I spoke at something this week without the parachute of speaking notes. When I began public speaking as part of my work a few years ago, I’d be sick with nerves from the moment I booked the talk into … [Read more...]

Legend has it that ancient Greeks (I promise this won’t be a history lesson), having arrived on foreign shores for battle, torched their boats on the beaches behind them. With no possibility of … [Read more...]

My literary agent has been waiting for the synopsis of my teen trilogy now for a week-ish. Er, make that a fortnight. At least. This is the same trilogy that I started writing approximately four … [Read more...]

What is it about mums of multiples and their bring-it-on! attitude? All the twin-mummies that I know embrace life with a gung-go fervour. A few years ago, my best friend took her then 10-month-old … [Read more...]

I write this at the end of a long, emotional day. One friend is fighting for the life of her baby girl – born too early, with a severe, congenital heart defect and other complications. Another is … [Read more...]

I was chatting with someone recently who was bemoaning the fact that she’d joined a women’s group and everyone at it was condescending. No one spoke to her. No one smiled. When I asked if she’d … [Read more...]

Call it gut instinct, intuition, a ‘funny feeling’ or a hunch - but there are times when we all get the sense that ‘something isn’t right’. I’m fascinated by the possibility that we can ‘know’ … [Read more...]

I found out today that my friend’s husband has been diagnosed with cancer. She is pregnant with their first child. It’s an awful, awful thing - and she will be kept awake with this, at a time when … [Read more...]

One of the women in my mums’ group began a 1500-piece jigsaw puzzle at the start of summer. Together with her step-daughter, she’s been plugging away at it each night after the baby is in bed and, … [Read more...]

My daughters have been drip-fed a new Disney princess every few years since birth.  In the twelve years since my eldest was born, Disney conceived Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana (the … [Read more...]

Worn out from the year that was? Emma Grey of WorkLifeBliss gives us her top 10 tips for work-life balance in 2011. 1.       Have a reason to leave Just as it’s easy to expand into a higher income, … [Read more...]

Recent news of the death of anti-anorexia billboard model, Isabelle Caro, came one day after I gobbled Portia de Rossi’s graphic memoir about her battle with anorexia in almost one sitting.  An … [Read more...]

A report released recently on the impact on children of having a working mum, tipped fresh fuel over the smouldering ‘Mummy Wars’ debate. Working mums have ‘higher maternal sensitivity’ than their … [Read more...]

As our thoughts turn towards New Year, we sometimes contemplate what we’d like to change about ourselves, and what we’d like to achieve in the year to come. When ‘resolutions’ are broken it’s usually … [Read more...]