Yep.

They the comparison was of something like a Furby. Instead of it having pre-programmed phrases, it would learn from and respond to what the child said and did. 'I love you!' says the child. 'Love is not included in my current Terms and Conditions' says the doll. 'Please subscribe to premium...'.

BBC news this morning. The idea seems to be that giving them interactive AI toys might increase their intelligence, which is such a horrific misunderstanding of how child development works that I want to emigrate to the moon.

Children's developing brains require immense amounts of positive social interaction to form & function healthily. Horrific experimentation has proved babies which don't get this 'fail to thrive': they die. If you try to oursource childhood to AI you will get malajusted sociopaths IF YOU ARE LUCKY.

Ahem.

Should we give AI toys to toddlers? Hmmm, interesting question! I think I'll just stick my neck out a little and say ABSOLUTELY THE **** NOT YOU UTTER ***** WHAT THE **** WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE READ A PARENTING BOOK FOR THE LOVE OF ***.

I wish you long life, GenZ! Live long enough to watch every make-up or skincare product you love go out of production, and every fashion you adore become 'cringe'. Live long and suffer - as the Elder Millennials have!

(No guys really its so depressing why does everything have to be crop tops now)

Is there any jealousy in the world as corrosive as the one a writer who is just struggling into the start of a project with 100K words to go feels for a writer who is 70K into their WIP and loving it? No, I don't think so. Hisss.

And now Jayne Eyre again. Will you all just stop? New books exist!

Thank you! The same to you :) No one's ever burst into tears but I have had a few people sort of scoff and say 'That can't have happened!' and I am still stumped as to how to respond since to me these things seem like very normal events. Which is why they're weird, I suppose...

One of the strangest things about growing up in a dysfunctional family is how sometimes you tell a childhood story and everyone laughs. And sometimes you tell a childhood story & everyone stares at you in transfixed horror, at which point you realise: oh dear, that wasn't normal, was it? Oops.

On Accidentally Becoming Earnest I have a dirty mouth.

A piece about earnestness, and what happens when you stop saving up goodwill and consider running up some irreverence debt.

kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/on-acciden...

#Writing #WritingCommunity #Scotland #Women #Reading #Books

Chance to meet Grimsby author for book signing at Waterstones The Moonlit Maze is a "historical mystery with a hint of a haunting"

A lovely journo from the @grimsbytelegraph.co.uk interviewed me for this! Tl;dr - you can come along to Grimsby Waterstones between 11:00-15:00 on Sat the 24th to meet me, and I'll sign a book for you and give you free stuff! There might even be cookies! www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby...

* THE MOONLIT MAZE. Just one maze in the book. The second one here is free.

A page of positive reviews from sources such as Ruth Ware, Amanda Geard, Woman and Home Magazine and Susanna Kearsley using phrases like 'hauntingly beautiful', 'I read it in a single setting' and 'Exquisitely written'.

A small pile of paperbacks of the book The Moonlit Maze lying on a silk scarf surrounded by scented candles, starshaped fairy lights, orange roses and a small brass astrolabe.

Image of the paperback of the book The Moonlit Maze surrounded by greenery with the words 'Uncover the secrets hidden in The Moonlit Maze' and then beneath that 'Out in Paperback 15th of January 2026'.

The big day is finally here! THE MOONLIT MAZE MAZE makes its paperback debut today. Sundrenched 1920s glamour, spellbinding romance, and a ghostly mystery.

The past can hold you in its spell...

www.amazon.co.uk/Moonlit-Maze...

Just seen someone online complaining that HAMNET doesn't reflect the 'real' age gap between Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. In fact, Jessie Buckley is 7yrs older than Paul Mescal, so the film *perfectly* reflects how little difference that age gap would have made in real life, despite ppl's misogyny.

All the empathy! Especially for when people act like you're just being picky for correcting them. NO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND IT IS IMPORTANT.

Please stop using the word 'Romantic' as a synonym for the word 'unrealistic', that is not what it actually means, signed someone with a PhD in What Romantic Actually Means.

"Oh my god you are so cringe."

Me: "Yay, that's what I was going for! Thanks!"

Hello, 2026! It is delightful to meet you. Please be filled with joy, safety, opportunity, connection and love. You can do it! We believe in you!

“See, the thing is, as a writer you are free. You are free. You are about the freest person that ever was. Your freedom is what you have bought with your solitude, your loneliness. You are in the country where you make up the rules, the laws. You are both dictator and obedient populace. It is a country nobody has ever explored before. It is up to you to make the maps, to build the cities. Nobody else in the world can do it, or ever could do it, or ever will be able to do it again.” - Ursula K. Le Guin, from The Language of the Night, 1989

“As a writer…you are the freest person that ever was.”

Don’t let genAI ever take away this freedom.

People talk a lot about how hard & gruelling doing a PhD can be - but I never see anyone talk about how, once it's really complete, you miss it. I'm ecstatic that I gradutated! But I also wish I could go back & do it again, this time with a bit more trust & confidence in myself & the process.

There is a US content creator - who I love - whose videos I found when I was first thinking about pursuing a PhD. She was, I think, in year two of her PhD then. I have now completed my doctorate. She's still working on hers. If I was in the US I would be DEAD, friends. Seven years! Yowch,

Little tip for Wes Streeting: if you want doctors to stop striking (& leaving this country in droves) stop insulting them. Try: 'We value & respect our doctors & feel very saddened that they've felt the need to take this action. We stand ready to return to negotiate with them at any time.'

Fellow Mint Aero fans - let my tragic tale be a warning to you. I bought a box of the Mint Aero Peppermint Mocha, followed the instructions exactly. Not only does this NOT taste like a Mint Aero, it doesn't even taste like mint or chocolate. It tastes of nothing but hot water (and disappointment).

Sign the petition to end peat sales! No more delays: Let's get peat out of gardens once and for all. The time for uncertainty has ended.

Good morning, please can you share this petition by @peatfree.bsky.social to end peat sales - all previous petitions were for the Conservative Government, and we're now close to making this law with Labour so peat habitat can never be used again actnow.peatfreepartnership.org.uk/end-peat-sal...

Being a British parent is so weird bc you're actually worried about paying the sky high rent/mortgage & getting GP appointments but the entire press keeps telling you you're worried there's a trans person or immigrant nearby & the vat on Eton means there'll only be two skiing holidays this year

#Strictly Thanks, I hate it. #Scd2025

When it comes to academic writing, I know very well that the 1st step is always to just GO. Splurt out all the incoherent, messy thoughts. Throw spaghetti at the wall.

Boy... have I succeeded today. Yep. That's a mess all right.

Time for a tea/toast break & reflective journalling, I think.

Painting detail of a flower.

'We are like the herb which flourisheth most when trampled upon'
-Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

🎨Jan van Huijsum (detail)
#BookWormSat