Watch.Read.Listen.Love. – Winter Edition

Back in September I posted a round up of some things I'd been enjoying over the summer in what was intended to be the first on a series called Watch.Read.Listen.Love... and then I completely failed to do the second in the series over the autumn. I'm going to go ahead and let myself off the [...]

Watch.Read.Listen.Love. – Summer Edition

A little while ago, I signed up to received daily emails from The Good Trade. Ordinarily, I hate daily emails because I never get around to reading them, they're always too long and they clog up my inbox so I just end up unsubscribing. Not so with this one. The Daily Good is short, sweet [...]

Dear Books…

Dear Books, How long is it now that we've been friends? I lose track - too many years to count. You were there before I even really understood you. Before I could read your words and decipher your tales for myself. Before I could even determine which way your pages turned or which part of [...]

#NaNoWriMo Check In – Day 2

Day 2 of NaNoWriMo is here and the prompt for #wrimohero is 'Ordinary World: What's your setting like?' This is the beautiful building that inspired the first seed of my story: it's the incredible John Rylands Library in Manchester. A key part of my setting is a stunning gothic library. I'm also going to be [...]

Autumn Mornings

Last September we got a puppy. She turned our lives upside down (mostly for the better - who can resist a happy puppy face in the morning and when you get home from work?) but probably the biggest change she made is that I now actually HAVE to get up when my alarm goes off [...]

The Sacred Everyday

Some time ago, I discovered the Harry Potter And The Sacred Text podcast. This was a wonderful discovery. HP and the Sacred Text takes one of my (and the world's) most beloved series of books, and engaged with them in a thoughtful and inquisitive way, exploring the lessons and ideas the story has to offer [...]

2017’s Top Ten(ish) Books

I did not read as many books in 2017 as I would have liked. In fact, I was a whole 20 books of meeting my Goodreads challenge! In spite of that, 2017 was a really good reading year and I discovered some new favourite authors and some new favourite books. I can never pick ONE [...]

Come Home To Rest

The Earth smoulders With the turning of the season And the clouds drift down To kiss the burning land. A veil of tears Lands softly on flaming leaves But even heaven’s weeping Cannot dull the Rioting palette Of autumn’s inferno. And when the most parts, Making way for the pale light Of winter’s promise, And [...]