How Reading Made Me a Writer

Reading was my first glimpse of magic. My mother read to me, which makes me very fortunate. On her knee as a baby, a toddler, a preschooler. I was allowed to point to the words, to sound them out, to close my eyes and breathe in the beauty of descriptions, characters, adventures. I read everything …

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Can We Hang On To That Warm And Fuzzy Festive Spirit in 2026?

This year has been an awesome one in so many ways. Of course, there were the intensely sad bits. People I love have been ill - thankfully on the road to recovery. Two lovely people have gone: there were heart-breaking funerals, then coping with grief. They were the inevitable moments when things get tough. G …

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Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em. And We Wouldn’t Change A Thing…

A young man I know in his thirties was talking to me recently about the huge responsibility of having children. He believed that in these times of political upheaval and change, it was unwise to bring another being into the world. He certainly couldn’t justify doing it. I had a great deal of sympathy and …

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