Just for fun, one of my favourite pics from a recent portrait shoot.

House of YA are taking over the Spiegeltent at Edinburgh International Book Festival on Monday and I'm in one of the panels! There are a bunch of fun events going on - including a free Pandora's Clay Workshop! Find out more information here: www.edbookfest.co.uk/houseofya

I have been asked to step in to chair the Waterstones Leeds event with the impressive Elise Kova this Friday. I'm loving Arcana Academy and its delicious magic and luxurious world and am looking forward to chatting with Elise about her passions and processes. www.waterstones.com/events/in-co...

Just received the first proofs of my novel and it's such a strange mix of emotions. It's been such a long journey so far, and with the launch date still a year away, more patience is still required! Oddly, it was seeing my name and the title heading each page inside that gave me the most feels...

Emma Mitchell @silverpebble showed me how satisfying it is to make these tiny flower arrangements.

Women's health has been underfunded forever, and women have been deliberately excluded from trials, meaning we are taking medicines which are not designed for us, in doses designed for the average male. With AI, this bias is about to get a lot worse. Follow substack.com/@femmehealth... for more.

Pockets of sedition. Not putting pockets into women's clothing is much more political than you might think. A major reason for denying pockets is that we wouldn't want to mess up our 'silhouette' - the message being that our appearance is more important than our independence or convenience.

We've seen the image of Perseus holding Medusas head our whole lives, but I expect this one will be considered horrifying and unacceptable and 'not helping'. 🤷‍♀️

How much is that doggy in the window, part 1.

I sat on the tube in London today and almost every single other person on there was staring at their phone. It felt surreal. Can anyone remember what it was like before we all had phones? Did we just stare into space? Listen to our own thoughts?

Adored my stay at the Limehouse Library Hotel in London! I really fancied staying somewhere with a bit of character and the LLH did not disappoint! My room was themed after Herman Melville, the writer of Moby Dick - perfect as my current WIP features ships and the ocean @limehouselibraryhotel

Happy birthday Puffin! Honoured to attend the Summer Party and to get to hang out with so many cool people, including @clareharlowthewriter @penguinukbooks @puffinbooksuk

You can get 20% off annual and lifetime subscriptions of my novel writing app (it helps you write your novel - it *doesn't* write it for you!) this week, in celebration of National Writing Day. It's free to try for 30 days: www.novel-software.com #writing #novelwriting #nationalwritingday

I am so excited to meet @laurynhamiltonmurray and @abporanek at the House of YA x Edinburgh Bookfest (@edbookfest) to chat about their amazing books! Come to the Spiegeltent on Monday 11 August at 3.30pm for our Wear the Crown panel www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival... @penguinplatform @penguinuk

"Who are you calling a cliche?"

I do love rose season. I prefer these more chilled, loose petalled roses to the ones with hundreds of petals all bunched up claustrophobically.

I'm excited and terrified in equal measure to share that I will be chairing four events for Penguin's House of YA Summer road trip, with the amazing @chaosonolympus @abporanek and @laurynhamiltonmurray. @houseofya @penguinukbooks

There is no greater love than that between a dad and the dog he didn't want.

Can you guess what's in the box?

This is so true and could refer to so many things. In the article it's talking about the traditional gaslighting of cheating husbands telling their wives they have nothing to worry about. But it made me think of when men exclaim that women should stop complaining, because we have everything so good.

There is no green paint in this picture. I'm doing an online botanical mindful drawing course, where the tutor discourages you from using green paint, instead encouraging you to create many different shades of green from various yellows and blues. He also encourages you to slow down and breathe.

Pondwater through my microscope - I love how it looks like a busy commuter station - everywhere in a rush with somewhere to be!

What do you wish of your death? In our culture 'death' is a dirty word, but I find discussions of death are often life affirming and joyful. As I read this substack post, for each description of death, I was thinking - yes, exactly.. oh no wait, that one... no hang on, that one sounds ever better!

