enemy of art - writing, creating & parenting
Perhaps it’s having two older brothers, perhaps it’s simply because she gets less time alone with me ‘n’ Mr Enemy (cue maternal guilt), but Littlest is not very verbal . So I was delighted to be asked to review a ‘Chatting with Children’ pack from I CAN, the children’s communication charity. The pack consists of [...]
Over the last year, standing desks have received a lot of attention. The internet abounds with cheery headlines like “How sitting may be killing you!”; articles on the health benefits of standing and stories of literary greats like Dickens, Hemingway, Woolf owing their success to being stander-uppers. Not dying and achieving literary greatness merely by [...]
‘See you at lunchtime!’ shouts Mr Enemy as he bundles the Little Enemies into the car so I can have some time write. I wave them off, practically dancing in anticipation of the bliss of solitude. • Fast forward 90 minutes • I’m deep in the world of my novel. Is that the door? [...]
It’s been cold and wet recently and with another month or two of this sort of weather expected (we are in Scotland after all) I’ve been putting my mind to Creative and Fun Indoor Pursuits. The other day we had run out of bread and the thought of taking three bedraggled children to the supermarket [...]
A few people have noticed that I haven’t posted for what we will kindly call ‘a while.’ I was setting the bar rather high, because to be honest, interesting stuff like this only happens now and again. Most of the time I’m dressed in fleece, scrubbing at children’s clothes with damp flannels while muttering sweary [...]
If you’re anything like me, by the time you’ve got the children into bed, you’re wrung out and more inclined to pour a large glass of wine / watch tv / or even just stare zombie-like into space than get stuck into any creative work. Here’s a few ideas to help you make feel make [...]
If you have children at nursery or primary school, you’ll be familiar with this weekend scenario: Check the diary – it’s little Amelia / Josh’s birthday party! Oops! Rummage around house for a present – hmm, probably not the bath salts Go to supermarket and buy branded toy (arrgh, too expensive but never mind…) Drive child to [...]
A while back, I started using a rucksack instead of a handbag; there’s just not enough room in my handbag for all the baby stuff and holding the Youngest on my hip for hours at a time has resulted in advanced scoliosis. Well, it might not actually be that, medically speaking, but that’s what it [...]
For the last goodness-knows-how-many years, along with every Amazon order has been a Vistaprint flier. I finally succumbed and ordered business cards but – here’s the cunning twist – not necessarily for business purposes. They have arrived and they are very pleasing – tasteful (but quirky) ochre. Now, I haven’t actually used them yet. In [...]
I was chatting with another mother about Squeezing It All In. We agreed that it was hard to do. ‘Still,’ I said, ‘It’s been much better since Middlest started nursery, so I’m sure things will get easier.’ Mother-of-Older-Children said ‘Oh, it doesn’t get easier.’ ‘Your children are 10 and 8,’ I said trying not to [...]
