An Author's Notebook

Sometimes you don't realise you need a break until you're sat on a beach in the sunshine, thinking thank goodness . This was me las...

There comes a time in a woman's life when she doubts herself. Wonders if she's made the right choices. Inevitably, she looks around...

The shocking murder of Sarah Everard has unleashed a torrent of emotion around male harassment of women. Abductions of young women are tra...

I'm feeling happy today. Naturally, I'm unable to be happy without taking time to analyse  why . This is the ideal state we all aspi...

Someone sent me a polite message via Twitter earlier in the summer. He introduced himself as Aidan Martin  and said he wanted to flag up a b...

Throughout the coronavirus lockdown, there will be children stuck at home who have suffered emotional or physical abuse; kids who've wit...

My 10-year old son and I are playing a game at the moment: the 30-day Happiness Challenge *. I bought it after he finished his entrance exam...

Hermaphrodite Mum   Three kids and a single mum I read in The Times newspaper that a quarter of 14-year old girls are depressed . Good g...

Three years ago writer Ali S was due a mammogram. "I almost didn't go," she says. "At the time, I thought I really haven...

Self-belief is a powerful but fragile gift. One of my personal heroes has always been Amelia Earhart , a pioneering pilot and a woman of inc...

My 11-year old daughter was bemoaning the fact that she was too tall the other day. Having just started secondary school, she was embarrasse...

Review:   Channel 4 TV series, Humans As the summer holidays get underway, I catch myself thinking wouldn't it be nice to have a synth...

What kind of idiot drops their mobile phone down the loo? That's what I thought to myself a few months ago when my brother lost his iPho...

I finally worked out who Bradley Cooper was the other day. Yes, I know - I have been living under a rock. Last Saturday, my husband and I w...

It came out of the blue. One of those little blips that throws you out for a day or so. All of a sudden I just didn't want to get out of...