Hooray! Hooray! For #PLR Day! Srsly, when the world is burning, the fact that people are still going to libraries and borrowing and reading books (specifically mine) lifts my wizened heart. Love you all!

Bought myself this dragon brooch in Trafalfar Square today. This is the energy I'm taking into 2026. A little bit glitzy, with wings.... and considerable fire power if required.

Thanks so much for including my Lucy. And now I have a list of other Dracula-themed titles to buy!

While defending the luddite argument in Discord, I stumbled into this IMO succinct explanation for opposing generative AI: At every step in the process, it impoverishes us.

I am a feminist and all, but sometimes I wish someone would pop into my garden to marvel at how beautifully I hang up washing: neatly, by type of clothing and owner, so it can be folded straight off the line and returned to cupboards. What totally pedestrian skill are you really good at?

By all accounts he feels 24 if she'll stand still for long enough...

The Death & Life of Lucy Westenra is currently 99p on Kindle! Grab her while she's hot! www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Life-L...

Just delighted with this insightful review from Rambling Mads of The Death & Life of Lucy Westenra. ramblingmads.uk/2025/05/27/b...

Who is Lucy Westenra? Sweet or flirtatious? Virtuous or wicked? And who is lurking in the shadows, determined to do her harm? The Death & Life of Lucy Westenra. Out now. www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Life-L...

The fabulous @karenking.bsky.social asked me about my writing journey. As I said to her, there have been quite a few road closures and diversions on this journey! karenkingauthor.com/2025/05/16/m...

Bram Stoker created Lucy Westenra as Dracula's first victim: but who was she really? A flirtatious girl? A wicked temptress? A loving fiancée? A child killer? Read her true story in The Death & Life of Lucy Westenra. On sale now. www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Life-L...

Lovely friends, here's my big news! My new book, The Death & Life of Lucy Westenra, will be published on 2 May this year. After a torrid few years battling the publishing industry, I am self-publishing this one, and I couldn't be happier. www.rosiefiore.com/the-death-li...

Working with students on a job spec, I was stunned by this example of quadruple tautology: "Ability to self-reflect on yourself personally" "Reflect" suggests looking inward, so "self-reflecting on yourself personally" suggests navel gazing that may well turn you inside out...

My work life is currently so insanely busy, I have to use every spare minute. That's what I should have said to the cleaner who walked into a meeting room at 6pm to find me face down on the carpet. I was squeezing in my daily yoga practice. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

15yo has a perfectly serviceable winter coat. Today he went out in a flimsy Adidas zip top. When we pointed out he'd freeze, he told us that this jacket "had better aura." Am now concerned that in my mid-fifties, I have given insufficient consideration to my own levels of "aura".

go.bsky.app/PiMXKb6 A brilliant starter pack of authors seeking agent representation... including me!

And you thought there was not much to be happy about today... But turns out it's Tom Baker day! 91 and still going strong. #DoctorWho

Inauguration day, Blue Monday... it should be no surprise that today is the day our coffee machine has died. Please can someone deliver lattes at hourly intervals?

I have an enormous p*nis on my car roof. I'd like to say it's because I'm interested in ancient history and it's a tribute to the Cerne Abbas Giant. But the truth is I have a 15-year-old son and that's all the explanation you need. Eye roll emoji.

When I type my first name at speed, it inevitably comes out as Orise. I've decided I rather like it. Maybe it's an exhortation: "O-Rise!" Taking that typo energy into the new year.

Like death and taxes, it is an unassailable law that once you've packed away the Christmas decorations, heaved the box into the loft and smugly sat down with a cup of tea, you will spot two baubles under a bookcase. Every jingling time.

Esmeralda is the most excellent procrastination enabler. She lies down and SLEEPS on one in a very emphatic manner, giving the perfect excuse to say, "Well I would get up and do things, but..."

Post-swim smugness... water was four degrees, snow in the trees, mist over the water. Glorious!* *(double glorious now I'm home with hot water bottle and French toast)

Today's delight: a freezing, glittery morning swim at the pond, sharing the water with three cormorants. Then I learned their collective noun is a "gulp". A gulp of cormorants. Delicious.

OK, my left-of-centre friends, let us see if we can swing the vote in favour of Sadiq Khan; and really upset the Daily Express xd.wayin.com/display/cont...

