I kept hearing about words as 2018 kicked off. There was the usual round-up of announcements by dictionary publishers and websites, telling us their most looked-up or supposedly definitive word of 2017. These include, if you're interested, youthquake, populism, complicit, feminism, and, my personal favourite, Milkshake Duck. On the less clickbaity side of things, some… Continue reading A Year of Words and Work
Category: Creative Living
The Dream Job/No Job Conundrum
Sometimes it seems like I spend more time listening to people talking about writing than doing any writing. OK, full disclosure, over the past two months, I definitely have spent more time listening to people talking about writing than doing any writing. One of the podcasts I've found along the way is The Petal to… Continue reading The Dream Job/No Job Conundrum
I Miss Getting Lost
There was a time when I would frequently get lost. I could turn from my desk to my bookshelves to look something up, and find myself an hour later lost in the opening pages of a dozen well-loved novels. I could stay at my desk, having sat down to do half an hour of preparation,… Continue reading I Miss Getting Lost
A Frustrated Nester Fiction Nugget*
I promised a little while ago that if I got to 100 facebook page likes then I would publish a 'nugget' of fiction here on the blog. I wrote this flash fiction piece about 18 months ago, while I was at Circle of Missé. A goal this year is to maintain a steady stream of… Continue reading A Frustrated Nester Fiction Nugget*
Stitched Up: Contrast Top Refashion
I've written before about how valuable to me time sewing with friends has been (in the book Once Upon an Expat...available now on Amazon...click here!) Here in Congo we have a group who get together around once a month to craft together, in surprisingly diverse ways: last week, we were drawing, making dreamcatchers, sewing garments, and… Continue reading Stitched Up: Contrast Top Refashion
What I Learned From My First NaNoWriMo
As the calendar foretold, December has arrived. For most of the past few years this has surprised me. Once upon a time December was an arrival. Nights drew in from the start of October, temperatures dropped, winter clothes came out and I would start to miss summer evenings despite myself. The journey through winter had… Continue reading What I Learned From My First NaNoWriMo
The Frustrated Nester – A User Guide
It's coming up for about a year since I started writing here (somewhat) regularly. At the time I didn't post any chatty 'here's me and here's why I'm here'-type post, because I couldn't do it without it becoming long-winded, and because it's really not very interesting, and because attempting it was becoming a barrier to writing… Continue reading The Frustrated Nester – A User Guide
Recalibration and Carrying on Regardless (with NaNoWriMo)
When I started teaching - hard to believe now - it was in front of a blackboard, the heel of my hand permanently chalky. But a few years later, a brand new interactive whiteboard was installed in my classroom. For the uninitiated, this now-standard (in UK classrooms at least) piece of equipment uses a special… Continue reading Recalibration and Carrying on Regardless (with NaNoWriMo)
Stitched Up: Drawstring Book Bags
Older Boy's new teacher: All the children must have a book bag this year for returning their library books. Practical parent me: FFS really? All they ever have in their normal bag is a snack. Putting the library book in each week is an event! English teacher me: But this is a great contribution to… Continue reading Stitched Up: Drawstring Book Bags
So you’ve learned French? Now here’s how to actually speak it…
You've learned some French at school, maybe at university, or perhaps you've lived long enough in France or a francophone country to learn the language. You can buy bread, order lunch, arrange a delivery, even sort things out over the phone with the electric company or the mairie. But when it comes to having an… Continue reading So you’ve learned French? Now here’s how to actually speak it…
The Frustrated Nester 