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Here's the article I wrote for Prof Writing Academy (Faber Writing Academy) about about how judging competitions improved my writing. https://www.profwritingacademy.com/how-judging-competitons-changed-my-writing Image: not my writing room. So why was this a turning point for me, and why did it give me imposter syndrome? The article covers the highs of winning a prestigious, international competition, and the follow-up lows when my novel was unanimously rejected by the agents

Reading news of genocides, climate-related natural disasters, the rise of the extreme right and political polarisation, I've felt what can only be described as ' moral injury ' (a self-diagnosis!) or as Rebecca Solnit calls, in her latest book No Straight Road Takes You There, 'a deep sense of wrongfulness when we realise we are complicit in something awful.' Moral Injury is a mental condition apparently characterised by despondency, avoidant strategies, and occasional bouts

In the dark, trees transform. Gnarly oaks, outlined by the navy sky,  become witches stooped over a cauldron. One throws up her arms and...

Can limitations set you free? Here's a link to my recently published flash fiction story Relations.

Here’s a link to my latest short story - How To Make Love To Fire - published in the winter edition of Panorama; a literary magazine.

Setting foot in Venice, I was excited to see the glittering domes of San Marco and the gilded ceiling of the Palaccio Ducale. A feast for...

Here’s a link to the award-winning story https://alpinefellowship.com/writing-prize and some thoughts about the winning . F. Scott...

It rained last night, and the forest smells of pine and earth. The three of us tread up the hill. The wicker baskets swings into my...

We enter the forest, grateful for some shade. Aleppo Pines and wild olive trees line the narrow path. Under my feet, leaves crunch. The...

I was sixteen when I read Margaret Atwood’s modern classic A Handmaid’s Tale. That was sixteen years ago. Back in 2006, we cheered as Mr...

Walking through the quaint village of Colonia Güell, you could be transported from the September Friday evening of 2022, back to the 19th...

[written in Feb '22] The day I got the wordle in two, the war started. c e a s e My go to starting words are ROAST or CAUSE, ADIEU if I'm...

Let me tell you about where I am. It’s a special place. It's home at last, or moving between the homes of family members. But the land is...

Woops! So I started a blog with ALL of the right intentions, and then a few months passed and I forgot my password. So, that didn't quite...

I’ve decided to start chasing my tale and write a blog. So, where to start? And I mean this literally. A very important writer once told...