Wallowing in nostalgia is better than red tape. I used to write letters to family, friends, lovers and pen-pals. I've kept a lot of the letters I received, but have rarely been tempted to ...

New post on the Thistle Wren blog: thistlewren.blogspot.com/2026/03/wall... #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

Sweeping Away the Last Clutter of 2025 I've just been sorting through my mess of admin, how I keep track of submissions, what poems I've written, where they've been published. Thi...

New post on the blog: my 2025 writing stats. thistlewren.blogspot.com/2026/02/swee... #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

AI Trigger Warning A member of my writing group asked last night what we would think about them bringing a story that AI had translated for them. I have to adm...

New post on the Thistle Wren blog: AI Trigger Warning. #aidebate #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren thistlewren.blogspot.com/2026/01/ai-t...

Scottish Book Tour 2025 Every summer when I go to Scotland to work, I order an obscene amount of books from a small independent bookseller in the Scottish Borders. ...

New post on the blog: Scottish Book Tour 2025. #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork
thistlewren.blogspot.com/2026/01/scot...

A Summer Ending Today is the last day of my holidays and I'm still in my jammies, writing with tea, playing solitaire until my head quiets. I'm blessed with...

New post on the blog: A Summer Ending. thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/07/a-su... #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

The Blank Page Less than a month left of my summer holidays and I've been thinking about the blank page . . . I don't fear it, I fill it with nonsense most...

New post on the blog: thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-... #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

Midsummer It's midsummer, when Finnish people turns away from the cities and towards the water and the forest, relax and be themselves. As much as I d...

New post on my Thistle Wren blog: Midsummer. #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/06/mids...

Lazy Days When No One is Watching A week into full summer and the kids have been sleeping in late, having stayed up too late again. Menopause has gifted me with mornings, so ...

New post on the Thistle Wren blog: thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/06/lazy...
#thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

Expressing Big Emotions The day outside is beautiful, but I'm stuck inside with a pollen allergy that has moved to my chest. It is a struggle to breathe, to even pu...

New post on my Thistle Wren blog.
thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/06/expr... #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

A Collector of Scrap and Details Summer is officially here, though we still are really only in spring in terms of where the weather and plant growth is. My tulips are just b...

New post on my Thistle Wren blog thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-co...
#poetryblogger #thistlewren #poetrybloggingnetwork

Aging and Love are Involuntary I had a student this week say he follows me on Insta, Hi I!, but he doesn't read these blog posts which is probably a relief. It got me wond...

New post on the blog thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/04/agin... #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

The Poetry of Who I am Now Easter weekend and we got 5 days off school for it. I love the luxury of waking up and thinking, 'not tomorrow' especially when the rain is ...

New post on the blog. The Poetry of Who I Am Now. thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-...
#thistlewren #amwriting #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

Look at Everything Twice - Editing I had a job interview this week. I was struggling getting over a cold, overwhelmed by what I had missed at work while I was out, so I really...

New post on the blog. #thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork

thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/04/look...

Poetry Snippets for GloPoWriMo It's April (woohoo) and I'm bunged up with a head cold and my birch allergy, so I'm hiding indoors though the weather isn't too cold. Spring...

New post on the blog. #glopowrimo #poetryblogger #thistlewren

thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/04/poet...

The Shoulds of Spring Spring has come early to Finland. The snow is melted and the city is full of dust from the grit they use on the roads. Finns and those non-F...

Spring is here - maybe. My new blog post is most definitely here. Enjoy. #poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren

thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-...

A Change of Appetites This year so far has been introverted. My minor face surgery for my skin cancer didn't go as well as I and the docs would have liked so I've...

First blog post of this strange new year. #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren

thistlewren.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-ch...

Sliding Out of 2024: End of Year Review The dark time of the year. The snow we had is melted and the sky has been without sun for ages. We have been full of sickness and lacking mo...

New post on the blog, an end-of-year review: thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/12/slid... #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren

Turned Inward But Moving Forward Everyone is shell-shocked from the recent election. I kind of expected it, but to be honest, I can't summon up much emotion towards its afte...

New post on my poetry blog, Turning Inward But Moving Forward. #poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren
thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/11/turn...

First Day of a Too Familiar Winter November 1st saw our first batch of snow here in Southern Finland, just as I was driving my car home from getting its winter tyres and servi...

New post on the blog, into winter. thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/11/firs...
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The Wet Dark Slips of Gold Wet, windy and dark, we're properly into autumn, but it's been so delayed this year which hasn't been a bad thing. The lingering heat is ver...

New post on the blog
The Wet Dark Slips of Gold
thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-...
#thistlewren #poetryblogger #poetrybloggersnetwork

Scottish Book Tour: Scotland Ten Years On My attempt at Substack didn't work, so I'll stick to notes there and my blog here.  The sun's back. Two weeks ago I had solar panels install...

New post on the blog, my Scottish Book Tour continues.
thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/09/scot...
#poetryblogger #poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren

Moving into Autumn, Moving On Finally autumn is here. I'm not complaining about the long summer, but it's been slightly surreal, the heat and the bright sun. But last wee...

New post on the blog thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/09/movi...
#poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren

Writing A Life After a week of heat, autumn rain has hit my little corner of Finland this morning, so I'm soaking up tea and writing since I couldn't manag...

New post on the blog, Writing a Life, review of #stormpegs by Jen Hadfield. #thistlewren #poetrybloggingnetwork
thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/08/writ...

A Fallow Summer My summer break is almost over, I return to work in a few days. I feel like I've barely done any writing which is frustrating when I think h...

New post on the blog, when summer plans don't go to plan.
thistlewren.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-fa...
#poetrybloggingnetwork #thistlewren