Walking With Black Dog
Winter Walks With Boo.
We meander, me and Boo, along the beach in a looping walk from the deep grey ocean to the beach edge where the bamboo umbrellas have splintered into the sand, to the volley ball net with the rusty poles, to the mountain of flip flops – washed up and piled up.
Continue reading “Winter Walks With Boo.”Mothering/Negotiating With Terrorists/Small Children
My character Emily is the character that is most like me and I guess Emily helps me work out all the mothering stuff! She has two daughters aged seven and nine. I use daily snippets of my life and weave them through her story. The story below is mine, but I’ve used the names of Emily’s children instead of my own.
Continue reading “Mothering/Negotiating With Terrorists/Small Children”The Importance Of Daydreaming
When did I stop daydreaming? It’s something I’ve valued all my life. Something I’ve always known the importance of. Was it when I started writing – desperate to get every thought down on the page? Not to let an idea untether itself from me and float away across the paddy field, a wisp getting caught around a grave in the cemetery or lost in a grain of rice.
Continue reading “The Importance Of Daydreaming”Not A Letter To My Younger Self
My younger self is nineteen, she lives on a small Greek Island called Aegina with her best-friend. And her boyfriend. And her best friend’s boyfriend. Sometimes she wishes it was just her and her best friend.
Continue reading “Not A Letter To My Younger Self”Writing Prompt; I Believe The Sun Never Sets
As I biked through the paddy field, under an orange lined sky, I basked in the glory of the dying sun. Then I thought, how egotistical, how self indulgent, to believe that the sun is dying when it’s just moving around the globe. Still lighting another land or breaking the morning sky open or baking other people in it’s midday heart.
Continue reading “Writing Prompt; I Believe The Sun Never Sets”I Wanted Breakfast In Bed With My Menopause For My 50th!
I didn’t want a big party or a fancy present for my 50th Birthday. I wanted breakfast in bed. Just me and my menopause. Maybe Netflix could join me and possibly a bar of Cadbury’s chocolate – if we could find one in Vietnam. Or maybe Ferrero Rocher- those posh ones with the sparkly gold wrappers. I’m pretty sure I saw a box of those in the mini mart one time.
Continue reading “I Wanted Breakfast In Bed With My Menopause For My 50th!”The World Is Either Bored Or Dying
The Second Lockdown in Vietnam
The second lockdown in Vietnam was a tough one. I’ve always written a diary during difficult times but since I started writing my book two and a half years ago I’ve taken to witting down all my difficult feelings. It helps me see on paper what’s going on in my head. Invariably I then read back over it, find out what is going on for me and write myself a list!
Continue reading “The World Is Either Bored Or Dying”The Grombre Movement & It’s Impact
On my Insta feed I see women aged forty, fifty and sixty plus with long grey hair, leather jackets, slinky necklaces and a sexy attitude of absolute sass.
Continue reading “The Grombre Movement & It’s Impact”This Too Shall Pass
Traffic fumes and horns couldn’t be blocked out, even by the surly guard at The Resort Hotel. They drifted over him laughing, “You can’t catch me!”
I skirted the hotel restaurant, pristine chairs in place, table runners immaculate. Napkins rolled and caged in bamboo irons, aching to be set free and fluttered into laps. Their life cycle was to be gobbed on, washed and re-caged.
Continue reading “This Too Shall Pass”