This is our behaviour chart. Impressive, isn’t it? It was drawn up one weekend when the disproportionate ratio of tantrums to coping strategies became too much to bear, and the rain had flooded us out of the park once again. I have never been a fan of sticker charts. This is partly because I loathe […]
Blog
Reaching the end again
I haven’t touched the blog for the last couple of weeks, because I’ve been finishing my novel. This is the second book I’ve written in two years, and the sense of achievement is just as great this time as it was before. Aside from the whoops of joy, however, the emotions are totally different. By […]
Teaching from home
A course I was due to teach last week was cancelled at the last minute and I was left with an empty day in my diary. Before I could fill it with something terribly productive, such as pretending to write my novel, or making a vague attempt to cull the ironing pile, I had a […]
Caught in the act
My husband is home. He’s early. He’s supposed to be sixty miles away. I thought I’d be safe for at least another two hours, but that’s definitely his car I can hear. Oh God – that’s his key in the lock! That’s it, then. He’s going to catch me in the act. I feel sick […]
Giving my marriage a sporting chance
According to an article I read recently, couples who “play together, stay together”. Ignoring the fact that advice from self-styled ‘relationship experts’ generally makes me nauseous, I wondered if it might be true. Perhaps the husband and I should take up a new sport? I have avoided suggesting it until now; the problem is that […]
A short story
I’ve never entered a writing competition before, but a few weeks ago I came across a 1000 word short story contest being run by Barrington Green. I needed a break from my work-in-progress, so I took some time out to dash off something in a totally different style. I didn’t win, but I made the […]