Writer, Filmmaker, Mother, Grandmother
You know this already, it is 2018. The deep red of the hawthorn fruit is resplendent against a silver sky, its bark black with penetrating rain. Patches of pale yellow swathe the still green grass, disfiguring the enduring landscape, but look again and you can imagine sheep flocking home, their woolly edges like fallen clouds… Continue reading 2018, a year of satisfaction, subterfuge or sabotage.
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.
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!
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.
I was delighted to be asked to feature on Shirley Whiteside's weekly book radio show "Booked" to talk about The Birds That Never Flew and my other writing. There's also some fantastic tunes to ease you through your Sunday afternoon. The show will air on Sunday the 19th of March at 2pm on Pulse 98.3FM.… Continue reading Booked on Pulse 98.3FM
I was delighted to learn this week that Jimmy Johnstone, the feature-length documentary film that I wrote, produced and directed with my company and talented team at purpleTV, has been nominated for a Celtic Media Festival award. Did I say delighted? Well, that and more! The festival brings the Celtic nations' creative film and television talent together annually, in the… Continue reading Torc nomination for #JimmyJohnstone
It's my birthday today, and consequently it's a good time to talk about beginnings. My actual beginning to be precise... I shall explain. Last year, Professor Willie Maley, founder of Glasgow University's Creative Writing Masters along with Philip Hobsbawm, asked me to contribute to The Lions of Lisbon, A Play Of Two Halves, being published by Luath Press… Continue reading Birthday beginnings, ‘The Lions of Lisbon’
Margot McCuaig 