Day two of NaPoWriMo and the prompt is… ‘a poem that tells a lie’. Cake  I sit and watch the clock. The tick, tock drives me insane They say my brain has crumbled like cake. I used to bake – scones, tarts cake. Now I do nothing but stare. I am aware, but they don’t […]

Today (April 2) is International Children’s Book Day, a day in which to inspire children about books, celebrate the authors who write for them and remember the books you enjoyed reading as a child. Personally, I can’t bear to imagine what a childhood might be like without books – being able to escape into the […]

On Saturday, I braved the busyness of Coleraine on Easter weekend to see West Belfast’s ‘only teenage pacifist’ about getting my ‘Breadboy’ book signed. Well, I would have, if my editor hadn’t whisked it away to Donegal for the week! All was not lost however, as ‘Paperboy’ was waiting patiently in my bag as a […]

Unfortunately, this week I missed my poetry class with El Gruer, due to work commitments and the next class is in two weeks time…! However, I did manage to sit down and interview her this morning, so all was not lost… Writing doesn’t pay. Everyone says it and everyone advises you to stay away from […]

This week I caved in to the hype surrounding Gillian Flynn’s acclaimed thriller ‘Gone Girl’ and let’s just say, it was worth a read! The book made it onto the New York Times bestseller list and has generated myriad rave reviews, with a film also in the offing, so I would definitely recommend reading it […]

Nearing the end of a pretty hectic week, I have quite a lot of literary news to cram into one (hopefully not too lengthy!) blog post, so I’ll start with the most recent and work my way back… Yesterday I had the privilege of attending a free ‘Life Stories’ (in conversation) event with Pulitizer and […]

‘…beggars would ride.’ Having read Lucy Caldwell’s latest novel, ‘All the Beggars Riding’, from cover to cover on Sunday I, like all the critics who have heaped praise upon the book, have to conclude that it’s definitely worth your time. When she read an extract from the novel at the Verbal Arts Centre a few […]

Poetry class (part two) Writers huddled around jig-sawed tables, bone china cups and pots of tea at the ready, this week’s poetry/creative writing class was all set to go on Tuesday evening at the Hope & Gloria Emporium. Creativity was waiting to be unleashed… I say that but, what I love about this class is […]

This weekend I had the chance to soak up advice from some of the UK’s top children’s writers so, although there’s a lot to pack in, I’ll try to keep it short! On Saturday I made my way down to Dog Ears HQ in Derry, where the wonderful Dog Ears team had assembled a stellar […]

‘Sky Pen’ entry Chuffed to see that my short story entry for the ‘Sky Pen’ Creativity Month competition has been put on the Blackstaff Press Facebook page! FacebookTwitterGoogle+BufferPin It