This is me completing 366 days of yoga in 2024. I didn't miss a single day. I practised in friends' homes, on a stone floor in 40-degree heat in San Vincenzo and on a grotty nylon hotel carpet in Hull. I fitted it in at 5am or 11pm, depending on the pressures of the day, but I did it. >

One of 15 yo's friends just described the way "slightly older" people hold their phone at arm's length, craning away and typing with one forefinger as "double-chinning" and I feel personally attacked.

My brilliant son, Ted Fiore-Burt, has released his first song. He composed the music, and played and programmed every instrument. Please watch, like, share, say nice things and support this ridiculously talented 15-year-old. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL2X...

I'm sure many have said this before but I'm reading a student-facing document about how students might use AI in the classroom (if allowed) and one of the recs is: use AI to make an outline of your reading! But ISN'T MAKING THE OUTLINE how one actually learns?

Today I went to the drama department at the university where I am a Fellow, to work with the second-year drama students on a reflective project. I stepped into the rehearsal studio and the smell took me right back to the tenth floor of University Corner, circa 1988. It smelled EXACTLY the same. >

I think 8 December is the correct date for the first saccharine made-for-TV Christmas film. Hit me with your recommendations. Bonus points for plucky girls with small town businesses and princes of non-existent European countries. Have obviously seen all the Princess Switches!

Fyi, darlings, this is obviously not the real Barbara Kingsolver.

Why l love universities. Reason #312: went to an event at Birkbeck this evening. Stepped into a room with people sipping wine and chatting. Me: Excuse me, is this the dramaturgy networking event? Earnest bearded man: No. This is the poetry and astrobiology event.

When I teach copywriting, we always talk about the gap between the message we put out and the message that is received. This is the new logo for the London Museum (really). What message are you receiving? www.bbc.com/news/article...

Noel's jumper #myeyes #myeyes #GBBO

The target market for these slimy techbros is not the bookbuying public, but aspirants authors, desperate to see their book published. "Spines" will immediately become a byword for unintelligible crap, and no readers will touch it. But they don't care, as they'll have pocketed thousands from authors

So what are we baking to enjoy during the #BakeOff final? I'm going retro with a pineapple upside-down cake (husband's favourite).

Just spent ten minutes scrolling through my feed. I read posts that were funny, and posts that were interesting and informative. No Temu ads, no spam or combative rudeness. I proper love it here

A 7am swim at the ponds is a glorious thing. The endorphins. The health benefits. The beauty of nature. But best of all, I'm now back in bed, with breakfast, a hot water bottle and a cat. Yes, I could have had that without a swim, but would I be so bathed in delicious smugness? I think not.

Husband and I have developed an amusing (to us) WhatApp habit of typing out emojis in words. eg: "Can you pick me up at 5:30?" "Thumbs up emoji" "Smiley face with heart eyes emoji" Started as a passing joke, now perpetuated specifically to annoy our child. Hope it catches on. Fingers crossed emoji.

All's Well That Ends Well 7:30pm 4-6 December 3:15pm 7 December St Mary’s Church Church End, Hendon, NW4 4JT Book now! theatreinthesquare.org

Guys! Guys! Keanu's following me. I have finally MADE IT. I wonder which of my books he likes the best?

Lavatch is clowning around, but is the Countess impressed? Come and see All's Well That Ends Well and see if she cracks a smile at his antics! 7:30pm 4-6 December 3:15pm 7 December St Mary’s Church Church End, Hendon, NW4 4JT Book now! theatreinthesquare.org

I have put together a starter pack for an author group I'm in. Lovely authors of all flavours and varieties. Like an author multipack. But without the weird chickeny ones that no one ever eats. #booksky #books

Any other amateur/ community theatre peeps in the UK out there? I am Chair of Theatre in the Square (theatreinthesquare.bsky.social ) and I'd love to connect to others out there! If I find enough, I can make a starter pack! #theatre #amateurtheatre #amdram #communitytheatre

Shamefully late to the party, I've just read Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. When I teach students about POV, I always struggle to find a true example of omniscient 3rd person. This is that book, and she's so skilful, she still manages to make us sympathetic to every character. I thought it was brilliant.

All's Well That Ends Well in rehearsal! Book now! www.theatreinthesquare.org/ournextperfo...