The phrase ‘Writer’s Block’ looms over all of us who dare to pick up a pen or tap out sentences on our computers. It suggests that we, the writer, have hit an impasse — we’ve strained too hard, or squeezed out every inch of creativity we had, with nothing left. Well, I have a confession to make…

I don’t think writer’s block exists.

Recently, I read the fantastic Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. In it, she talks about so-called ‘writer’s block’, and describes it like this —

“If your wife locks you out of the house, you don’t have…

Accepting the term ‘artist’ feels like a huge step in the life of anyone who aims to be creative. Whatever labels we attach to ourselves, this one feels particularly loaded. Who gets to call themselves an ‘artist’? What does this really mean?

These are big questions, and ones it takes time to answer. But when we do accept the term for what we are doing — be it going professional as a photographer, or dabbling in watercolours, or trying our hand at a novel for the first time ever — being an ‘artistic’ sort has its share of problems. …

There is so much passive aggression out there these days, and most people love to blame social media for it. In my view, that’s just one factor, and the bigger one is just good old fashioned human insecurity. So if you’re coming up against the ‘pass agg’, how do you respond in an effective way?

Living in the UK, and culturally speaking, it seems to me that there are contexts in which passive aggression is seen essentially as a natural extension of politeness. …

Warning: I’m going to discuss in some detail what I experienced during a panic attack. This might be helpful, or it might be triggering. I just wanted to let you know it’s coming.

Recently, I had my first panic attack in years.

Luckily for me, I haven’t had a lot of panic attacks in the last years, so when one comes, it stands out sharply on the calendar. The fact that I’d been panic attack-free for so long made this one particularly stark.

I had mistakenly thought that doing my time in therapy, learning the tools and techniques, would always…

Humans are not famously good decision-makers. Particularly when we are faced with too many options. The more choices we have, the more factors we try to consider, the ‘better informed’ we assume we are, to make the ‘right’ choice. Right?

Actually, we’re also less likely to make and follow through on a decision in this scenario. To quote psychologist Barry Schwartz:

Something as dramatic as our identity has now become a matter of choice… We don’t inherit an identity; we get to invent it. And we get to reinvent ourselves as often as we like. …

Some time ago now, I wrote an article about recognising the toxic people in our lives.

The other side of the coin to this article is the idea that we attract what we put out in the world. That if we act in a toxic way, we draw more toxicity to us.

How valid is that idea?

It’s not one thing or the other.

Yes, if you are behaving in a very toxic manner, you might be sending out a vibe that draws in those on the same wavelength. But that’s not always true.

We all inhabit different spaces: a home, a workplace, a family, a friendship…

When we talk about ghosts, we might be referring to a supernatural something, the feature of horror films. We might laugh, consider such things ridiculous. But I’ve been thinking about ghosts a lot lately. I’ve been thinking about how we are all haunted, in a way, by the past.

Memories resurface and make themselves known when we least expect it. It can be as simple as seeing a person in a particular coloured t-shirt, or hearing a name, or thoughts wandering idly as we put out the laundry. In seemingly random moments, memories resurface. We can “see” events unfold, again…

I have never taken notice of the feedback I’ve been given about my work as a writer. I’ve also always hesitated to ask for feedback at all. The idea of having to hear what people really thought about my work… horrifying.

This year, I decided to try something different.

I took the plunge last year to actually put my work on the internet, for the public to read. This was huge step number one. But I realised that something was missing still from my process:

It’s not enough to just lob out your work into the universe. …