Here’s my week summed up. I’d love to hear your ‘sum ups’ – in 25 words or less.
Volunteer, go to physio,
Cat to the vet.
Results of biopsy
(Must it always rain
When I go to the hospital?)
Time to write.
Sum up Sunday
creative writing
Sum up Sunday
I’ve set myself the challenge of summing up my week in 25 words or less. If you’d like to have a go too, I’d be pleased to see your ‘sum ups’.
Here goes:
I volunteer
And I write
Rain, rain, more rain
And more
Hospital appointments x 2
See family
And relax –
With the cats.
Living in Limbo
I’m delighted to have a third poem published in the Edge of Humanity online magazine.
https://edgeofhumanity.com/2026/01/14/living-in-limbo/
And Another Quirky Word
Have you ever shown off, strutted about vainly like a peacock? There’s a word to describe that and it’s derived from the Latin, pavo, meaning peacock.
Verb – pavonise or pavonize.
It’s not a word in common usage today though has been highlighted by Susie Dent, lexicographer, on social media.
Can you find a way to sneak it into conversation?
A Quirky Word for Today
What can be more important, as a writer, than words? I love words; their meanings, their origins and use. I particularly like discovering new words.
My quirky word for today is quidnunc, which I first came across in the film, Love Happens. It means an inquisitive or bossy person and its origin is from early 18th century Latin – quid nunc? What now?
I’m sure, at some point, quidnunc is going to appear in one of my stories. It’s too good to pass over.
Do you have a quirky word or a favourite word to share? I’d love to hear from you.
Determined in Mind
It’s that time of year when many of us talk of New Year Resolutions. I admit I gave up making them many years ago. They felt more of a burden than a help. That’s not to say I’ve become aimless or goalless, however.
Today, I looked up synonyms for the word resolution and discovered the phrase ‘Determined in Mind’. It refers to having a resolute unwavering focus, which sums up very well what is needed as a writer.
Be determined in mind and keep writing.
A Year of Writing
I left my blog hanging in the last few months of 2025, a run of health issues sapping my energy and sometimes, though not always, my creativity.
Nonetheless, 2025 was a year of writing, of finishing pieces and continuing to go to my supportive writing group. Most significantly, I finished my children’s (middle grade) novel and it will be published at the end of April 2026. Here’s a sneak preview …
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clocker-Liz-Mackenzie/dp/1806341719
The front cover image will be finalised shortly. It’s very exciting.
Whatever your plans are for creative writing this year, I wish you well. Keep at it. I first dreamt of writing a book for children when I was 11. By the time The Clocker is published, I’ll be 67, so never give up on your dreams.
Dementia
I’m delighted to have another poem published on Edge of Humanity Magazine.
https://edgeofhumanity.com/2025/12/10/dementia/
The Hat
I’m really delighted that one of my poems, called The Hat, has been published on Edge of Humanity online magazine.
Please follow the link:
https://edgeofhumanity.com/2025/10/30/the-hat/
Your Garden is not Your Garden (with a nod to Kahlil Gibran)
When I first came across Kahlil Gibran’s poem, On Children, back in the 1980s, I was taken by the way in which those words are a guide to parenting. He said:
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and the daughters of life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
As I looked at the images caught on my trail camera in the garden, it struck me that, similarly, our gardens are not our gardens. We are merely their custodians for a period of time. Badgers have lived where my garden resides for many more years than I have; foxes too. It’s a humbling thought and one I hold as I go about tending my garden, ensuring there is water for the wildlife, flowers for the bees to seek pollen, safe places for hedgehogs.
My garden is not my garden. I share it with many others and I feel privileged to do so.
Fox July 2025
