All is not as it seems ...

Life has a tendency to amble on in its own sweet way while its participants frantically scrabble in the dirt to keep on track. My last year has been testimony to that. Plans are made, opportunities are grabbed with both hands, yet while life is experienced to the full, I often amaze myself that I manage to move forward with my life at all! Treading water feels like all there is some days, yet from time to time, I reflect on my present and realise that, perhaps, my life is moving in the right direction after all.

Over the last twelve months, I've turned my back on one life and braved the new. New in so much that I have embraced a new way of living my life - independently and by putting myself and my children first, allowing us the time and energy to nurture relationships with friends and family. Allowing myself to move on.

Teaching at one time seemed to be an avenue closed to me, yet as my health improved and the fog cleared, I saw that teaching, writing and being a mum to my boys was everything I needed.

And so, I have moved forward. My own teaching career and writing career running tandem, I am workshopping again and writing at every opportunity.

 Recently, at a residential weekend in Essex, the students sparked with ideas and enthusiasm as we used Driftwood and Amethyst as a stimulus for children's own writing.
I saw myself in so many faces as we ran through a forest where benevolent Mother Nature attempted to scoop them up and keep them safe, as we stumbled along dark cobbled back streets to a puppet shop, where Zauberer, as only true evil can, stole their childhoods and trapped them, ever after. All without leaving the workshop floor.

As with many students, their planning and talking skills were sophisticated, wry and funny, yet when we talked about writing these young writers struggled to translate these ideas to the page. All that was required was the scaffolding, the guiding, the molding of th thoughts

We spent our day building characters, settings, plans before weaving together a rich tapestry of tales, soon to be published for the school as an anthology inspired by Driftwood and Amethyst and the imaginations of some promising young writers.

How I quite found myself sitting with such an enthusiastic group of young writers discussing my first novel, is almost beyond me, as life hasn't always been so generous. But by having a little faith in myself and surrounding myself with those who believe in me, life can now be enjoyed rather than merely endured.