Writer, reader, space nerd
A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Eras Tour. I was at the first night at Wembley Stadium, alongside 88,445 other Taylor Swift fans (they counted), singing my lungs out and dancing like a mad thing. It was wonderful, life-affirming and just bloody good fun. And now I'm back at my desk, thinking… Continue reading I went to the Eras Tour and now I’m making it about my job, for content
As a proofreader, I see a lot of Word documents, and some of them are messy to say the least. But I’ll let you in on a secret: it only takes a few simple tricks to make any document look a thousand times better. A messy document is confusing to look at and difficult to… Continue reading 3 easy wins to make your Word document look SO much better
I've been writing! I have come to accept that I'll never be the world's most prolific writer (Stephen King I ain't), but I do occasionally finish things and send them out into the world - and sometimes they get published. I've been lucky enough to have several pieces published this year, so I thought I'd… Continue reading My latest publications: The stories behind the stories
It is a new year (hooray!) and we're still in a pandemic (sigh), but everything is OK because books exist. I managed to read 68 of them in 2021, and there were some real crackers among them - seriously, there were so many, I've had a hard time condensing it down for this blog post.… Continue reading The best books I read in 2021
For several years now, I've wanted to read all the books on the shortlist for a major literary prize before they announce the winner. I've always wanted to be part of the excitement surrounding a literary prize, to follow along with the growing hype and to watch the winner's announcement knowing all the shortlisted books… Continue reading I read the Women’s Prize shortlist
Oh hey, look who's back! That's right, I may not have written anything on here since January, but I'm back now with a mid-year reading check-in. Fortunately, although I haven't been blogging, I have been reading a lot, and so I have plenty to talk about for this tag. (In fact, out of my annual… Continue reading Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag
Last week I did my 2020 reading wrap-up, and I talked about some reading resolutions that I would like to make for 2021. As it turns out, these are just about the only kinds of resolutions I can bear to make this year. After seeing so many lovely plans fall apart in 2020, and having… Continue reading 2021 reading resolutions
It's almost the end of the year, and for me that's always an excuse to look back over what I've read and pick out my favourite books of the year. Also, because I'm a total nerd, I track my reading in a big, detailed spreadsheet (courtesy of Book Riot), and so the end of December… Continue reading 2020 reading wrap-up
Ever since Lockdown 2 started, I've been devouring books. After reading only two books in September and two in October, I finished seven in November - and not just short ones. Station Eleven is more than 300 pages; The Little Stranger is 500. I do normally read quite a lot, but this is ridiculous, bordering… Continue reading I can’t stop reading
Back in February, before Covid chaos properly kicked off in the UK and we could still do things like go to pubs and hug our friends, I had an offer accepted on a flat. After months of house-hunting and several rejected offers, it was incredible to finally be on the path towards buying my own… Continue reading What it feels like to buy a house
Clare Diston 