I have a daughter, I adore her. A couple of years ago I took her to a birthday party. The parent was playing a Jessie J CD as the children roller-skated. I can still remember the wave of disquiet spreading across a bunch of mums as Jessie J swore in a song and it boomed […]
From a parent’s viewpoint, a child being bullied is possibly the first time when you can’t simply ‘make it better’. It appears after years of kissing fingers, placing plasters over cuts, calming tears after nightmares. Your instinct is to tell them to ignore the bullies, then you change and suggest they stand up to them […]
It seems to me that using social media, and especially Twitter, has increased in urgency recently. Many writers are using it to send out links to their own books and see it merely as a promotional tool. They RT praise given to them, RT links and links, and even more links to their reviews. They […]
A little something from my private collection - a gift from my fabulous friend (and illustrator of ‘Freaks!‘), Darren Craske: Tweet
I fell in love with Liverpool many years ago. It is my prince, on a horse, like the Old Spice man but better. I think it saved me. The thing about Liverpool is that it is full of strays, it likes the underdog, it likes to mend the broken. It will rob you, it will […]
So, Doctor Who, Season 5, Episode 2, ‘The Beast Below’. Amy Pond takes her first trip in the TARDIS and they discover Britain in space. Starship UK is full of British people searching the stars for a new home. And there’s a Voting Booth. And Amy watches something horrific and then gets the chance to […]
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For me, this time of year is one big contradiction. The air is full of anticipation, of fear and excitement, of change. There’s a melancholy that is crispy, a feeling that alters with each glance and each spinning on the spot. There’s a sense that things can never be as they once were. I like […]
The day we moved into this house was the day before Middlest started primary school. His tiny uniform shoved in a plastic bag and lost within the chaos. We got the keys at 5pm. I was stressed, I panicked. I’d wanted him settled and calm for his big day. I cried that first morning. I […]
Sometimes I forget that the online world is linked to the real world. I forget that my online friends have real lives. Lives that don’t include me. Lives that could end. I guess I almost think of you all as imaginary friends. I think you’ll be around forever. Today and yesterday, I stopped that thinking. […]