Unsolicited writing advice, no. 187: Small details often speak loudest. Don't focus on the car crash: look for the child's shoe in the road.

‘If you thought World War Three would be a shooting-match with nuclear weapons, think again. It's much more likely to be a collection of diplomatic and military manoeuvres, which will see autocracy flourish. It could even threaten to break up the Western alliance.’ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Currently loving A Neighbour’s Guide to Murder by Louise Candlish! Absolute masterclass in voice. #amreading

A second NOVELIST starter pack, inc @cauverymadhavan.bsky.social @angelshartz.bsky.social & many more. If you’re a novelist & I follow you, chances are you’re in one of the two packs. If not, then let me know & I’ll add you. Everyone else, please follow the packs & repost #booksky #writingcommunity

Sometimes (in my case, often) all a writer needs is to scramble up a mountain… #amclimbing #amwriting

In 2019 I embarked upon my PhD in Creative Writing. In the years that ensued I ran a hospitality business, held down full time jobs and went through the pandemic. Some people thought I was mad. But the truth is, I enjoyed it. Doing a PhD let me live a more authentic version of myself.

It’s summer, so this means I double down on reading thrillers. Something about long insomniac summer nights. Currently racing through a couple of Louise Candlish novels, first The Other Passenger and now The Only Suspect. I love how she builds a layered story. #amreading #thrillers

This actually a maths book for my daughter but looks like I’m already contemplating my retirement! The window cleaners waterlogged it spraying water jets full pelt at the letterbox. Thanks guys. #seniorproblems #firstworldproblems

Main issue with tech is the humans using it. We’re shaping it? An interstellar view on the radio 4 Moral Maze programme being recorded at the @hayfestival.bsky.social today.

Does AI refine what it means to be human? Listening to the Moral Maze being recorded live now at the @hayfestival.bsky.social and going out later on Radio 4. Fascinating. Are we face the same questions we faced 25 years ago with the birth of the internet?

Just attended @mikebernerslee.bsky.social’s session on climate change at the @hayfestival.bsky.social. Now pondering on the triumvirate of business, media and politics and the need to work on all three together. The same levers that are pushing ever-increasing inequality.

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 1837: Starting to write is like starting to run. It helps to get into a routine. Little and often is easier than trying to do hours at once, and small, manageable goals are easier to achieve - and therefore more motivating - than trying to imagine the finished work.

Loving Black Mirror S7. It has so many of the themes I explore in my own work: consciousness that lives on in VR (and AI), quantum parallel realities, the evil capitalism + tech has the potential to wreak upon us. As usual, Charlie Brooker does it better. Too good! #dystopia #speculative

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here's an interesting Starter Pack for the hybrid types among us, hosted by @edgeoerin.com go.bsky.app/96Bq1BU

Rose/House is going straight on my TBR list!

Today I launch a fundraiser to support the 2025 #Curae prize for unpaid carers who are also writers or would like to be. Anything you can add to the pot will go directly towards bursary funds for our three winners (announced 1st June). gofund.me/1d8c6564 All in, we can transform lives here x

Making an effort to repost (not just like) all the posts on goodness, kindness, beauty, optimism. Be the change you want to see in the world (or at least on BlueSky) 😊

I’m reading Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister. Highly recommended!

My PhD in creative writing looked what could happen if a fictional UK government combined VR tech with the threat to society Cadwalladr has been warning us of. The more I researched it, the more worrying it became. Such an important message. Worth a watch. youtu.be/TZOoT8AbkNE?...

I cannot wait for this! Interesting that Brooker says: ‘…technology is neutral. It might be misused, but it might also be something that gets us out of this fucking mess.’ Meanwhile, why is he such a genius!? What hope for the rest of us working in this genre? www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Adolescence. Terrifying. I can relate. To - the bad temper that’s not as bad as the last generation - the idea your child is safe at home - the monster within (the internet) - the struggling schools - the utter shame. It’s your fault. Society doesn’t work together There for the grace of god…

Definitely need to move away from Meta. I worked in UK gov in social media 2014/15 and agree with the comments here that Meta would not share their workings with us. And yet they shared them with CHINA? Facebook was 'hand in glove' with China, BBC told www.bbc.com/news/article...

the feminine urge to

Hi gang. My films ‘In The Loop’ and ‘The Death of Stalin’ are on #BBCFour this evening, at 9pm and 10.40pm. Do enjoy if you’re a fan of repeated threat.

‘Most European countries believe the security of all of Europe, not only the sovereignty of Ukraine, is at stake.’ Seeds sown by Brexit. It was in neither the USA nor Russia’s interests to see the UK remain in the EU. www.bbc.com/news/article...

A reminder for these times.

If you think the world’s going mad, just remember, Steve Bannon once said, ‘The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.’

Well done France! UK next please!

I climbed Etna in October 2016. The guide called my husband ‘Compa’ and pointed out scorched trees and torn up rubble. We sheltered between steaming hot rocks, the mountain breathing on us, alive. Unpredictable and unforgiving like the Sicilians themselves. Beware! www.yahoo.com/news/someone...

Severance season 2 - so excited for this! Season 1 was weirdly wonderful and compelling. A completely original speculative concept fraught with conspiracy and menace, it’s a masterclass in modern sci fi. I love it. #sf #scifi #severence

Now then, team @teamlabouruk.bsky.social. Don’t you think you might need to get on top of this?

Today’s Observer magazine contains a review of Asif Kapadia’s upcoming dystopia film, 2073. amp.theguardian.com/film/2024/de...

My latest discovery, thanks to my PhD examiners who felt my work had something in common with it, is Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation. Such beautiful writing, so weirdly fantastical. #amreading #speculativefiction

Decided to give Robert Galbraith a try. Mixed feelings about it really. Love the cult world the author has created but can’t help thinking my PhD supervisor would scribble ‘overloaded sentence’ at many intervals all over it. #amreading

‘There’s a fear in being a parent of boys.’ The risk-taking between about 16 and 25 can be extreme. As a mother of boys, I know. RIP those poor boys. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-...

Editing is a strange process. Inside my WIP are scenes that remind me of the vampire programs in The Matrix. They don’t belong there any more but they remind me of my thought processes, of how the WIP got to where it is now. And I’m loathe to let them go. #amediting

Three main characters in my WIP have alliterating names. I was going to change them at the end of drafting but now they’ve grown into their names and I don’t feel I can! #amediting