Mother of All Professions

Reading the tributes to and anecdotes about Doris Lessing last week one of her famous remarks about motherhood stuck with me more than anything else. ‘No-one can write with a child around.’ Motherhood was understandably a touchy subject for Doris Lessing. I have no intention of judging her because I don’t know the truth of her circumstances when…

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A Reader is Born

     You’ll excuse, I hope, a granny’s moment of self-indulgence.  My grandson Max started school a few weeks ago. He won’t be five till the spring but they had room for him and he was ready. This week I had the pleasure of witnessing that ‘Aha’ moment when a child gets the hang of reading. I…

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Customise This…

Well it’s 11.49 and I’ve so far piddled away the morning trying to fix a glitch on my computer. I figured I might as well carry on piddling till lunch time (we eat early in this house.) and do a blog post.  On days like today I actually feel nostalgic for my old manual typewriter and the…

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Career Moves

     Many people dream of giving up the day job to become a writer. I remember clearly the day I decided to take the leap. The backed-up traffic on the North Circular might have swung it. The knowledge that come six o’clock I’d be in the same gridlock of exhausted commuters definitely made the risk seem more palatable.…

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