A Flash of Dorsal Fin

April 21, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

Jasmine brought me the ball again and shook her fur just as I stooped to pick it up, sending a spray of sand up into my face. Since I moved to the coast, sand is now a constant in my life. Every dip in a pocket reveals a new gathering of damp and slightly fishy […]

Onwards and Upwards

January 7, 2020.Reading time 5 minutes.

My last post was all about reflecting on 2019. This one is about looking forward to 2020. It’s easy to write a long list of New Year’s resolutions but a little trickier to stick to them. So, this year I want to develop habits that I already have, starting with my art. Last year saw […]

2019 Wrapped Up

December 24, 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

Christmas is here again, which means it’s time to reflect on what I’ve achieved in 2019. I still have a long way to go before I can really call myself a freelance writer, but I’m so proud of the progress I’ve made this year. A particularly significant event was the Grant Arms Wildlife Book Festival […]

Published!

November 25, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

This month I was thrilled to have an article and two photographs published in the Christmas issue of Hertfordshire Life magazine. I have started volunteering as a Communications Assistant for the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, and as part of my work I was able to write a festive article about twelve wild things to […]

New Chapter

October 10, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

The past fortnight has been an absolute whirlwind. I have officially begun my MA in Travel and Nature Writing at Bath Spa University, which I’ve decided to do part time over two years. The course is low residency so I shall be staying in Hertfordshire and completing most of the masters online. However, last week […]

Arriving in Madrid

July 26, 2019.Reading time 16 minutes.

I thought I was reasonably calm about staying in Madrid by myself, but on the train to Gatwick I felt sick to my stomach. After the stressful ordeal of flying to Florida I thought this would be a doddle, but then again I always panic when I travel. I lost count of how times I […]

Salty Paws

July 11, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

As diluted sunlight comes streaming through the window I’m awoken by the squalling of gulls – a tangled symphony of disgruntled burbles, high-pitched cheeps and open-throated cackles from chimney top perches. The weather in the Scottish Highlands is always a lucky dip. Some days I wake up to driving rain and moody skies. Today the […]

The Dreaded Block

June 24, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

Although it may not look like it on this blog, a lot has happened over the past few weeks. It’s high time I put out an update, as I was very conscious of the gap between posts getting longer and longer. I’ve been suffering from a crippling case of writer’s block pretty much since my […]

New Leaves

March 14, 2019.Reading time 8 minutes.

This year I am dedicating a lot of my time to something I have wanted to do for many years: write a novel. I often write fictional scenes and enjoy creating characters and I wanted to set myself the enormous challenge of extending those elements into a book. I’ve read that while many authors swear […]

An Unscheduled Spring

February 26, 2019.Reading time 7 minutes.

It seems as if spring has come early, and I’m certainly not complaining. For the past few days I’ve been stuck indoors trying (and mostly failing) to write through an infuriating case of The Block. Multiple times I’ve caught myself gazing outside at the gorgeous sunshine, listening to the spring sounds of birds and bees […]