I know this sounds bizarre, but it really happened — When I was eighteen, I almost died. It is a day I can remember clearly even though it is many decades ago now. Yes, I was all the things a young person could be. Young. Naïve. Stupid. And in a toxic relationship. Only I didn’t know it was called that…

It’s easier than you think, here’s how I did it — If your writing has taken a dip, it can be hard to get those creative juices flowing again, I know I have been there before. To kickstart the year, I took part in a 31-Day Write More Challenge that was started by Keeley Schroder, if you have not met her…

Day 31 — The time you discovered you loved writing — My first memory of writing a piece which sparked was a competition story at school. I was about 8 years old. The story probably wasn’t much, it was my 8-year-old view of a movie I had watched. …

Day 30 — Your scariest spider, snake or pest story — Any kind of crawling creature sends palpitations to my heart. Spiders. Snakes. Insects. Growing up in Africa, we would have big house spiders. They were harmless. But I still didn’t like them. Dad would be appointed Chief Spider Catcher, rescuing us from a room where we would be trapped by…

Day 29 — What do your 5 most recent emojis say about your life right now? — The emoji. Now commonplace in our daily online language. It’s widely accepted that emojis are used to fill in emotional cues. So what are my five most recent emojis 😂Face With Tears of Joy It is overused. I know. And apparently, it is mainly used by us oldies. Who cares, I love it. I can’t help but add a few to my messages…

Day 28 — Your mother’s worst advice — When I was young, leaving the house was an ordeal. With 3 other siblings, my mum had a set ritual that had to be followed. Religiously. Before we were able to leave for whatever outing we were on. Mum would make each of us go to the toilet. To do…

Day 27 — The last email you received in your junk folder and your feelings on it — The problem with the junk folder is that sometimes stuff that is not junk falls into it. I know because I’ve almost missed some critical info that way. Like I recently took out cover with a new provider for my gas boiler. The costs with the old provider were getting…

Day 26 — Your guiltiest pleasure — So hard to choose. Does everyone have so many guilty pleasures? Chocolate, Coffee, Nap or Maybe This? There’s nothing I like better than munching through a whole bar of chocolate or even chocolate cake. What do you mean it’s breakfast time? Yes, I do that sometimes. In my defence, let…