“Set up an email newsletter!” all the slick marketing gurus say, the moment you go self-employed or start your own business. “It’s so good for brand-building and customer engagement. You can tell people about everything you’re up to, and then they’ll feel hypnotically compelled to buy from you! Don’t forget…

Recently, I mentioned that one of my clients — whose first language isn’t English — had used the word “enjoyful” during a conversation. “Enjoyful” isn’t a ‘proper’ word, I said (because I had to really, didn’t I?) But I liked it, and now I use it myself. I posted about…

I’ve got no idea what Paul Morland sounds like. But in my head, he spoke every word of his Sunday Times article, “Should we tax the childless?” in an ancient BBC Received Pronunciation (RP) accent. Especially the word “antediluvian”, which I’ll admit I had to look up. (If you don’t…

I used to see my time at the hairdressers as a lovely little ‘me-time’ treat. But as I plunge headfirst into my mid-forties, I’ve started to hate going. The reasons for this are many and varied. One: my roots have streaks of grey in them, so going to the hairdressers…

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but everybody who’s anybody starts their day by plunging themselves into a body of freezing cold water. “Any other challenge today is going to be less intense than sitting in this thing for 90 seconds,” said BrewDog’s founder James Watt, about his morning ice-bath…

I say “estranged family”, but really I’m only estranged from my mum. It’s been this way for over 20 years, and it was my choice to cut off contact. This decision is the best I’ve ever made, for an avalanche of reasons. And as I haven’t got children (again: my…

I was umming and ahhing last week, wondering whether I should go outside and say something to the man painting the house next-door. He’d been busily — and noisily — rubbing down our shared fence; in the process covering my lovely garden in a shower of manky old paint chips…

Things I wish I’d known about being childfree in mid-life Forgive me for sounding glib, but I don’t think there’s much that hasn’t already been said or written about the ups and downs of parenthood. Even forgetting the heaving litany of parenting podcasts and mummy blogs for a moment, there are over 10,000 books about parenthood listed on Amazon alone. …

Or: here’s what it really takes to build a creative career “…whenever I’m asked for my advice on becoming a writer I say: advance slowly. Shore up your position now by getting a stable job and write in the evenings. This way you will write more of what you want and you’ll get to keep writing it for longer. Only throw…