Ah, the heady feel of a new year, when you can leave all of last year’s mistakes behind you and emerge as some shiny, productive, improved version of yourself. At least until the second week in January, when it all seems a bit too much like hard work, the weather is bloody miserable, your next […]
Tag Archives: Writing
Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be invited to speak at an ALCS on How to Make Money From Your Writing. The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society is an organisation set up to make sure writers get paid for their work – I feel a little silly that I haven’t joined yet, that is definitely on my […]
{Note: this blog was originally posted over at Prodigal Geordie]. It’s been just over a year since I moved back to Newcastle, and the theatre scene has delighted me. I spend most weeks bobbing on some triangular trajectory between Northern Stage, Live and Alphabetti, and I’ve seen shows in locations that range from a castle […]
Excited to let you know that I won the Byte the Book short story competition – on my birthday, no less. Thanks to everyone who voted, and remember if you like my short stories you can buy a whole damn book of them here…
My life feels like a series of coming full circle at the moment – but, happily, in really nice ways. Moving home, reconnecting with old friends and my family, and now, with my work. Yes, I am super excited – and nervous – to announce that my first books are now available on Kindle for […]
I love being a freelancer, but despite its many pleasures and rewards, it can be enormously tough, a role where you lack the checks and balances of a ‘proper job’. There’s no boss to tell you that you have too much accumulated leave and need to take a holiday or you’re too sick to be […]
Normally I wouldn’t presume to write a list like this, but I did it for a blog post on a book tour a while back (and for which I have, annoyingly, lost the link) and the material seemed worth sharing so I have reworked some of it here. Hope you find it helpful! 10 Things […]
I rediscovered this old piece the other day: I wrote it for the Strictly Writing Blog and although, thankfully, my life has moved on a lot since then I think it still stands up so thought I would share it here, also. I hope it helps someone. What happens to your writing when your life […]
I am reading Brené Brown at the moment – rereading, to be honest – and it has got me thinking a lot about her key topics of shame, fear and the ‘hustle of worthiness’. How they apply to freelance and creative lives in general, and to my own experiences, as a working-class woman with a […]
“Be a disciplined half-ass” I don’t have a life motto, but if I did, this quote from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book on creativity Big Magic might be a good candidate. At first, it seems an odd thing to lay claim to. Surely, in the words of that other sage, Ron Swanson, we should avoid being a […]
Dark Dates 