Substack inspired by the stories of veterans returning to Vietnam. https://open.substack.com/pub/tellingstoriesthatneedtobetold/p/emotionally-distracted?r=4niahi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true #home #trauma #MilitaryHistory #memoir #reflection #storytelling #veterans

The promise of longer evenings…

Heated blanket on, snow being appreciated from a warm distance. Rodney’s still not brave enough to go outside since we moved (aka I’m not ready to let him out into the scary world - there’s a Norwegian Forest Cat called Mahler who OWNS this patch) but he’s started to gaze through the window...

Change can be a different way of looking at the same thing or it can be throwing everything up in the air and noticing where it lands... My latest Substack is a simple observation on the joy of looking the other way. https://ow.ly/Wlvn50XRuSv #joy #nature #change #writing #noticing #wellbeing

Change. Fast, furious, and fantastic. Welcome to my new life. Latest Substack on how I made it out of the darkness and into the light… or the woods. https://ow.ly/Je2450XMVMW #change #WritingLife #Wellness #Wellbeing #MomentsOfJoy #EmbraceTheChaos #OffGrid #Friendship #RodneyTheWritersCat

Change is a good thing - unless it isn’t. Latest Substack about the impact of an exploding appendix and the relentless nature of change. https://ow.ly/bqzi50XEwRs

In the darkness of winter, take time to commit some random acts of kindness and bring a moment of joy into someone’s life 📚💜 #MomentsOfJoy #StockingFiller #GiftIdea #Kindness #Journalling #Joy

Titles by Irish authors nominated for the 2026 Award are: Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey Camarade by Theo Dorgan The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr Intermezzo by Sally Rooney Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin dublinliteraryaward.ie/features/new...

When this world is challenging, how about discovering a new one. Latest Substack on the joy of being a writer and how this can take you to other worlds. https://ow.ly/C4HL50Xi2vI #imagination #inspiration #discovery #curiosity #writing #dystopia

In the darkness of winter, take time to commit some random acts of kindness and bring a moment of joy into someone’s life 📚💜 #MomentsOfJoy #StockingFiller #GiftIdea #Kindness #Journalling #Joy #WorldKindnessDay

Remembrance Day 2025. A reworking of my piece written for VE Day. A sadness that I will probably be reworking this for many years. https://ow.ly/TvQG50Xi2B8 #ArmisticeDay #Remembrance #WWII #WWI #MilitaryHistory #pacifism

‘on loving a soldier’ is dangerously close to being ready to release so AI offered to help. It’s now wishing it hadn’t. Latest Substack on writing, dystopias, and what it means to be human. https://ow.ly/Q5c550XeuSE #dystopia #poetry #AIFail #writing

Creativity is human. Gen AI can't enjoy creating or consuming the arts. It has no place stealing from those of us who need to create for an income, for our passion, for our sanity. Latest Substack - Human-made: Part 2 #GenAI #creativity #humanity #books #poetry https://ow.ly/kCZv50XetAs#GenAI

AI isn’t the only future. Without humans, AI has no purpose. Latest Substack on the importance of being human in the creative process. https://ow.ly/F2I950XesTE #dystopian #GenAI #creativity #books CreativeConsent

Change is in the air. The chilly air. The clocks fell back, the month marches on. Packing boxes fill every room, half full of memories. Poems are tumbling leaves that defy my numb fingertips. #change #poetry #wintering #MovingOn #WritersWalk #Writing

Apparently, I will not be moving today. I’m allowed to have my laptop on my lap only if my feet are positioned appropriately for hugging duties. #caturday #WritersCat #Rodney #Writing

For years, there's been a massive over-emphasis on food miles, and a massive under-emphasis on food type. By far and away the best dietary decision you can make, for environmental, humanitarian and public health purposes, is to cut out animal products.

A dystopian life is closer than you think. My latest Substack about how I fell into a dystopia of my own making. #dystopia #WritingLife #change https://ow.ly/RZWC50X8GaB

Moments of joy on a dull day courtesy of a neighbour, a generous allotment, and a change of plans (darn that facet joint). #VillageLife #Community #autumn #ouch #MomentsOfJoy #Joy #kindness

Moments of joy are absolutely scattered through this exquisite album. Take your time, take a breath, close your eyes - enjoy. https://ow.ly/gm7850Xeswx #NewMusic #MomentsOfJoy #CreativesSupportingCreatives #AlbumReview

Rodney supervised my packing with an iron paw because he objects to all trips. I’m not saying he’s smug but.. my plans changed abruptly. I stretched a mm too far and my inflamed facet joint flared (yes, I swore, loudly). Is it possible for a cat to smirk? #caturday

