"How do we find the stillness within this frantic flow of movement? To regain our balance in the tilt of change, and the still-point amid the chaos." Life amid change. #naturewriting #wellbeing #podcast #mentalhealth #ukcanals 🌍 The Changes that Come url:https://www.noswpod.com/changes-that-come/

This week I look at the luminous work of Elisabeth Vellacott, an artist who never gave up. stillsketching.substack.com/p/the-lyrici...

Competition time! Would you like to win a voucher for £15 to spend in our store? Simply follow us, like and share this post for a chance to win 😊🦋🐛🐝🦇 Full details on picture. #MHHSBD

ICYMI, my latest #BookReview. Thoughts on THE FATE OF MARY ROSE by Caroline Blackwood. A brilliant exploration of our collective fascination with gruesome true crimes, shot through with darkness & flashes of pitch-black humour. Highly recommended! #BookSky jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/01/07/t...

In my @theguardian.com country diary today, I come across a most unexpected bird on the local chalk stream & wonder if spring will bring a flotilla of Brewer's Ducklings. #countrydiary #naturewriting

Another little push for my online creative non-fiction course starting in February next year. Details ⬇️ Currently reading a ton of personal essays, lyric essays, memoirs, anti-memoirs, and other wonderful nuggets and oddities as I prepare for it! 📚

In my first post of the year, I explore the luminous paintings of the artist Mary Potter. open.substack.com/pub/stillske...

Brave little snowdrops today in the Norfolk wind.

“When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back…” It’s 20 Dec—Winter Solstice Eve—& the day Susan Cooper’s great, cult novel The Dark Is Rising opens. Simon McBurney & I co-adapted a 12-part audio-drama of Susan’s novel. You can listen along, an ep a day, here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand...

New on the blog today, MY BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2024, Part 2 - recent reissues. Featuring books by Brigid Brophy, Celia Fremlin, Celia Dale, Penelope Mortimer & more! #BookSky 💙📚 @dauntbookspub.bsky.social @mcnallyeditions.bsky.social @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2024/12/19/m...

ICYMI at the weekend…

As the Winter Solstice draws near, it is time to draw the curtains and curl up with something comforting. stillsketching.substack.com/p/a-box-of-d...

Monday = London Review of Substacks @semafor.com's @tomchivers.bsky.social reviews three smart essays by @deborahvass.bsky.social, @henrygjeffreys.bsky.social, and @scientificdiscovery.dev in our daily global newsletter www.semafor.com/newsletter/1...

I am back on Wortham Ling drawing this week. Do come and join me! open.substack.com/pub/stillske...

My amazing wife stepped back from an academic career during covid to focus on becoming a full-time ceramicist. She is now living her best life, making functional yet beautiful pots. If anyone would like a peek, her online shop has just opened...

Defeated by the fading light #drawing

Three cormorants have taken up residence in the alder at the bottom of the garden

Out drawing again on Wortham Ling, Suffolk.

Fully funded writer residencies in Dorset. Please share

desperatereader.blogspot.com/2023/11/divi... continuing a November of book recommendations if your looking for some gift inspiration

A charcoal drawing made in the Brecon Beacons last week in between the downpours.

Soothing sounds for nervous pets during firework season. Here are some natural sounds to calm them during this noisy time of the year. #Fireworks

Hold the front pages! I want to holler the news of this review by @theunhurriedreader.bsky.social from the rooftops. Generous, considered, clever & well-researched, I am deeply grateful. bit.ly/46QGEUn #booklovers #WritingCommunity #bookreview #debutnovel #therewildingofmollymcflynn

stillsketching.substack.com/p/home-from-... I am away from Norfolk this week in a very wet Welsh valley with my drawing board and assorted wildlife, and an unexpected visitor.

I had forgotten quite what a faff it was to make quince jelly, but it is very satisfying to see the jars of ruby nectar lined up to squirrel away.

For #MushroomMonday I think this might be Yellow brain / jelly and the other I am not sure of, but very beautiful all the same @botanybeck.bsky.social

I'm a Patron of Prisoners Abroad, a charity supporting UK people in prison no matter where, no matter why. We also support prisoners families here and help prisoners when they come home. We're looking for 3-4 new trustees. More here. Please share widely.

So apparently we have BookSky which is symbolised so: 💙📚 If you are a booklover, you might like to know that @stuckinabook.bsky.social and I co-host biannual Reading Clubs where we read, explore and share books from a particular year. We're currently enjoying 1962 - do join us if you can! 😊😊

stillsketching.substack.com/p/if-you-go-... My new Substack post on making my own ink from the trees I love to draw.

New on the blog today, my thoughts on BRIEF LIVES by Anita Brookner. A superb character study in which Fay is drawn into the orbit of a toxic former actress, Julia, through a partnership between their husbands. As ever, Brookner's writing is sublime! jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2023/10/17/b...

On the Ramblings today, I take a look back at some previous reads for the 1962 Club! 😊📚 kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2023/10/18/1...

A joyous thing to come upon!

Jenny Wrens! 'The Wrens Duet' limited edition linocut print, printed in just 3 hand blended inks. One of Gary's garden bird series. Find it in our lovely little online shop, link > littleramstudio.etsy.com

Collected bits for printing this week and found a tiny bit of blue and white pottery from a lost residence on Wortham Ling.

An exciting afternoon! I thought of you @botanybeck.bsky.social

William posing with "The Fortnight in September", that has sat on my shelves for years, but am so glad to have read it now. Thank you for the encouragement to dust it off @theunhurriedreader.bsky.social

This is a decision to obliterate the country’s only known major breeding colony of barbastelle bats (and much more). Just as the road’s northern stretch destroyed the colonies there. Ten days after State of Nature 2023, this is grotesque and wilfully ignorant of Norfolk CC.

If you need an escape hatch tonight, here's a quiet place. Episode 151 - Dusky echoes in the forest (39 mins) In the fading light, song thrush, blackbirds, and roosting wood pigeons sing the last notes of the day. Later, a woodcock and owls sound like they are already in a dream. 🎧 bit.ly/LenFOD9

Goodness, I do love this time of year.

This will be a wonderful evening. Please come or watch the live stream. Michael will be chatting to Adrian our editor, my husband! Huge thanks to Dartington Trust for inviting Michael. Tickets here: www.dartington.org/event/an-eve...

In Hungerford town hall next month, on the night of November 9th. Me, Anita Frank, and Freya Berry, discussing our gothic mysteries ... perfect for the darker autumnal evenings. Tickets available from the fabulous Hungerford bookshop.

A wood pigeon feather glinting on the woodland floor

Some gentle quiet if you need it tonight. Switch off the news. Switch your brain to the natural sound of a place. Let your mind be still. At rest. Try this. 34 minutes from a path to the sea > bit.ly/LenCoSa

Luminous, knobbly, fragrant

Episode 80 - A doze in the grass on Wallasea Island (This is a high-def sound + sleep safe episode) Down a steep bank, next to an inlet, insects hum in the August sunshine. Crickets chirrup in the tall grass while the wind blows across the water. Best with headphones 🎧 > bit.ly/LenWalS

Love this piece of writing by @deborahvass.bsky.social about the power of stillness, how sitting in a place and just letting it all in, is such a valuable use of time.

Today's post is all abouting pausing. Do pop along and pause too. open.substack.com/pub/stillske...