Rather than making a list of New Year resolutions that are hard to fulfill, why not choose one or two words to live by instead? Like many people, I'm doing Dry January this month. The first campaign for a post-Christmas sober 4 weeks began in 2013, driven by the UK organisation Alcohol Change.

The first time we saw the bear we weren't in our house. Away on holiday, we peered at the video footage from the camera that points down from the corner of the garage.

In the summer of 1982, I became a teenager. That same summer my parents announced they were separating and my dad was moving out. My world collapsed.

Books can be armour. Or they can be a weapon, an escape, or a dream. They can make us weep or swear or laugh out loud. Books are powerful. In HBO's show, The White Lotus, books, specifically 'the holiday read' are there to impress.

The other morning when I walked the trail, I ended up walking in the other direction. I tend to walk the same trail most days. It's easy, it's near my house and it's beautiful. To change things up a bit, I sometimes decide to walk starting from the other direction. It's strangely discombobulating.

In researching an old family photograph, Tanya discovers a story of emigration from the north of England to Port Adelaide in South Australia in 1853.

A good few years ago, maybe ten, I made a piece of work for a photography festival in the seaside town where I lived called The Telling of Tall Tales. I have long been interested in stories and pictures, and how the two connect and support each other. No surprises there looking around this website. 

The land on which I live is the unceded, shared land of the Coast Salish Peoples including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Many years ago, I was studying for a diploma in General Art and Design at an art school on the blustery, freezing-cold coast of North Norfolk. Part of our studies in, the first year, involved a module in photography.

It’s the 1940s and a movie star (a strong-looking man with a black moustache) starts looking for a place to build a town. Not just any old town. A town to make movies in. The plan is to build a town in the style of the 1880s.

A list of books I’ve read about the craft of creative writing, along with how to improve your prose and philosophical thoughts on the process.

How does landscape, real or imagined, rural or urban, influence your stories? Find out how to connect your characters to their world.

Where do you write? Do you need peace and quiet to concentrate or are you able to write with noise? Here are some tips on finding that perfect place for creative work.

Why write anything by hand when you can write on a computer? Doesn’t it take too long? Isn’t it messy and pointless?

25 books from short stories to memoirs to fiction inspired by the Indigenous experience. Plus books for younger people and non-fiction works about the traumatic effects of colonialism.

Explore the magic of photographs for your imagination and the transformative potential of visual prompts.

Are you holding on to fears about your creativity and writing? Try the three-point plan by Beth Pickens to help move forward.

Photographs from an old Kodak instamatic camera stir up memories and stories from the 1980s.

Your family photos are mini-portals in time pushing you forwards, backward and sideways in your mind.

A poem for you plus finding meaningful words to help you reach your creative writing goals.