Thank you to the wonderful team at ELATT for inviting me to speak at the IWM Duxford. The students were a delight and it lifts my heart to know that young people are keeping alive the interest in WW2 and the people who sacrificed so much for us. #WW2 #AviationHistory #MilitaryHistory #Remembrance

A feather-proud turmeric latte at the community-conscious Mudlarks in Hertford. What’s not to love? #community #friends #autumn #MomentsOfJoy #wellbeing

Life on the left isn’t safe. Life on the right isn’t safe. Join me in the middle where all the best ideas live. Latest Substack about how the politics of today influences my writing - and my life. https://ow.ly/8ljH50X8px8 #dystopia #writing #books

On a day when the sky forgot to turn up for duty, the squirrel has a mission. She’s transporting walnuts & hazelnuts from one end of the paddock to her territory - a 6 acre round trip for one nut. Time to pull out my cosy socks #change #autumn

New ezine over on Substack. For poets and poetry lovers, this is an eclectic inaugural edition (and I’ve got two poems in it!) so head on over for a slice of free creativity! Poetry & Purpose Literary Magazine open.substack.com/pub/kellylou... #poetry

There is a spider of such epic proportions hanging out in the hallway that I’ve requested it is assigned its own postcode. Until I am able to muster the courage to leap over the top of it, I will be drinking the dregs of my cold tea and quizzing Rodney on his failure to protect me from arachnids.

"Rough Sea, Bexhill-On-Sea. Vieler, Photo, Bexhill." #Bexhill #Sussex #Postcard c.1913. #Seaside #Weather #Wave #Storm #History #1910s

If you want your favourite independent creatives to make more stuff then you need to give them money, it's really that simple.

#WorldAnimalDay can only mean one thing - bonus Rodney content. #WritersCat #Caturday

The surfeit of figs this year meant a liberal distribution of fruit to friends. Thank you, Dani! You transformed a bumper harvest into a treat for lunch today.

"In a landmark study, OpenAI researchers reveal that large language models will always produce plausible but false outputs, even with perfect data, due to fundamental statistical and computational limits." www.computerworld.com/article/4059...

Lib Dems: We have 12x Reform's MPs, can we have the same coverage? BBC: But Reform has 2x your poll rating. If there were an election tomorrow, they'd be running the country. Lib Dems: So you're putting their people and policies under scrutiny, right? BBC: Lib Dems: Right?

“why some people be mad at me sometimes” they ask me to remember but they want me to remember their memories and i keep remembering mine - Lucille Clifton [writing the most Black woman poem of all time]

Before I forget, happy EW&F Day to all of you who rightfully & justifiably celebrate.

For the record. My posts were not even about Kirk directly, but about America's apathy towards political violence, and the coddling of white male shooters and hate peddlers. I was fired because I mentioned race: white men and violence-- that was my "gross misconduct."

#haikuchallenge Hello, good day to everyone.💙🦉 Here are the (optional) #prompt words for- 9/17-9/19 2025 9/17-Unfeigned 9/18-Unfold 9/19-Unison Definitions and notes are attached, just expand the thread to view them. #haikuchallenge

Statement from the Hillsborough Law Now campaugn regarding the news that the Hillsborough Law will be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday 16 September.

Not even kidding:

Any campanologists out there who can name the peal? It sounded joyous even in a rainy Woodstock.

DEADLINE JULY 15TH: Winner of our Poetry Chapbook Contest gets $750 and 20 copies of their chapbook. Use the link in our bio to submit! #poetrycontestcontest

Today is the LAST DAY to grab the Canadian scifi & fantasy bundle over on Itch!! Get Moonshadow's Guardian & 15 other incredible Canadian books for just $20 RIGHT NOW itch.io/b/3114/the-c...

happy #smallpoemsunday, this weekend, this holiday, this bit of #JaneHirshfield

It’s that fabulous time again - poetry and creative loveliness in the post! Thank you for this mood boost courtesy of the wonderful @hedgehogpress.co.uk

Writing retreat over, sun going down on Eresou. The next sunrise is my call to a new writing life. #change

Writing retreat ahead… #WritingLife L

Betty generously told me her story of serving as a Royal Navy Wren in WWII. VE Day is a time of mixed emotions for so many veterans and civilians. Thank you, Betty, and thank you to everyone who has placed duty before self. #VEDay80 #RoyalNavy #WRNS #veterans open.substack.com/pub/tellings...