Happy new year, comrades! Here’s the ninth annual instalment of Review Thingo. Previous episodes: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009. 1. What did you do in 2017 that you’d never done before? Went to Seattle Spent a night in a yurt Watched Back To The Future 2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for this year? I […]
During the summer my friend Helen got one of those DNA test things. After she gleefully told me what percentage Neanderthal she was (while pretending to drag her knuckles down the street), I decided to mail off my own test tube o’ saliva. The results revealed that I’m likely to have red hair, dark eyes, pale […]
Fun facts about author Keris Stainton, as nicked from her website: she’s been telling stories all her life, but didn’t write a novel until 2004 during NaNoWriMo Bob Geldof once called her “dogmatic” a Harry Styles dream she had in 2014 led to an ongoing One Direction obsession she has written 14 books (as per […]
It’s four years this week since I properly started this full-time freelance caper. Huzzah! While I feel more competent than I did back in 2013, I’m still winging it every day. I’d like to get more strategic and think about where this ship is sailing. Is this sustainable? Are there any sharks lurking? Because mostly I […]
“I’m too bloody old to stand in a field,” I declared in 2008, after seeing Radiohead at Glasgow Green. “I’m never doing that again!” Long time blog visitors may recall my obsessive love of this band. The enduring crush on Ed O’Brien, the multiple trips to Amsterdam; actually fainting at their feet one time. In hindsight, […]
This is an Instagram post that sprouted forth today – I wanted to share here too. I posted an Instagram Story earlier about finding my book in the Seattle Public Library today. I was dorking out with joy. It came out in the US way back in 2009, so never thought it would be there. […]
The other day when I got my Tesco grocery delivery, there was a £2.50 Tesco voucher to celebrate our 250th order. This got me curious to dig out the email confirmation from the very first order. It was 21 March 2005 – right after Gareth and I returned from our Vegas nuptials. The email read: […]
You know those cliched career change stories. The banker turned craft brewer. The teacher turned dog walker. The lawyer turned bakery mogul. That X turned Y formula makes the transition sound so fast and so simple! Like The Walking Dead, where you’re a human one minute then bam… you’re a zombie! Okay, maybe that’s not […]
Time for a Operation Foxy By 40 update. Just 3 and-a-bit months to go! I managed 21 of 31 days of the Walking Every Day In May thing. That may sound like a shoddy result, but it’s a huge improvement on the months before. Some lessons learned: 1. If I don’t walk first thing in the morning, […]
