Journalism
I was a journalist long before I was an author and I still love writing features for newspapers and magazines if they'll have me! Below is a selection of some of my favourites.
Why should you be ashamed of a second wedding?
Daily Mail, May 2015
Telling your parents you're getting married is a moment any bride-to-be remembers for ever. And when the man I'd fallen for three years earlier whisked me away for a romantic weekend in Italy, mine weren't at all surprised that he'd been carrying a diamond ring in his hand luggage, ready to propose. But after they'd toasted our future together and my mum confided, with a suitably wobbly lip, that she'd known Mark and I were made for each other, we got down to practicalities. 'I take it you'll be having a small wedding?' she said.
I squirmed. 'Probably not . . .' I replied. READ MORE
A rural hideaway in the Lake District
The Times, March 2014
I had always dreamt of owning a second home. A picturesque bolt hole where we could kick off our shoes, watch the sunset in a state of supreme relaxation — and where good, old-fashioned fun replaced my children’s traditional half-term pastime of annoying each other.
Over the years I idly explored the idea a few times, peering wistfully in estate agents’ windows in the Dordogne and spending imaginary lottery wins. The location that really appealed though was closer to home, somewhere a couple of hours drive away READ MORE
Me, my son and Minecraft
The Guardian,
March 2014
I couldn't pinpoint exactly when I became aware of my eight-year-old son's fixation with Minecraft. I only know that the odd reference to zombies and pickaxes burgeoned until it was an omnipresent force in our household, the dominant topic of conversation and, most bafflingly, a game he found so gripping that he didn't just want to play it, he wanted to watch YouTube videos of others playing it too. Minecraft, I realised, was something I knew nothing about. It was time to become acquainted. READ MORE
Internet dating: dedication's what you need
Sunday Telegraph, February 2012
It was the 26-year-old that finally did it. He made me realise, after six uninspiring months and enough coffee to rewire my central nervous system, that online dating wasn’t for me.
Looks-wise, he was perfectly agreeable, in a Hollyoaks kind of way: athletic, with boy-band hair and stick-thin drainpipes. I feebly convinced myself that the 10-year age gap wouldn’t matter if everything else was right. Everything else was fine – until he opened his mouth. READ MORE