A Confession First, let’s get this out of the way: I’ve been a bit dishonest. I could have titled this post ‘Publisher’s RSI’ or ‘Writer’s Wrist’ or ‘Why Exercise Is Good For You So You Should Do It’ but those titles weren’t as arresting (read: potentially titillating). Apologies to those who really don’t […]
Publisher’s Bum and other Western World Woes Read More »
Just the other day I officially signed off The Forgotten and the Fantastical 2 with the printers. I am relieved. Very relieved. Ridiculously, I forgot how much energy, time and focus it takes to put a book like this together. With 17 stories by 17 writers, internal illustrations by Emma Howitt to incorporate and a
The Editor (and creative contributor) to Her Book Read More »
I’ve had this post in my head for a while, and although I’d hoped to publish it on Valentine’s Day, work intervened and I wasn’t able to. However… it’s still February, so the topic of love is still kind of relevant, right? Anyway… I’ve written before about how writing a first draft of a book
Limerence, long-term love and short stories Read More »
As some of you already know, as an HSP I’m slow to react to stuff. Which is why I’m not writing a new year’s resolutions post in January; I’m still thinking about stuff that happened in December. Our Christmas was rather fraught and we’ll probably always remember it as the one where our youngest was
A Christmas argument… and cognitive dissonance Read More »
The world seems like a very dark place at the moment. A short while ago, when I heard about the UK government’s decision to take military action in Syria I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of conflict and thought about all the fellow humans who would be directly affected (and hurt) by this. I spent
Light and dark and the idea of hope Read More »
As an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) I often find the world overwhelming. Sometimes I think it would have been good to live long ago before television and the internet, and the crazy thing that is social media, were invented. But I’m equally aware that not having things like antibiotics and antibacterial soap and clean water
Social media, high sensitivity and overwhelm Read More »
I’ve been thinking about grief a lot recently. When I begin to type ‘Marija Smits’ into my Google search bar one of the suggestions Google comes up with is ‘Marija Smits grief’. Strange. Only it isn’t, I guess, because I’ve written about grief in the past and sometimes I try to search online for my
Grief, and why it’s useful to grieve Read More »
The other day I had one of those moments – an epiphany, if you like – where I could actually see where I was along my own personal writing journey. It wasn’t a ‘hooray’ epiphany – more of a slow-hand-clap one – because always in retrospect one can’t help thinking Why didn’t I know this
And I was humbled… (my writing epiphany) Read More »
Okay, so this won’t be a stunningly original post, but I still feel it’s necessary. I look back at 2014 and words like ‘overwhelming’, ‘upsetting’ and ‘super-busy’ come to mind (all mainly with negative connotations) as I struggled to come to the decision to let go of my involvement with the charity La Leche League
Looking back, looking forward Read More »
Having just now come to an end of a period of mentorship I am taking a break. I am in an ‘interlude’. For the past year I’ve been a mentor to a wonderful woman. The year before that I mentored another remarkable woman. Without going into too much detail, I wanted to write about what
The Mentor’s Journey (Interlude) Read More »