My Life as a writer - When I'm not scribbling

As someone who has word make-up her whole life for multiple reasons I'm always hunting for the perfect base as the first step in my daily makeup routine. Like most, my skin is far from perfect with a few freckles, imperfections and I'm English pale but not the rosey glow kind so I need to attempt to create that flawless fin ish everyone is looking for be it matt, dewy or natural. There are now so many types of primer on the market it can be daunting, do you need BB or CC Cream, a mattifying primer or a tinted one?   As usual I always go to the experts for advice and try the products together which should work together. In any review there's always and best and worst, so I'm starting here with the worst and building up to the grand finale:  The Not So Good  Clarins SOS Primer -in Universal Light  & Ever Lasting Youth Fluid Foundation in 107 Beige  Clarins has always been a go to line when my skin has been most sensitive.  Their SOS

Usually January is a slow movie month, with the build up to awards season and the post Christmas blockbuster lull there can be a lack of quality movies to make me venture in to the cold night air and loose myself in the darkness of the cinema for a few hours.  However this January has been a little different, there have been a few screenings and a couple of post Christmas surprises. The Gentlemen - Released 1 January 2020 Guy Ritchie returns to the formula that made him popular with Lock Stock, Snatch and Rock n Rolla, this is the type of movie he does well.  It's a bit of a mickey take on society and what people do when they feel they've been snubbed. Over a lot of Whiskey and some BBQ wagyu steak, Raymond, right hand of criminal top boss Mickey Pearson, played by Charlie Hunnan who shows he hasn't lost the Geordie twang receives an offer from  Fletcher, the private investigator,  brilliantly played by a rather camp and weirdly accented Hugh Grant. Fletcher has b

I use Vision boards or dream boards a lot, in fact probably daily.  The aim of a vision board for me is focusing the mind on what I am dreaming, planning, looking for inspiration for and most importantly leading me towards turning what's in my imagination in to something tangible. Using Vision boards for writing is part of my process, it helps me plan out the movie that plays in my head so I can translate to words on the page.  I can use these boards on platforms such as Pinterest to collaborate with readers, giving them a behind the scenes look at the book. Example Book Vision Board Vision boards also help me in my day to day life, I use them to plan out what I want to achieve personally, or to plan a project.  For example, I have several home design projects this year, I use vision boards to plot out how I want things to look. Vision board for home improvements  I'm planning on redesigning my garden this spring/summer so I'm building a vision board of t

There's something about a New Year that makes you feel like you're starting over, things can be fresh and new again.  You feel adventurous, confident and full of the promise a clean slate brings.  I always make a list of intentions for my new year, things I hope to achieve. One of my focuses this year is to improve my overall health and wellbeing, starting with my skin care. With the impact of the winter climate, changes in my skin's sensitivity and changes in my lifestyle it's time to try something new. Having stuck predominately to a traditional cleanse, tone and moisturise routine most of my life, I've decided it's time to try a new routine. Sometimes it's good to break out of a cycle it challenges you to try new things and in that you can make interesting and productive discoveries.   There's been a lot of talk and interest building over the last few years around Korean lifestyle, food, clothes, music, drama and of course skin care

It's finally here, the nights are drawing in, the temperature is starting to drop and it's time to say goodbye to my barely there summer duvet and welcome back my thick, heavy, cuddly winter duvet.  Only, the last couple of winters, the synthetic duvet just hasn't cut it, don't get me wrong, it's been okay.  As a 15tog rating it kept me warm on cold nights and it felt like a winter quilt only there was an element of comfort and luxury missing. When I write novels I see them as movies in my head and I always imagine the settings and rooms as though they are places I can open a door and walk in to.  The character I'm writing at the moment has quite a luxury lifestyle, don't hate her she's lovely I promise, but there are a few scenes in her bedroom and I was imagining how her room would look and I was obsessed with her bed being comfortably luxurious, the kind if you jumped on it you'd disappear swallowed but the depth and thickness of the duvet. If

Life for the most part is busy, so busy you don’t always have the time to spend with the people you love.  For my part I try to catch up with my best friends as often as I can, that time we spend together is really special so in my own way I try to make it the best night until the next night.   Games Nights are a fun catch up evening with friends, we share good food, good stories and play board games.  These nights are about taking the time to stay in each others lives, have fun and create memories which we will take about at Games nights in the years to come.   I love entertaining, I love having people to my home, I love to cook and bake for my guests.  I have a lot of really good memories, which are associated with food, so I like to make dishes that become an integral part of the memory the evening.  There’s something very special and cathartic about preparing food for people you love, so it’s not just the evening’s entertaining that creates.   For my latest get togethe

My second Festive Read, yes I know it's still technically September, was Heidi Swain's Mince Pies and Mistletoe at the Christmas Market.   Released in October 2016, this book is part of the Wynbridge series, in this story we are introduced to Ruby who has recently dropped out of university and is heading home to run a market stall for the Cherry Tree Cafe in order to save some money to go travelling. Her dad is not happy that his daughter whom he seems to want to live vicariously through is working as a market trader.  It soon turns out there maybe more to his concerns about her working on the market than it first seemed.  Not only is Ruby faced with dealing with her dad and his strange behaviour but she is working on the stall next to her childhood sweet heart who after three years she still hasn't got over.  Throwing herself in to making this the best Christmas market ever Ruby is determined to being back the community feeling and turn Wynbridge's Christmas mar