Except for a fortuitous few, writers used to tell tales of desperation and poverty as they clawed their way up the greasy ladder to become a published author. Kerri Littlefield considers how things have changed. Enter ‘The Storyteller’… With the London Book Fair celebrating it’s 45 year anniversary this week, it’s astonishing to reflect on how the book industry has...

While we can complete journals for our children’s journey to date, what can we leave our children for their future should we suddenly depart? Helen Stephens ponders… For those who watch the BBC series “Call the Midwife” I couldn’t help to be moved by the last episode of the latest series, which saw Sister Evangelina pass away peacefully. However, it...

Research* shows that teenagers’ happiness (girls’ in particular) plummets as they reach the teenage years. So, what advice would you offer your teenage self to get through those rollercoaster years? Kerri Littlefield has a go…. As my daughter reached 13 I started to see more of myself in her. The good bits, the bad bits. I also started to remember...

What’s your earliest childhood memory? According to scientists*, childhood memories from aged 0-3 years old are lost forever once the child reaches seven years old. Interesting, but how do we know a memory is our ‘earliest’? How do we choose which memories to keep? And what have dandelions got to do with it?! As Spring emerges and I’m feeling more...

Given that the average Mum spends 51 hours preparing all the loveliness for Christmas Day, major building work in the lead up to Christmas was always going to end in heartache. But nothing prepared me for the challenge ahead… I started off with a positive attitude. A romantic image of the family huddling up together with colourful scarves, red noses...