For Those Who Bloom In The Dark
I'm starting February with some mysterious bug which infected me hours after I was boasting to my mum that I rarely get sick. It may be the gods having a laugh, or it might have something to do with the months out of date margarine I slathered on my rye bread. I've been moving into… Continue reading And That Was January 2025
The day after Boxing Day (which should be renamed Bloodlust Day due to the number of redcoats roughing up the countryside and slaughtering foxes despite the 2004 ban) was foggy. Ordinarily, this weather would have drawn me out with my camera, clothes pulled on over the top of my pyjamas, teeth unbrushed, fast unbroken so… Continue reading An (Almost) Year End Walk
This was supposed to be an extensive write-up, posted well before Christmas. I wanted to write a merry, celebratory post about some of the most satisfying, illuminating, imaginative seasonal reads, which have made my life (and my winters) better for having been published. But, surprise, surprise, I haven't been doing all that well lately so… Continue reading Some Seasonal Reading
I stepped away from social media last night, and what a relief it was. I'll be away from IG and FB for all of December, and I'm already reaping the benefits - I've read for several hours (started the new issue of Mslexia and A Literary Christmas: An Anthology.) I haven't misused my time stressing… Continue reading Making Space & Time For Winter
I posted this poem on my Facebook page and someone said it was a 'gut punch' of a poem which made my day. It's from my forthcoming collection (which has been forthcoming for far too long) that's themed on the Icelandic winter. Typically, I'm not one for writing about the gleeful times...so most of the poems… Continue reading Starving To Death In Snæland : A Poem
There have been phenomenal highs this week but also excruciating lows. Finnbjörn flew back to Iceland a few days ago (where he was greeted with another eruption AND snow), and I've been mainly feeling off-kilter since. My gut has been causing me woe (it has been, on and off, for years), and intrusive voices have… Continue reading Some Things That Brought Me Joy This Week
I'm at my parent's house. I've taken the clock out of the living room and put it somewhere else so its ticking won't disturb me as I write. This isn't the first time I've moved the clock. If I forget to put it back before my dad gets home from work, he'll grumble about it… Continue reading It’s A New Year & I’m Struggling
By mid-morning on Christmas Day I’m usually ready to retreat from the fray to the quietest corner I can find with a book and a cup of tea. Though wasn’t much ‘fray’ today so I ought to have been entirely blissed out. However, I still felt the niggling need to hide myself a way for… Continue reading Nourishing Myself With Wintry Reading
Grýla was one of the first poems I wrote for my upcoming poetry collection. For those unfamiliar with Icelandic Christmas lore, Grýla is an ogress who comes down from her cave on Mt Esja (the mountain range that watches over Reykjavik) at Christmas time to steal and devour disobedient children. Grýla has been much softened over… Continue reading Grýla – A Poem
Is it odd I don't feel especially joyous about the sun's return? That I don't particularly look forward to the days getting longer and lighter? Winter, my favourite season of all, is only just upon us, but from tomorrow, the sun begins its march back north. Many of my friends are ecstatic about the promise… Continue reading On This Winter Solstice
A Wyrd Of Her Own 