Tag Archives: BOOKS

Apr 18 2024
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Blog Post

750 Words

I signed up to write 750 words through the imaginatively titled, 750 words website and bombed on the first day. It’s alright though.

The whole point of the 750 words website is to foster a daily writing habit that bring you joy. There are rewards in the form of badges for writing day streaks and hitting various other milestones. Members are encouraged to share their feelings on achieving each badge to spur on others. There’s a proper community. Some people have written a million words or more. I managed around 11,000 and bailed.

I broke my wrist in January and obviously it had to be the right one, that I write with and so typing was difficult, painful, slow and littered with mistakes. Writing was impossible.

I’m still paying £5 per month to access 750 words, knowing fine well I’m not going to do it, despite having two working wrists. I switched it up to writing 75 words a day on my notepad. Failed after a day because I had a stressful day at work and my Dyspraxia was kicking my arse.

I reckon I write around 2000 words a day on average. I’m a prolific note taker. So in my day job, with a handful of meetings each day, I reckon I clock up around that. But try as I might, I can’t get into a habit of writing for pleasure, every day. Or every other day. Or once a week. The moment it feels like a task, the desire is gone.

So here I am, with a blog that works on date/appearance so there’s no cheating with content. It’s daily, or not. More not than daily in recent years.

I switched the blog to private back in January, after the wrist incident. Mainly out of frustration but also to work out if I would miss it. I didn’t think i had anything to say. (Judging by this blog entry you may agree with that notion).

I decided to read others’ words for a few weeks, while I healed. Turning pages counts as physio you know? Was there hidden motivation in James Herbert’s The Fog? Yes, yes there was. I finished it in record time and I missed my blog.

For the umpteenth time, (what a beautiful word, umpteenth) I’m back. Let’s see what spews out. Maybe 750 words?

Missed me?

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Sep 04 2022
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Blog Post

The Invasion

It’s been a billion degrees for the last month and now it’s raining so of course, the 8-legged population of the North West thinks it can stroll into my living room.

Absolutely cannot cope with spiders. August has been mega hot here, like silly hot. I’ve had a better tan sitting on the front doorstep watching the kids play than after 2 weeks in Benidorm. Silly hot. Then the inevitable happened. The heavens opened and to quote my Geordie dad, it ‘stotted down’, prompting the biggest house spider I’ve ever seen to come racing into the living room at 9:45pm.

It stopped just short of my feet and froze at the sound of me shouting ‘SHHHITTTTTT’. You can scroll, there’s no spider pics here.

Luckily, my eldest daughter bought me a beautiful coffee table book last Christmas. It’s the bright pink Kate Spade book, ‘Things We Love’. It’s packed full of lovely things and it weighs a tonne which is the only way I’m able to still write this blog. It was dropped from a great height and a sense of calm was restored. The other outcome was spending the evening with a giant arachnid who clearly had plans to hop up, watch a bit of Netflix and chill – before devouring me, not in a good way.

I’m not scared of many things as proven here, but I am terrified of spiders. I don’t mind the small ones, just minding their business. It’s the big bastards, full of bravado who’re like ‘what are you doing in my house?’. I once sacrificed my three-year-old son in the hallway to see where a massive house spider had gone. Unfortunately for all involved, it was above the door he had to pass through to get back into the bedroom. Much screaming ensued and now he’s also scared shitless. My parenting bad.

I love Autumn but sod the soggy spider invasion. Invest in coffee table books now and save yourself!

God bless Kate Spade.

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Nov 15 2020
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I’m Published!

A Spray of Hope is now available on Amazon with proceeds from sales of the anthology go to NHS charities in the Merseyside area.

Writing in lock down as followed the same roller coaster pattern as my mental health. Some days I’ve battered out 100 or more words, other days I can’t even remember my WordPress log in details. I’ve been flooded with inspiration and so lacking I’ve turned to Pinterest blog prompts. There’s no rhyme of reason.

However, a tweet from The Literature and Science Hub at University of Liverpool sparked an idea, and now, just a few months later, I am bursting with pride to say its grown into an actual published work.

