemma…

I saw a question on a Facebook group recently asking if the members had read any self-published books. Most of us answered in the positive with varying degrees of opinion ranging from dire to excellent. My own response was that the stigma around self-publishing needs to "get in the bin", as there are many self-published…

Boredom Is The Enemy

Yes, I am bored. With many things. This will be my last post of the year, I've not blogged anywhere near as much as I want to. But it's been another funny old year. I'm bored of how people have been so terribly hoodwinked into voting for a referendum that was built on a big…