It’s that time of year when I’ve bought a new paper diary and start thinking about goals for next year. I’m looking backwards as well as forwards, peeling back the layers with the benefit of hindsight to work out where I should go next. When the Covid pandemic arrived in the UK in March 2020,… Read More Lessons learned from a year publishing Paranormal Women’s Fiction
We’re completing the third week of lockdown in England due to Covid-19. Historians suggest we jot down our thoughts during this time for future generations. This is a letter to myself. How quickly this new normality descended. How suddenly cities quietened: trains empty, playgrounds taped off, motorways deserted, tourist spots barren, churches shut, flights grounded,… Read More Lockdown
For a long time, I’ve been trying to find some balance in my writing life. A balance between finding enough time for my passion and stopping it bleeding into family time. A balance between creating words and reading them. A balance between consuming story-telling in books and story-telling on screens. A balance between my words… Read More Finding Balance and Genre News
I didn’t make a concrete plan at the beginning of this year. I knew I had a novel to write this year, perhaps two, but other than that, I thought I would just be. The political landscape has been so tough these past few years, so draining, that living in the moment sometimes seems like… Read More Coming Out of Hibernation
It’s the start of a new year. We leave behind a year that many of us won’t miss, a year which seemed relentless with global news and human meanness. I realise now, there is a limit to our control. We can stand up for our beliefs, we can make art, and treat others with kindness… Read More In 2019, Just Be
Do you believe that each of us has a unique gift to share with the world? I do. I look at my children now and am aware of the responsibility to introduce them to new experiences and knowledge so they can uncover their passions and begin to understand who they are at their core. Recently… Read More On Self-Discovery
When I was twelve years old, sleepovers were a giddy affair of crumpled clothing, whispered secrets and superhuman effort forcing sleeping bags back into their cases. Then came a run of horror movies and it seemed no adults really had oversight over what we watched. I expect we were very sneaky. In quick succession, we… Read More From Fear to a Love of Clowns
I am sad. There I said it. I don’t like to be the sad one. Not that there’s anything wrong with being sad: we all feel like this sometimes, and some more than others. In fact, I’d argue that if you don’t feel sad sometimes then your skin is probably too thick, and you might… Read More Sadness
Sometimes I come to a blank page because I have something to say; at other times, I come here because my mind needs excavating before I can move forward. Today is one of those days. Writing fiction is a strange beast. Readers have an idea of what it might be like: writers working on their… Read More On Ambition, Doubt and Creativity
I’ve not been here for a while. The juggling of balls has been hard this summer, and there has not been enough pieces of me to share around. The baby is eight months now, and I’ve been ready for months to smooth out a white page, to fill it with words until every corner is… Read More A Love Letter to Openness and the Creatives in my Life
We went to the beach at East Wittering, a few hours drive away. The sea air was bracing, the sand between my toes cool. Beach huts in primary colours and bold patterns stood against the grey sky. The baby fussed, and I was secretly pleased to leave our frisbee-playing big kids in their father’s care… Read More Yin and Yang, and the Folly of Absolute Certainty
When humankind flounders in the shadows and the gods weep for a lost world, when tyrants roam our shores and women wear pearls at their necks to detract from the fear in their eyes remember So long as there is life and the trees grow silent and steadfast so long as the sun caresses your… Read More Starry Universe
Happy new year, readers. I hope the coming year finds you healthy and hopeful, that you uncover pockets of laughter, reach into your potential and fill the spaces of emptiness that sometimes haunt us all. I’m late with my well wishes, I know. I have an excuse though. Littlest Stelter was born a month ago,… Read More On Beauty, Cynicism and Action
I’ve not posted here for a while. I had lost my way. Sometimes the only thing to do is to retreat into your shell, hide away, let the storms of fear and despair pass. Maybe I’m still lost, but it helps to turn up to a blank page, to coax the swirl of words inside… Read More On Fear and Love
I’m Muslim, did you know? You might have guessed, from how I look I suppose. I once was interviewed by a woman, who after I got the job, confided in me that she could almost always tell someone’s religion after speaking to them for five minutes. I wonder if she could tell also that I’d… Read More On Difference, Compassion and the Right to Speak
Last week my novel went out to beta-readers. Small sections of it have been seen by my critique group, but this is the first time it will be read consecutively, from beginning to end. I’m fiercely proud of the story, and simultaneously fearful about letting it travel out into the world, for now, beyond my… Read More On the Distance between Art and its Creators
One of the mysteries of writing is how our processes evolve. We try our hand at different techniques until we find one that fits best. Distilled down to simple binary choices: plotting or pantsing, laptop or notebook, cafe or home, desk or lap, pant or pantless. Starting a blog was central to toughening up my… Read More On the Writing Process, and Letting Go
One of the ways we perceive those around us is by categorisation. Like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter. We label people to understand them. She is ambitious: he is laid back. He is adventurous; she is scared of her own shadow. She is a ski bunny; he is a couch potato. She is black;… Read More On Categorising Ourselves
I wanted to write this sooner, but life got in the way. So here I am, a few days later, writing this post on the sofa bed of a tiny apartment in the Alps. Next to me, my husband is snoring. The kids have been asleep for hours. On the telly, of all things, Predator… Read More Celebrating Sustained Effort: Finishing the First Draft of My Novel
I know the answer to this question, and if you are like me, you will be jumping up and down saying: everything! Everything is fair game in art. It is the role of the writer to imagine new worlds, entertain, explore themes, and ultimately to hold up a mirror of truth. It is why the… Read More What is Fair Game in Art?