My Creative Everyday

This morning I found myself needing a cat photography fix on Instagram because I was feeling drained. I've planned a photography walk this week as I definitely need it.  As I stare down the barrel of Monday afternoon,  I turned to AI to help me with improving my routine, as it's been a busy few months of work, and I needed some guidance.  First I outlined my situation and my concerns. It was insightful in its advice and I'm interested to see how my week might be more productive or how AI might make a difference to finding balance.  I'd already been thinking about the advice in section 6 over the weekend, and I'm liking having it set out for me.  The second response AI gave was after I agreed for it to sketch a plan for me.  So I'm adding the schedule advice from the second prompt into my calendar and setting myself soft alarms to keep me on track.  Hopefully this will be a positive experiment this week.  Prompt 1 advice -  It makes sense that...

Instinctively we want to hibernate in winter, and our activities change - with more reading, writing, cooking, television, music and cosy nights in.  We're fending off endless coughs and colds by consuming smoothies and soups.  A few tasty treats I've been making are: Chicken & sweet corn soup, Spring rolls, Bread & banana pudding, Peanut butter & banana pudding, Adzuki red beans, Duck pate, Portugese duck rice, Garlic and chive crusts, Fig with salt n pepper squid, Slow cooked duck, and  Banana and nutella spring rolls.  GIlmour Girls is my happy place and I'm mixing it up with American Horror Story and Mad Men . My fascination with Gilmour Girls, which I'm not rewatching has even resulted in a long blog post about it.  I've just finishing reading Crazy Rich Asians which has made me think more about identity, memories and history. I've also dipped into some of Hilary Mantel's short stories and am half way through Butter .  Accepting the wea...

Carole King re-recorded "Where You Lead, I Will Follow" with her daughter Louise Goffin for the Gilmour Girls in 2000. I watched the entire series, feeling the familiarity of her timeless ballad, you've got a friend, without knowing it was Carole King, or that she cameod as the music store owner.  I watched the pop culture phenomenon for the first time over Christmas, aware that it had been a sensation, but never drawn to the show even until several episodes into Season 1.  The Cast  At first I was intrigued, because it had Melissa McCarthy, before she was in Bridesmaids. The grandmother looked familiar and I discovered she was Jennifer Grey's mum in Dirty Dancing.  After awhile Rory Gilmore, the daughter, looked like someone I'd seen and found out Alexis Bledel was Emily in The Handmaid's Tale.  Aside from the cast regulars, the litany of guest appearances and recurring characters featured many stars: Jon Hamn from Mad Men popped up, as did Billy...

Everyone needs tips for social media and most people struggle, even if they've thousands of likes, follows and comments.  I say this whilst we're in the heart of the Christmas period, which can feel overwhelming. It's magical with decorated trees and festive excitement filled with catch ups.  Then there's technology, namely this morning a post draft disappearing, 30 minutes lost and you decide you can't face rewriting it!  I see why those new to social media struggle. Even when you've been doing it for as long as I have, and you love it mostly, you still have days where you think, I just don't have time for this.  Remember,  1. it's not always like this, 2. some platforms are better than others, &  3. the days the tide flows in a certain direction, stop swimming against it!  With any task, there's bits you enjoy and others, not so much. If you focus just on the negative, eg all the blood, sweat and tears, you'd never get to the end when it al...

The dilemma of persevering with a book as a writer or reader struck me this week. As a writer on more than 50,000 words into a novel, I'm too invested to give up on it. So though I'm excited about a new idea for a novel, I find myself attempting to hang in there.  However, as a reader, I have two new books 30 pages in, and I'm tempted to abandon both.  The first is a recent best seller full of hype. The premise intersted me, but the style and tone is do cold that I am repelled from becoming absorbed by the story. It doesn't feel right for me in the throngs of December and Christmas.  The second is a historical drama from a vest selling and well regarded author. I've read one of her books, a long time ago. I'm bored, simply not engaging with the content and style.  Book 1 is 400 pages long. Book 2 is 600 pages. Perhaps it's the length, or I'm daunted by the task of completing them.  Sometimes it takes a while to get into a book, for me to find a rhythm an...

What has writing this book taught you?  So much. First of all, how people like my writing and want to read my stories, so it felt important to start putting them out into the world. It’s taught me to trust my instincts in terms of the plot, not to plan at the outset and let the story take me where it needs to go. It’s taught me I’m comfortable writing in this genre. The writing flows naturally for me in this genre and it offers me the freedom to explore what truly fascinates me about humans, relationships and the world. There’s opportunity for me to utilise all those little observations I’ve soaked up over a lifetime. How have you grown as a writer compared to ten years ago?  Ten years ago, I was busy writing plays. I’d just written and co-produced a 4-part WW1 musical and was researching a full-length play about a historical figure. I was taking my writing seriously and was having success with playwriting but I still felt somewhat frustrated because I’ve always wanted to writ...