I guess the best description of these blogs is that they’re a jumbled accumulation of recollections, reflections and observations. The kind of stuff that pops into my mind when I’m chatting with friends, or can’t sleep at night. When I’m doing the washing up or walking the dog.
Writing, physically getting the thoughts out of my head, helps me to understand what happened and make connections – whether that’s patterns of behaviour or to just bring fresh perspective to life’s events to date. Above all, it leaves me feeling lighter. You could call it writing therapy.
And while these thoughts might start jumbled in my head, you can use the search function to find your way round, especially if want to read about something specific like Tamoxifen induced menopause, grief, chronic fatigue, breast cancer or how to keep going when life is throwing all the curve balls at you.
I might not have the answers, but talking about this stuff is a brilliant way to feel less alone. So please dive in and have a nose around and maybe something will resonate. I’d love to hear from you so please leave a comment or let me know.
- Summer Days
July was music. It was singing along to Stevie Wonder at Black Weir Fields in Cardiff fulfilling a decades old dream. Joyous, happy crowds singing along to Superstition, Sir Duke… Read more: Summer Days - The one about a family and their dog
I started writing this on Monday afternoon, a stiflingly hot day with barely a breeze, just the faint shouts from the children in the playground across the road drifting in… Read more: The one about a family and their dog - The luxury of losing ourselves in the minutiae of life
and finding peace by plodding along the fern lined paths of Ilkley Moor under an expansive Yorkshire sky. Hello dear reader, how are you this third Sunday in June? I’ve… Read more: The luxury of losing ourselves in the minutiae of life - A gentle leap into June
On how a gentle reinvention feels a week in, plus saunas on the prom, swims in the sea and sharpening the pencils for this writing life. It’s so-long May and… Read more: A gentle leap into June - On having the courage to read our words out loud
There’s an additional vulnerability that comes with reading our writing in public, but it can also be freeing. Dear reader, How are you this Thursday? Here in Ilkley the sun… Read more: On having the courage to read our words out loud - A change is a gonna come…
and it comes with a whole range of feelings. Hello, how are you? Please forgive the wayward timings of these letters, I aim for fortnightly but it often slips because… Read more: A change is a gonna come… - Plenty to be going on with…
Easter Sunday was a loose-limbed kind of day without a definitive start, end or purpose, a bit like last week’s writing, just plenty of sitting and reading. We walked Bella… Read more: Plenty to be going on with… - ‘It’s brassic, but felt amazing afterwards’*
Why on earth is this landlubber contemplating dips in the river, Googling outdoor swimming kit and buying tickets for moonlight swims in the lido? Dear reader, how are you? Greetings… Read more: ‘It’s brassic, but felt amazing afterwards’* - Can I hold that for you?
Hello, how are you? I think the last time I wrote to you we’d had a weekend of unfamiliar, yet very welcome, warmth. People shedding coats, sunglasses on their first… Read more: Can I hold that for you? - Remembering to create time and space to write
I need and want writing to be the baseline beat of my daily, weekly life so why do I let a habit that I love, and that nourishes me slip… Read more: Remembering to create time and space to write - ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to have to cancel. Again.’
Getting comfortable with cancelling and learning how to smooth out the boom and bust fatigue crashes. I stand with White Wells behind me, Ilkley lost in a dense white fog.… Read more: ‘I’m sorry, I’m going to have to cancel. Again.’ - Dear January, you’re alright you know
It’s not easy being the one to gently take us by the hand and lead us from one year into the next. I figure it’s time we gave you, and… Read more: Dear January, you’re alright you know - How do you want to feel in 2025?
Same same but different is the phrase that springs to my mind. Words borrowed from a tapas bar in Bath that feel bang on for the first week of this… Read more: How do you want to feel in 2025? - Are we nearly there yet?
In search of comfort, joy and a little silence… “How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird… Read more: Are we nearly there yet? - Sliding into the end of the year, slowly
Whilst remembering to keep a cool head and warm heart. How are you dear reader, this first Saturday of December as Storm Darragh makes its presence felt in the UK?… Read more: Sliding into the end of the year, slowly - On showing curiosity and tenderness in our conversations
How can we keep the conversation warm when we’re separated by time zones and shape shifting family dynamics. - Yours in companionable silence
Other than the sound of my hand moving the pencil across the page. Hello, how are you all ? I almost shared this on Friday but then fish and chips… Read more: Yours in companionable silence - Nine years later…
On remembering that life builds around the loss and that feelings will continue to ebb and flow. Welcome to this Friday’s letter from Yorkshire and hello from my favourite table… Read more: Nine years later… - Help, the dog’s stuck in the tarn
On Bella the 13 year old labrador getting stuck (and rescued) from the water, calling out the fire brigade and sticking to my writing streak. Dear reader, I’m not sure… Read more: Help, the dog’s stuck in the tarn - My next home will have dark green shutters
Shutters that lie against sun bleached terracotta painted walls. It’ll sit amongst other apricot and pistachio green buildings, a stones throw from a small harbour and a smattering of cafes.… Read more: My next home will have dark green shutters - Unexpected layers of emotion
Our seventh Ilkley-versary, dropping the middle child off in Cardiff and dad’s ninth anniversary. It’s been an interesting week or so round these parts. Bring on October. Knitting, stitching and… Read more: Unexpected layers of emotion - Lessons in love and other eighties musical confessions
From Level 42 to Curiosity killed the Cat, the Eurythmics and Wham! The musical rabbit hole is my favourite kind of writing rabbit hole to fall down. The thing about… Read more: Lessons in love and other eighties musical confessions - You’re not half bad…
Greetings from the sofa in my kitchen this mid-September Friday afternoon. It’s been a chilly day softened by the welcome appearance of clear blue sky and the all-important sun. Dear… Read more: You’re not half bad… - Writing sprints, denim creations and making wonky progress
Making the most of the 19-year old and his mischief and mayhem, tomfoolery and shenanigans and worldly wisdom before he leaves us for Freshers Week. Hello, how are you? How’s… Read more: Writing sprints, denim creations and making wonky progress - An unconventional packing list
‘I’ve got nineteen books and those piles of CDs; but what about my 3D printer? And my crochet & Rubik’s cubes?’ said the 19-year-old when I asked him what he’s… Read more: An unconventional packing list - ‘I’m only here for the Tracey Emin’ she said
We were on our final lap of the Summer Exhibition and we’d probably walked past several times already, but when there are more than 1700 works of art to take… Read more: ‘I’m only here for the Tracey Emin’ she said - Letters from Mallorca
It was 1993, I was 21 and spending the summer working in Palma de Mallorca. My parents kept my letters home & discovering them sparked all sorts of thoughts when… Read more: Letters from Mallorca - Feeling at home in my body
Is one of the reasons I’ve struggled to feel at home – not just here in Yorkshire but from my twenties onwards – because I haven’t felt at home in… Read more: Feeling at home in my body - Learning to breathe into the quiet moments
Breathing in between the gluggle jugs and jumpers: lessons from the shopfloor on leaning into a slower pace Greetings from Ilkley where I’m writing this sitting in bed with a… Read more: Learning to breathe into the quiet moments - Where do you feel at home?
