Books at Bedtime
For complicated and not very interesting reasons, we sleep in the same room as our books. I thought this arrangement would annoy me; I have an irritating attraction to things being done properly and...
View ArticleLucky 7
Officially, I stopped doing memes a while back, because they tend to cause me unnecessary stress. So why, when I get tagged in the most terrifying meme I’ve ever seen, do I suddenly start playing...
View ArticleFlashing
National Flash Fiction Day is nearly upon us (May 16th, if it isn’t already in your diary), so it seems like a good time to write a post about flash. The term ‘flash fiction’ is one I’ve only recently...
View ArticleGBA Interview
Surreally enough, today I bring you audio. Embarrassed as I am to share the sound of my own voice, it seems to make sense. After all, why agree to a radio interview if you’re not going to share it?...
View ArticleThree Stars and a Wish
I recently joined Goodreads, and I’ve been finding it a really valuable tool for remembering what I’ve read and thinking about what has and hasn’t worked for me as a reader. When you have a memory like...
View ArticleChoosing to Stay Childless
I wrote, several years ago, about my lack of desire to have children. “You wait until you hit thirty,” other women would tell me. “You’ll change your mind.” Now that I’ve reached thirty, and with the...
View ArticleHeadspace
I am away on retreat with my very wonderful writing group. This year we’re in Ramsgate, in a beautiful house two minutes away from the sea. We arrived yesterday and spent the afternoon getting our...
View ArticleThe Retreat and Beyond
I’m someone who thrives on routine so long as I design it myself, and this I managed well during the week’s retreat with my writing group. I quickly fell into a habit of morning walks along the beach,...
View ArticleHiatus
I’m juggling too many balls, and I’m not doing it well. From the Living Room has been seriously neglected recently, and I have a constant nagging in the back of my mind that I need to post. The nagging...
View ArticleMy Writing Process Blog Tour
Although the living room is still closed most of the time, I’ve been tagged by Jacki Donnellan (in a rather flattering write-up – thank you, Jacki!) in the My Writing Process blog tour, so I’m opening...
View ArticleA Line A Day
At the beginning of the year, Kirsty Higginson (@KirstyHigginson) set up #ALineADayPoem on Twitter. ‘That sounds fun,’ thought, and so I joined her, posting a line for each day of the year, creating an...
View ArticleA Line A Day Story
This time last year, I was posting about my 'A Line A Day Poem'; since then the living room's been quiet. But as I promised then, I have spent the year drip-feeding individual lines of a story to...
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