I guess this is a bit like a CV only without my GCSE results or a reference from someone I waitressed for in 1992 (actually, I saw him pick up a steak he’d dropped on the floor and put back in the pan, so, I don’t know if we should be relying on his word for anything.)
blogging
I use Instagram as a place to publish vignettes from daily life, including everyday moments, wanderings through suburbia, and snippets of memoir. Prior to becoming a citizen of Instagramland the main bulk of my written and creative work made its home on my blog ‘notes on paper’, a place which still plays an important role in ‘portfolio’ career. (Oh and, that portfolio? I’ve probably decorated it with collage somewhere along the way.)
At ‘notes on paper’ I share: a mix of personal everyday adventures (I’m an introverted, nervous driver, who hasn’t left the country since 1989, so my idea of ‘adventure’ may be different to yours); discussions about books, creativity and my vintage treasure collection; and the occasional nugget of overheard-conversational gold.
Regular recurring blog features over there have included ‘My Month in Numbers’ in which I summarised the events of each month using numbers as a hook on to which I could hang my experiences; like the time writer David Sedaris gave me 125ml of hair conditioner for example. (Really, it was worth creating an entire blog feature purely to tell that story if nothing else, and then the feature ran for 7 years).
And we must never overlook my annual #BadPortraits post in which I reveal the worst photos and selfies of me taken during the previous 12 months. An act of factory-resetting my ego which I wrote about for Marie Claire UK.
published work
During the last decade I’ve contributed to a wide variety of crafting magazines as a freelance writer and designer and have an ongoing, long-running feature in Papercraft Inspirations. I held a commissioning-editor role on the early issues of Featuring magazine and my work previously featured in other titles such as Stampington’s Art Journaling and Somerset Memories, including Docraft’s Creativity.
I’ve guested on many craft blogs over the years and more recently, outside of the crafting arena, I’ve contributed to Marie Claire UK online, a ‘Pretty Nostalgic’ book and the blog of the mental health charity Mind.
books
I published my first book, Snipped Tales – an anthology of collaged micro fiction - in 2016, which you can read all about here.
In addition to that I’m continually gathering together material for a non-fiction book, which might be something relating to introversion, or maybe a memoir, or maybe something else entirely (I’d love to develop my morning walk prose into a book of its own.) …but right now I’m just letting the ideas huddle together and get acquainted.
And, because I’m dedicatedly miscellaneous I’m also writing a novel in which I’ve taken the protagonist from a different genre and dropped him into a romance; kind of a ‘Boy meets girl, boy tells girl he just killed someone’ kind of thing. Right now it’s an exercise in possibility, who knows what will come of it, but – like with my sister’s plan for how she’d react in a zombie apocalypse – just because it may never happen that shouldn’t stop us chatting about it along the way should it?
my writing - in other people's words
“How do you do it?!! I bet if you wrote about watching paint dry it would be an interesting read!” Theresa, facebook.
“It took me ages to get to the end of this post because I kept having to stop reading while I laughed!” Ruth, blog comment.
“I laughed AND cried, sometimes at the same time! Thanks for sharing this.” Mary, blog comment*.
“Thank you so much for this. Your pictures and (especially) the words that accompanied them made me howl with laughter over my coffee.” Christine, blog comment.
“This is a fabulous and inspiring story and it takes a certain kind of bravery to share it with the world.” Deb, blog comment.
“As always Julie your words grab my attention - wham - and I am sucked in.” Jen, blog comment.
*Please note: these people aren’t all related. ‘Blog comment’ is the medium through which they expressed themselves, not their surname.