I am newly arrived in Virginia. I watched about two minutes of Fox News just because I could. It was horrific. Worse than a hate watch. Never again.

Guess what? I love The Life of a Showgirl. To celebrate it, I got nails

I’m celebrating joy this week as a Swiftie with new music about to fill my heart and soul and will spare very little thought for those who want make me feel small for this.

So funny and clever of Chappell Roan to use Saskatchewan as a rhyme. #thesubway

Look I’m as attached to the 1995 Pride and Prejudice as the next Austen fan but if we’re going go to shit on every new adaptation, we have to remember that the 1995 version was new for the fans of previous versions and look how that turned out?

A milestone. Submitting the first two long laboured over chapters of my novel to a first assessment process tomorrow. Thousands and thousands of words, many drafts, I feel ready for this teaser process/next step.

Yes there are three of us. Me, Sean and a friend. I was intending to go anyway but you were an added incentive.

Planning to go for my birthday! Loved it a few months ago.

Every now and then I remember that Folklore: Long Pond exists as an album and not just a film and I’m so happy. It’s a great soundtrack to my writing sessions.

Stanley Tucci will, I hope, spend the rest of his life seeking out Italian food and making the most watchable tv.

Epic writing day. Over 2000 words and a whole new chapter. I’m getting deeper under the skin of my protagonist and it feels right. Today’s main action was a critical, pivotal scene that moves the story forward and it felt good.

I shared my novel’s prologue with a trusted reader after two years of drafting and crafting the novel as a whole. It landed. She picked up the clues, asked the right questions, critiqued the things showed me parts I hadn’t seen. So grateful. The creative process is soul bearing.

Writing is a hard art form. If you’re emotionally out of whack it can really affect the work. And not in a ‘the work will be darker way.’ Just in a ‘I achieved nothing today’ way..

Today I found the origin of a character’s experience. The way she deals with things later in life. Those moments where a puzzle piece reveals itself are the magic this process is built on.

Where does it say that all work by an artist must by written by them solely in order to win a Grammy? It’d cancel out many artists of great worth!

Sure as a swiftie I’d have loved to see Taylor win more at the Grammys but this was a big year for so many great artists and Beyoncé deserved AOTY hands down. I’ve had Cowboy Carter on repeat since it was released. It’s epic in scale and ambition and just so perfect.

I see it differently. I see it as it’s been a great year for clever wonderful pop. I don’t like cynicism.

Highly amused to discover that folk are now referring to Teslas as "Swasticars"

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

Hero.

Dipped my toe back in the novel writing pond today after weeks of household injury, surgery and general depression. People who say depression fuels creativity confuse me. It doesn’t do that here. It switches off the tap.

I wanted to write 20,000 words of this draft in December and just after 5pm today scrivener clocked over. I’m going for a long walk then drinking a lot of wine.

I’ve started clearing and sorting my study. I already know it’s going to take longer than I thought.

Future me will be so glad though. Might start day drinking to make it more fun…..

A fractured shoulder in the family wasn’t on our end of 2024 bingo card.

Pierre!

Omg yes!! That’s such an important observation

I wish I had. I did enjoy telling him he was quite the arrogant prick. He laughed.

And she was so nice too

He openly admitted finding delight in poking me for reactions. I must have been such an open target. His wife kept apologising for him.

He said he was 61