When I look back on my memories of Christmas as a child, they are vague and happy. The opening of the living room door in the half-light and small cries of ‘Santa’s been!’ Trying to stay awake in the hopes of glimpsing red fabric or a boot topped with snowy white dusting. Paper party hats,…
Read More
I’ve really missed writing on my blog over the summer holidays, and it seems like forever since I’ve posted here. These precious few weeks without the routines of school (and after school clubs) always go in so quickly, and unless I either get up very early – or go to bed very late – my…
Read More
Over the last few days, I’ve found myself returning time and again to the same question: how on earth did we get to the point where our eldest son is just about to leave primary school? The second half of the academic year has literally flown by, and it seems only a blink since I wrote about our year of small goodbyes as…
Read More
In the Autumn of 2018, I decided to try my first Parkrun. I’ll be honest though: I only planned to go the once. I had an upcoming stint on BBC Radio Scotland to discuss outdoor activities for families and I thought the free, 5km running event happening weekly at our local riverside might make for…
Read More
Recently, I decided to take a month-long break from social media. This was partly prompted by books and articles exploring the benefits of ‘digital detoxing’ (like Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism) and partly due to reservations that had been rumbling around inside me about my use of social media platforms for a while. Although I wouldn’t call myself an…
Read More
The last few weeks have been very busy here in wellies, with both our kids’ birthdays, a weekend away, a Harry Potter sleepover and of course most recently Mother’s Day. It’s also been a busy time on the writing front, and I’ve managed to reach 70,000 words on the second draft of my book, and…
Read More
Last week I wrote here about the very basics of setting a blog up, with a promise to return this week with some answers to questions that people commonly ask me when they find out I write stuff on the Internet. As I mentioned last time, this is also good preparation for me as I prepare to talk…
Read More
Lately I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the stories we tell ourselves. Like many women, I’ve spent a lot of time telling myself about all the things I cannot do. I’m not good at this, I’m not good at that, I can’t run, I could never write a novel. I could never be a mathematician. (A…
Read More
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about creativity, being task-focused, and how much information I’m consuming. News reports, social media, podcasts and even my beloved books (if I’m trying to read too many), can all contribute to a sense of mental overload, I think. Where there’s mental overload, one consequence for me is a sharp downturn in…
Read More
Recently, I listened to a podcast conversation on the subject of sharing photos on social media, and whether the habit of uploading life to the internet actually constitutes ‘showing off’ under a thinly veiled disguise. Conversations like these always make me think about what I’m doing with my blog, my social media and life generally.…
Read More