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    the proof and the obscure

    In Edinburgh recently, we spent a fun couple of hours in Camera Obscura, looking at the incredible, the impossible, the unbelievable, the inexplicable, and the unclear. Now, home again, I am coming towards the end of my proofreading for Dear…

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    Holidays and homecomings

    I’ve been away. For the first time in 18 months, we left Ireland. It was a combination trip of visiting family we haven’t seen since Covid locked down the world, and delivering our daughter to her new university life in…

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    Dinosaurs, and all that old stuff

    I’ve just finished creating a lesson about dinosaurs, so they are on my mind. I told someone the other day that one of my childhood nicknames was ‘Diplodocus’ and they thought I should use that as my pen name from…

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    Jane, Forgotten, and other news

    I’m delighted to say that I am now well underway on Novel #4, and it finally has a title (which may, of course, change yet, but for now, there are good, weighed-up, thought-through reasons for its choice). Jane, Forgotten. As…

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    Busy weeks slipping by

    Apologies for missing last week. I was busy losing my job 🙂 Don’t worry – I knew it was about to come (and I did still have it last Friday) – the online ESL industry in China has just collapsed…

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    Keeping it brief

    Hello everyone, This will be a very brief entry today, as it’s been a rough week full of time-eating problems and deadlines all coming along at the same time like fleas on a dog. As you may know, my ‘other…

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    The Gardener’s Daughter

    Firstly, apologies for skipping last week. The sun was shining. It was 30 degrees. That’s hot for Ireland. I lazed around in the sun in the snatched spare moments between a jam-packed week of work and webinars. I’ve been making…

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    Getting it wrong in great company

    In my first author interview (links here), my publisher asked me what advice I’d give to aspiring authors. I said that I have found joining writing groups and doing writing courses invaluable, not so much for the teaching content (although…

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    Reject, Reuse, Recycle

    Someone said something to someone recently that got me thinking about a thing that happens to writers a lot. Rejection. It wasn’t even a rejection of my own work that led to this thought. Although I had my own latest…

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    Bobbing along

    I suggested last week that I may write more about how Bob Sparrow had arrived in my head. Revisiting Bob has made me consider how very long it is since I’ve been anywhere! I know I’m not the only one…