My book, co written by my mother, an art teacher, on China is full of creative ideas relating to Chinese history and culture to help teachers develop an fun and creative programme for children learning about this ancient civilisation

You can read more about the book (or order…:D) direct from User Friendly Resources

Well sometimes I can’t. Sometimes I just want to crawl into my bed, throw the sheets over my head and pretend things are not as they are. But most of the time, most days, I just keep on pushing through. My only constant is I have to be really adaptable. I have to adjust my schedule, often at a moment’s notice.

I also am quick to find the things to discard. Plenty of due dates? The dishes can wait, the clean clothes can pile up on the couch, and we can have eggs for dinner instead of a proper meal. That’s all ok.

And if it gets REALLY bad? Then I get in help

And that’s the trick. You really can’t juggle it all. You just get another person to help keep the balls in the air. (And to pick up the odd one that drops along the way.)

While I was already half way through the journey, with my book planned, written, and accepted by a publisher. there is alot of tips and suggestions I plan to try as I prepare for my next book’s release.

I’ll keep you posted on progress!

I think writers do often sit between normality and out right weirdness. Our inquisitive nature leads us to make friends with a diverse range of people, not because we must write about them all, but because our writing has developed in us an ability to look beyond the weirdness and into the person who lies beneath.

I often mention that as a writer I’m an observer, not a partaker. There is, and always will be a fair amount of truth in that statement. I tend to watch, reflect and think, than jump in and experience everything that intrigues me (My mother is probably perennially thankful for that!)

Sometimes however I feel like ti’s such a narrow line we walk, when we live on the edge of normal.

For example, I have three children. Put us in a rural area (which is where we were started) and that size fmaily seems normal. Move us to a big city, and it’s a regular comment to us at cafes that I have a large family

Easiest way to find a new story? Find the point of difference.

It’s the same with anything creative (including teaching). To succeed as a creative you need structure. You need to practise and practise your craft. The very rhythm of rehearsal makes you a better writer. I look back at the massive volumes of writing I have done in the last five years. It’s made so much of my writing instinctive now. I KNOW how to start an article. I understand how to shape my words into an argument or to weave a message into a story.

But it’s because for so long, all I have done is write.

I am coming to a place where I am beginning to be free enough to write what I love to write. But to have got here I have had to write thousands of words on any number of things to get to the crux of my own voice.

True freedom IS found in the confines of structure, of repetition and in practice.

My real life and my virtual lives intermingle and swirl against each other. I have close friends that are long distance soulmates, ex’s and past liaisons that I now connect with by virtual paths and strong friendships that have only ever been virtual. We share a friendship based only on our words-and we can choose to open only the sides of us that we want to reveal.

I was inundated last night by people who cheered me up. On facebook, the phone, messenger, email, skype. They all did it in their own insurmountable style, and it was awesome. I felt loved.

Nothing in my circumstances has changed. I still have all the stress (and the tight band of worry around my chest) But I feel loved. And I guess, even though I live as the only adult in my house, I went to bed not feeling alone.

Which was the very best gift of all.

I have some amazing friends…some I look forward to hugging again, and others I will probably never touch. It doesn’t make the connection any less important however.

As a writer, I look on the powerful connection mere words can bring- some of these friends are people that I have never heard speak. (Though my very favourites of course I have spoken to and seen many times )

How is it that words can weave such magic? And have we forgotten that that was for so long the premise between so many growing friendships long before phones, TV and video.

I often think that we are merely reverting to the times when courtship was done by letter, betrothals by a sealed and waxed stamped letter, sent by a messenger, fast friends made by a penpal over the seas you would only hope to meet one day.

There is nothing new with virtual friends- except the response is so much faster.

And, I am very glad I live in the age of this resurgence. I needed you guys last night…thank you.

Right…back to the bad weather, (though I plan to brave it and walk the beach anyway!)

I completely understood the process. I like writing to a brief. I like a plan, a diagram,a few sentences even of expectation.

I need to have a starting point. At university I couldn’t write an essay until I had read someone else’s. Not because I wanted to copy theirs, but because reading theirs gave me a framework to work my ideas around.

I don’t need someone else’s essay anymore, but I do need a sentence.

Even my novel is based around a list of sentences I add to every now and again.

A blank canvas is terrifying. One with a mark on it less so, one with a simple sketch on it, easy to follow.

This is an important thing to remember if you are a teacher. Many children- even young ones, function best with a starting point. Some children do not like to have a blank start to everything they do. Catering to a child’s needs sometimes means you need to start the ball rolling to really see what they can do.

But actually there is something many of us creatives need more. Time to reflect and think. It is very easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of creating – especially if you are good at what you do. There are article deadlines looming, proposals to complete, clients to satisfy.

If you don’t take time out however, you miss the chance to replenish your creative side.

There was a time I had completely stoped reading. I wrote all the time, but barely had time to read. Now I make time to read every day. For my pure enjoyment of it. It’s made me a better writer.

I go to at least one movie a fortnight. Sometimes I go to three in a week. I think about scriptlines, why they shot something as they did- and how they conveyed emotion. It’s fun- but I can justify it because it is reinvigorating my creativity.

I listen to music. In fact I steal other people’s music and try it out (well steal is a harsh word. Borrow is perhaps more apt.) I listen to the stories woven by words, and think how I could translate a song into an image or a chapter.

I exercise. I walk along the beach and feel the elements of earth, water and air. I practice yoga, and I meditate, emptying my mind of busyness.

Feeding your brain needs to happen if you are in it for the long haul. Short haul? Well you could make it. But long term you need to replenish yourself. I know I need to.

Of course that is what music is for. It is written by someone trying to put to paper, to music the feelings they have, the moments they can not explain any other way. Then it shapes itself into a form that others can generate their own response to.

I think that is one of the things I love best about the pursuit of the creative. Even in an article, someone will take from it something completely different than another reader. We may create to tell one message, but the message that results may be a completely different one.

This song was part of my Snow Patrol journey eighteen months ago. I lived and breathed this album, and the songs’ stories were mine in so many ways.

This song remains one of my favourites. The angst. The desire to be where someone else is, never quite getting there, never quite touching.

Love it.