A tale of despicability – dark fiction brings no light

What good is there in writing a book if it cannot carry a light long enough to warm the reader before the reader is once again swallowed by your book's darkness?

Empty classrooms set dismal mood

This year’s launching of the school year is a heartbreaking reminder of how much further we have to go until ‘normal’ is normal again.

Boomerang kindness

I enjoy penning handwritten letters. I know it’s been practically outmoded with the prevalence of emails, texts, phone calls and social media, but I feel as though a handwritten letter (even if carrying the same message a text would have carried) says something a little extra on it own. There’s just something special about receiving...

Remember to be kind to retail workers this Black Friday

People are a lot harder on cashiers and other people in retail than they need to be.

What’s My NaNo: Snow in the Valley of Men

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For nearly 50 years, it’s been winter on the border of human and fey lands. After a mysterious plague of dark magic drew the fey into oblivion, humankind has been left to fend for itself on the border between the two worlds as Magic-Touched creatures spill over the unprotected border of the two lands,...

For it is Scottish blood within my veins – travel diary

“I feel a sort of reverence in going over these scenes in this most beautiful country, which I am proud to call my own, where there was such devoted loyalty to the family of my ancestors – for Stuart blood is in my veins.” Queen Victoria, journal entry in 1873 It's been a few years...