For My Friend

‘When you part from your friend, you grieve not; for that which you love most in him will be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.’ Ah, good old Kahlil Gibran, always trying to find the positive, the lesson, in the sometimes-tangled mess of life. I supposeContinue reading “For My Friend”

Just Magic

The other day I visited the Magic Faraway Tree. It was deserted, which seemed strange for a portal to another world. But then perhaps that’s because it’s only a portal for my daughter and I. She decided the tree was magic several years ago, when she was still young enough to need walking to school,Continue reading “Just Magic”

Ironing, Oak Apples and Editing or, How I Survived A Writing Wobble

I had a bit of a writing wobble earlier this week. I’ve just begun editing Under Stone, the fourth book in my Ambeth series. It recently returned from a professional edit, and so I was taking suggestions and beta read comments on board, polishing the final crevices and tidying up punctuation and prose, ready toContinue reading “Ironing, Oak Apples and Editing or, How I Survived A Writing Wobble”

#Monday Motivations – The Bench

Esther Newton does a great writing prompt series called Monday Motivations, and her latest prompt is this lovely photograph. When I saw it a little story came to me, and so here it is: She remembered when he’d put the bench there. He’d been young then, and strong, muscles firm against his skin, his fleshContinue reading “#Monday Motivations – The Bench”

#Blogbattle – Iridescent – When The Moon Is Full

It’s Tuesday, and time for Rachael Ritchey’s Blog Battle. The rules are simple – each week you get a prompt, a genre and have 1000 words to write a response, which has to be posted on the following Tuesday. This week’s prompt was Iridescent, and the genre was Fairy Tale. Here’s my take: When TheContinue reading “#Blogbattle – Iridescent – When The Moon Is Full”

30 Day Writing Challenge – Day Thirteen – Forgotten

Forgotten. It is a word of sorrow, of lost things. Memories, people, ideas, thoughts – to be forgotten is to disappear. We search through the forgotten, trying to piece together the past. But the flickers of light that made it real have long since faded, and all we are left with are the shadows ofContinue reading “30 Day Writing Challenge – Day Thirteen – Forgotten”

Book Spine Poetry

I saw this on Twitter a while ago and thought it a fun thing to do – basically, you make a poem from book titles. Here’s my attempt: I capture the castle, The daughter of time; Away with the fairies, Memory and dream   The dark is rising Whispers underground. Foxglove summer; The new rulersContinue reading “Book Spine Poetry”

Memory Box

The other day I opened a box full of memories. I’ve been having a big clearout recently, inspired by Marie Kondo’s ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying‘. Even though I’ve moved a lot in my life (twenty-four times at last count), clutter still tends to accumulate, especially when you have children. So into cupboards I went,Continue reading “Memory Box”