Had a wonderful weekend attending the highly recommended debut author bootcamp, run by Sara Grant, Candy Gourley and Mo O'Hara. Picked up loads of helpful tips and advice and made some great friends to continue this journey with ❤️ ✒️

The bluebells in our local woods are heavenly right now. Shame the camera does not capture their intense, overwhelming sea, but hopefully you'll get a sense of it.

'Buying books and reading books are two very different hobbies.' My TBR list wept as I bought these latest books today. I bought all these books from bookshop.org in honour of the Bookshop on the Square, my wonderful local bookshop.

A heartfelt happy birthday to David Attenborough. I don't really have heros, but if I was going to have one - it would be him. His gentleness, delight in nature, insight and heart opened up the natural world to me and influenced my world view in far reaching ways. I think he might be the best human.

‘People cry, get angry’: remembering the enslaved in Ghana’s remarkable sculpture park www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

I started by panting a gradiated background without knowing what I was going to go with it. It sat taped on my table for months. Then eventually I decided to do something with it, just to get it off my table. Expected it to be terrible. Totally chuffed with the result.

These are the five mistakes I see new writers making the most - if you are a new or developing writer, then understanding these things and avoiding them can help you raise your game. Plus - here's the link to the apostrophe guide: theoatmeal.com/comics/apost...

I often get inspiration from news websites - and here is a great example. Saw this headline on a Guardian article, and thought it was a great prompt for a story. If it inspired you, feel free to share your ideas in the comments! www.theguardian.com/global/ng-in...

My friend gave me the perfect birthday card...

Toe beans!

I think what you mean to say is that we should let Australians name EVERYTHING. Also, I suppose they deserve to have all these mad cute creatures to balance out the number of mad terrifying creatures they also have there...

🍽️ 🫧 I meditate a lot and it has had a profound effect on my life. Sometimes I try to follow this advice from Thich Nhat Hanh. Instead of quickly chopping the carrots so I can get on with cooking them, I slow down and say to myself 'Now I am chopping the carrots. Now I am putting water in the pan.'

🖋️ My Five Top Tips for aspiring novelists! I think I have loads more than this, but here's five of my favourites - things that helped me make leaps and bounds forwards in my writing skills and get closer to writing the kinds of novels I can be truly proud of ✨

🐲 🌳 I love this pine cone that looks like a dragon egg...

I believe this is a core part of how we create a more equal world. We need to stop thinking of everything that's male-coded as 'strong' and everything that's female coded as 'weak', or at the very least, 'soft'.

✒️ This is one of my favourite writing quotes of all time. #writingquotes #writing #awriterslife

I have come to this platform for the first time this year for the sole reason of asking @helenlewis.bsky.social and @ccriadoperez.bsky.social if you have any recommended reading for a feminist perspective on the history of witches. Other people's recommendations also welcome!

Posts Of Cats @PostsOfCats i want to be a bookstore cat in my next life

It's hard for me to express how uninterested I am in these recommendations.

Some things a Brit might say to visitors when they want them to go. From the new book: Britain According to Very British Problems. shorturl.at/j9gYd

British citizenship tests should be things that all Brits could answer without needing to revise: 1. Someone bumps into you on the street, what do you do? 2. Who is the only acceptable narrator of a nature documentary? 3. Beans on toast, disgusting or delicious? 4. Is it okay to microwave tea?

I hear a lot of talk about British values, which are usually just rules of common decency, and someone on The News Quiz said the truest British value was crisp sandwiches and I can't stop thinking about it. (I also ate threee crisp sandwiches that week)

WDI.Afghanistan @WDIAfghanistan The Taliban have banned the construction of windows that allow women to be seen in the kitchen or courtyard of neighboring houses. This further restricts women’s freedom. Yet, the world and United Nations remains silent about Afghan women.

'You can't a get a book deal if you don't have a massive sociel media following.' I see this claim a lot and for fiction this simply isn't true. I know multiple peoplee with big deals with the big five and none of them were required to have any social media presence at all. #writingcommunity

Shabnam Nasimi @NasimiShabnam 1,200 days since Taliban banned teenage girls from secondary schools. 740 days since women were banned from universities. 26 days since women were banned from medical institutes. Today, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where female education is prohibited.