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#fridayflash Sidings
Eleanor ran for the train, in her minds eye it slid away down the track, smooth treachery. But the doors slid shut behind her and she felt the metal under her feet. She swayed between carriages. Her slower self was panting on the platform. The one who had not really wanted to come. The passengers…
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Writing Scenes – what is the perfect snapshot?
Recently a photographer came to take a picture of my children to accompany an article for the newspaper in which I had been quoted. He took many, many pictures, altering the configurations and the props. In the end, two photographs of the very many were chosen. The photographer had created far more material than he…
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Mother Writer Interviews: Claire King
Claire King’s first novel The Night Rainbow will be published by Bloomsbury in Spring 2013. She lives in France where she also works and runs a gîte. She has two daughters Amélie, 5 and Beatrix, 3. She is currently Fiction Editor for The View From Here literary magazine. When did you start writing? Had you…
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Mother Writer Interviews: Hazel Gaynor
Hazel Gaynor describes herself as a ‘mother slash blogger slash freelance writer’. Her blog ‘Hot Cross Mum’ has been ranked within the top 50 UK parenting websites and has won several awards. She has appeared in The Sunday Times Magazine and on Ireland’s TV3. Hazel writes for several national Irish newspapers and contributes to UK…
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#fridayflash Spun
He remembers Sarah spinning, her arms outstretched on the strand. The sepia sky, whirligig in the wind, her hair spread with static, her toes making a hole in the sand. So long ago that it might be a story he has spun for himself, a consolation. Last week she made spun sugar with the twins.…
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Writing – what you can do with the wind behind you
I often write about the challenge in finding the time to write. However there are times when the wind is at your back and you find yourself at exactly the right mental place and physical time There are times when you begin to write and keep on writing, when a story appears almost fully formed…
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Writing Rejection, Obstacles? Try to look at now with hindsight
Sometimes I feel like a fraud, on this blog telling people it’s possible to write with four young kids and all the other stuff that happens because sometimes it isn’t that possible or only just about by the skin of your teeth. (Excuse me, I need to go and help the three year old….) Where…
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Mother Writer Interview: Laura Wilkinson
Laura Wilkinson grew up in a Welsh market town and as a child was a voracious reader. She has a BA in literature and worked as a freelance journalist, editor and copywriter. Her first novel Bloodmining, the story of a young woman’s quest to uncover the truth about her origins to save her son’s life, …
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#Fridayflash Elsewhere
I haven’t managed to participate as regularly as I’d like in #Fridayflash for the last few weeks, but I miss it. This week I decided to set myself the challenge of writing a flash of 300 words, substantially lower than my usual. It was a fabulous exercise, especially in the final edit as I chose…
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Mother writer interviews: Sally Clements
Sally Clements is a mystery and romance writer who lives in Celbridge, Kildare, Ireland. Her novel Catch me a Catch is published by Wild Rose Press. The novel is up for the Romantic Novelists Association’s, Joan Hessayon Award. Sally’s novel Bound to Love was also recently published by Salt publishing’s romance e-publishing imprint Embrace.…
Welcome to my Head above Water blog! I’m Alison, writer, mother and public librarian with a background in Communication Studies and Psychology. I have a particular interest in creative resilience, motivation and how nature and wonder can restore us. In my day job I run book clubs and creative events for children and adults.
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