A Spray of Hope, poetry and prose from lockdown 2020 is an anthology comprised of works from NHS staff, key workers and self isolating members of the public. We all took part in a ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ initiative which offered us a chance to connect nature and technology to our every changing situations. We wrote about family, community, love, loss, mental health and hope for a brighter future, post pandemic.

It’s a moving read.

My own submission focused on a place in my family home, where I spent most of my teen years. Before mobile phones. The soundtrack to my after school free time was dial up internet and the early showing of Neighbours. I’d hog the house phone, talking to friends I’d left just moments earlier at school. Forever being stepped on or over, as I took up position on the third stair. The house phone stretched just far enough to wind the cable around my fingers. Simpler times, yet devastating news still found a way to reach us and change our lives forever.

As you will read in blog posts to follow, October was the catalyst for a truly devastating time for my family. The NHS is an organisation very close to my heart. I’m proud to say that something I have created will play a very small part in supporting NHS staff and volunteers in their daily lives for the incredible work they do.

A Spray of Hope: Poetry and Prose from Lockdown 2020 is now available on Amazon, here. It’s just £6.00 and will make a lovely wintertime read.

I hope you like it.

Huge thanks to Bernadette, Sam and all involved in creating this fantastic snapshot of real life in 2020. It’s such a privilege to have been involved.

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Aug 31 2015
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Imagine

I carried out an act of vandalism yesterday, or maybe its classed as activism? All those who know me will be shocked and concerned about my welfare as I don’t do things like this, I’m straight-laced Kate, never get into trouble, get along with everyone and don’t like to rock the boat. Well never fear…….what I did wasn’t arrest-worthy….but I made a point.

I was enjoying a wonderful family day out at the Liverpool International Music Festival yesterday with my mini dudes (pics in the Inspiration gallery) and having devoured our picnic watching Alisha Dixon entertaining the crowds we wandered over to the family area. Sponsored by Liverpool John Lennon Airport the family section of the park was based around a huge man-made beach complete with buckets and spades and giant ice lollies, perfect for summer selfies! My little ones sat and listened to stories, made fairy tutu’s, crafted ice-creams from tissue paper and sported some pirate inspired glasses. They ran wild among giant strawberries, chased a very hungry caterpillar and finally wound up with Sharpies in hand (arghhhhh every parents worst nightmare) to add their scrawl to a giant LIMF cut out with the city skyscape printed on it, specifically for kids to depict their take on Liverpool life.This is where I committed my (not really) crime.

IMAGINE

Armed with a blue Sharpie, prised out of my toddlers hand I quickly scrawled ‘Imagine, Save Our Libraries….Hospitals For The Soul’ above an official illustration of John Lennon. I know…I KNOW…..move over Banksy, Kate is the new face on the scene of graffiti activism! Okay, so it was hardly a mass protest but its something I feel strongly about and I saw an opportunity. I wrote my message in the hope it might make just one person return to a library. I’d like to think John Lennon would approve.

Like most major cities around the UK, Liverpool is facing major cuts to public services and one very close to my heart is the regional library closures. Our city central library is a thing of beauty, after a monumental make over, taking years and costing millions it is now a multiple award winning centre of information and technology. I’m truly proud to have such a gem at the heart of Liverpool, from the stunning roof top view on the fourth floor terrace to the dedicated children’s auditorium complete with stage and toddler friendly bean bags, not many cities host free services like this.

The best bit is, all this greatness filters down to our smaller, suburban libraries too. Fitted with banks of PC’s, huge stocks of factual and fictional tomes plus a whole host of community based drop-in sessions from story time with Book Start to preparing for school courses and financial and welfare advice supported by local councillors. So why are we closing down these places of education that benefit everyone age 0-106?! I understand that cuts have to be made and money has to be saved but these regional out-posts provide much needed social interaction, support and last but not least, jobs to local people.IMAGINE

If you love to read, please shelve the Kindle and go and borrow a book from your local library, meet the staff, take your kids to listen to brilliantly animated people reading Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton and Jacqueline Wilson…because as long as the public are supporting them, the libraries stay open. To find out more about how local people are doing their bit to save our libraries click here……11 year old Elysce writes from the heart.

For more information on Liverpool Libraries, click here

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