Is it one place, or maybe there’s more than one place where you feel at home. And what makes it home anyway, what does that feel like? This proved to… Read more: Where do you feel at home? - A little camaraderie goes a long way
Camaraderie: a feeling of trust and friendship among a group of people who have usually known each other for a long time or gone through some kind of experience together… Read more: A little camaraderie goes a long way - The conversational dance
Thoughts from the shop floor where we’re celebrating the warmth and humanity of female friendships, conversation and embracing mistake-making. Dear reader, how are you this festive December? It’s six (may… Read more: The conversational dance - Finding my own meandering writing path
Being open to a little redirection and adopting a gentle ‘what happens if I try this instead’ approach. My favourite spot to sit in the kitchen is on the sofa… Read more: Finding my own meandering writing path - Swapping the notebook for the shopfloor
I’m swapping my navy walled home office for manning the till, tidying shelves and chatting with customers. I loved my first shift on the shop floor, let’s see how I… Read more: Swapping the notebook for the shopfloor - The restorative power of a seaside circuit breaker
Six years after swapping coast for moorland I still feel the gravitational pull of the sea and the soothing rhythm of a beach walk. I’ve been feeling a little I… Read more: The restorative power of a seaside circuit breaker - Books, podcasts, a writing prompt and a new word I’m loving this autumn
The new word is ‘apricity’ the warmth of the sun on a winter’s day, but read on for book and podcast ideas and a writing prompt that I love. Hola… Read more: Books, podcasts, a writing prompt and a new word I’m loving this autumn - Time to get my writing act together
I’ve set myself a challenge: to finish a (messy) first draft of my memoir by the end of the year. Can I do it? Possibly. Will I regret saying it… Read more: Time to get my writing act together - A little camaraderie goes a long way
Image by Andraz Lazic on Unsplash Camaraderie: a feeling of trust and friendship among a group of people who have usually known each other for a long time or gone… Read more: A little camaraderie goes a long way - Gently Does It
Greetings from my sofa this bank holiday Monday from a mostly sunshine-y Ilkley, how are you? It’s taken me a while to get these words into an order I feel… Read more: Gently Does It - Truth and honestyI started this on Monday, got as far as uploading it and even added a few photos, but I left it in drafts because something wasn’t quite right. Later in… Read more: Truth and honesty
- You can’t edit a blank page
This went out to Moor Life Writing newsletter subscribers on Friday 30 June, if you want musings on pursuing a creative and writing life to drop into your inbox without… Read more: You can’t edit a blank page - Read, write and keep going
Are you basking in the warmth and blue skies that have finally decided to join us in the UK? Please reassure me it’s warm and sunny where you are too?… Read more: Read, write and keep going - All at sea
I’ve been feeling at sea these past few weeks. It’s those tell-tale signs that crop up the week leading up to mum’s anniversary. It’ll be eight years on Wednesday 24th… Read more: All at sea - Writing about grief
It’s not like I don’t know that I’m a boom-and-bust character, it’s just that it still seems to take me by surprise when I emerge from any intense period and… Read more: Writing about grief - Finding joy on the blank page
I was on the hunt for a spare notebook the other day and found one buried at the bottom of a drawer. Flicking through the pages I was struck by… Read more: Finding joy on the blank page - On rediscovering our creativity
Spring greetings from a sometimes sunny Ilkley! How has your March been? I’m writing this on the fourth Saturday in March, three hours into London Writers Salon’s 24 hour 3rd birthday writing sprint.… Read more: On rediscovering our creativity - Here’s to engaging our core and quietly creating new pathways
These blogs drop into inboxes the final week of each month, it’s a nudge to hit pause, put the kettle on and have a little noodle about life. I’d love… Read more: Here’s to engaging our core and quietly creating new pathways - Writing into the weekend
I sent this out at the end of February to my mailing list, let me know if you want to have a monthly musings drop into your inbox. February caught… Read more: Writing into the weekend - What to read in March (fiction)
This book review is long overdue, from the new year if I’m being honest. I’m sorry, life got in the way. Reading more books also got in the way but… Read more: What to read in March (fiction)