Writer, Filmmaker, Mother, Grandmother
2018 kicked off with a bang with news that my short story 'F's Fir Fingers' made the Top 40 of the Women and Words prose competition! You can learn more about it here. The national and East of England winners will be announced from the shortlist on the 8th of January. I'm just delighted to… Continue reading Words and Women prose competition
I am delighted that my story, 'Farming Lives', is featured on the wonderful Paragraph Planet flash fiction site. It's always a pleasure to have my wee short stories published. Here's my latest 75 word piece of flash fiction, inspired by an event I witnessed whilst at home on Rathlin last week. It's a bit dark,… Continue reading A dark November tale.
I'm pleased to be the featured story on Paragraph Planet today. "Silence isn't always a choice' was inspired by the powerful #MeToo campaign and this is for everyone that contributed, and for those who 'chose' not too.
Silence isn't always a choice. Silence is sometimes the only choice. Silence isn't always a comfort. Silence is sometimes the only thing close to comfort. Sssshhhh. Listen to the heaviness of silence. Watch its tracks, splayed in the sand like the spine of a fish, the white tide washing over its nothingness. It is,… Continue reading When silence isn’t golden, but is golden all the same.
Last night team Thunderpoint made a group appearance at Waterstones Byres Road as part of the Byres Road Book Festival. Myself, Kevin Scott and Andrew C Ferguson read from our novels, chatted to one another about character, plot and processes and answered questions from a very inquisitive and quite brilliant sold out audience. It's always… Continue reading Thunderpoints are Go!
It's raining; a mist so soft it is weightless. It's powerful though, its strength masquerading in a subtlety that would pass unnoticed if it wasn't for the damp that muzzles your bones and flows deep into your soul. Autumn is upon us, the crimson rowans rich, the dark nights skulking in preparation for months of… Continue reading It’s a nice day for a white wedding…
Time has been busy. It has been delivering changes, challenges, and a swiftness of currents as fresh and poignant as the ebb. Time has been responsible for expanding creative focus and developing concentration, my quickening breath smothering the distant horizon in a foggy haze before its glass feels too vast, its fathoms too deep. I'm… Continue reading I am silver and exact…
Coconut macaroon bars that shed their coating like drifting snow; rich syrupy Scottish tablet that crumbles on sweetened lips, sugary morsels shimmering in the floodlit terracing; crisps -their discarded salt sachets sinking beyond the turnstile like washed confetti; and alcohol, that swirls in the air, its familiar scent snarled by back teeth and held taut in tightening throats, its taste lingering like chlorine in a swimming pool.… Continue reading A snapshot of Scottish culture. The premiere screening of #Tannadice87.
A mostly storm-bound week spent working, writing and sea-watching at my home on Rathlin Island concluded yesterday, and with it came tears as I packed up my computer and made for the city. Standing on the pier, my heart wonderfully weighted with contentment, I prepared to mourn the emptiness I would soon feel as its goodness thinned. Like… Continue reading An #Irish act of union – a #Rathlin island welcome.
When I think back, there was an actual lightening bolt moment when I realised that I was just a 'woman'. A mere girl. I am talking about my awakening, my realisation that gender was important, the moment I understood that in being a woman I was somehow compromised by vent of my very existence. I grew up in… Continue reading #MerylStreep’s strength is power to us all.
