Blog: Personal

Today I turn 28. Happy birthday to me! I wouldn’t expect you to get me a present, but if you happen to have a couple of quid kicking about then I’d love for you to send it to one of these fine places: The Glasgow Women’s Library – Oh, how I love the Women’s Library. It’s the only resource of its kind in Scotland, with a brilliant lending library and a treasure trove of historical and contemporary artifacts and archive materials that celebrate…

This weekend I made a cover for my Kindle out of an old hardback copy of Le Petit Prince (or The Little Prince, as it’s an English translation): It fastens with a popper on a leather strap, and the Kindle is held in with elasticated loops at each corner. It’s not exactly professional-looking (the barcode on the book’s inside cover is still visible!), but I’m proud of it. I also made tea lights out of jam-jars and an old duvet…

I wrote a 78,000-word novel in six months. The following month, I signed with an agent. Then I started on the edits. And now I’ve stopped. Seriously. I’ve just stopped. I don’t know what happened to all that momentum, but I will now do literally anything other than edit my novel. My days are spent researching, writing articles, teaching classes, doing readings – not time-wasting, but not novel-editing either. And if I’m honest, I’m mostly doing those other things so that…

March is already shaping up to be a slippery little fiend of a month – and I’m sure I will enjoy every moment of it. Join me… I’m in Edinburgh! 1st March: See Edinburgh’s beautiful buildings lit up with famous quotes as part of enLIGHTen. Download my story ‘Sleep Pictures’ then get yourself down to the Roxburghe Hotel at Charlotte Square to have a listen. I’m in Glasgow! 4th March: Don’t miss Words Per Minute’s Feminisms special, featuring novelists Helen Fitzgerald and Jessica…

I love resolutions, and sometimes I even stick to them. I reckon everyone could take the time to sit down and think of a new things they’d like to do differently in 2012. Even if we don’t fully achieve these goals, it’s good to feel like we’re moving in the right direction. My ambitions are not grand, I know. I’m happy with the way my life is at the moment, so I don’t feel the need to try for any…

Dad died two months ago today. Every day I am thankful that he raised me on the principles of kindness, curiosity and fearlessness. I will always try to live my life in a way that would make him proud.