More than Writers

  Hello everyone. I hope that you are well. Christmas is nearly upon us, and my brain is scrambled. After a period of illness many years ago now, I always speak sternly to myself before the Christmas Hoo-Ha begins and say that it is a miracle that I am here and I will enjoy it and not get too het up about everything that goes on. And, every year I fail.  So, taking into account that finding the time to think, write or create anything meaningful has been impossible, I thought I would share with you a story that my father told me many years ago that has the most tenuous connection to writing and then leave you to your own devices. Apologies if you have all heard this before. A moth and a mouse were the best of friends. They would go everywhere together. They would spend Saturdays shopping, drinking coffee, trying on shoes and wondering if they could get away with a sequinned kaftan. If the mouse sometimes became a bit frustrated with the moth who, with the ability to actually fl...

So Long, Farewell: A Final Post from Natasha Woodcraft It's been my privilege to occupy the 20th Day of More Than Writers month with you for the past two and a half years. In that time, you've journeyed with me through the highs and lows of publishing two prayer journals and a novel, writing numerous blog posts, moving to a smallholding, acquiring about 30 animals, setting up a new Christian publishing company, selling books, giving away books, failing to sell books – and figuring out how to praise God through it all. What a ride it's been. Finding Creative Corners When we first met in August 2023, I was writing about "Cooking, Crabbing and Creative Corners" – stealing 15 minutes at the laptop during the school holidays and starting my day with God at 6am before the chaos began. 'Finding creative corners is difficult when life is chaotic', I wrote then. 'Yet these precious moments are what keep us going, what define the difference between existing ...

  What are you like at waiting? I must confess I find it difficult. I’m sure I’m not alone. I can be impatient in the slow queue at the supermarket or tempted to look for a short cut to achieve a desired outcome. I’m learning to wait, not just to wait but to wait well. Being a writer can involve a lot of waiting, whether it is waiting for inspiration, waiting for life to slow down enough to find time to write, for health to improve or maybe we are waiting to hear from a publisher. Writing it seems is often a slow journey. This season of advent is drawing to a close. It is a season of waiting, yet not the toe tapping, irritated kind of waiting but the joyful anticipation and build up to the birthday celebrations for Jesus. The hope is that we will be able to prepare our hearts and focus our minds as we take time to wait well. The bible is full of waiting. The angel’s announcement to Zechariah regarding the miraculous birth of a son, John, ended a silent wait of over 400 years. Go...

This is my first time writing a blog. On a recent creative writing retreat led by Jane Walters, I learnt about ACW, which filled me with excitement, and I joined. I’ve written stories since I was a child – obviously something in me needed to be expressed in written form. I have journalled for years, what I used to call a ‘daily diary’, though journalling sounds more mysterious. My first story was about a foal called Chad, written as if I was Chad. I knew that as I got older, I would have to learn more about punctuation and the craft of writing to be able to update my story.   However, I never finished it. I did start another one a couple of years later, still with a horse theme as I was horse crazy, but didn’t finish that one either!   Fourteen years ago, I tried again and whilst on the writing retreat picked it up again from my memory and starting rewriting it and have continued since I came back home. I don’t think it will be able to grow big enough to be a novel but it is g...

  Whether you’re a Christmas connoisseur or a ‘Bah-humbug’ kind of observer of the season, it’s rolling around with its usual regularity.   I’m an unashamed fan and, by the time you read this (if you have the time between shopping, cooking, decorating, writing cards, j uggling t he logistics of presents – both purchasing and wrapping – relatives, TV must-sees etc) I’ll have been marinading in carols and as much festive jollity as I can muster since the first of the month, as well as scheduling as many carol services as I can squeeze in. If you feel you don’t have time for writing anything this month apart from shopping lists and Christmas lists (and possibly a letter to Mr Claus should you be that way inclined or are helping smaller people who are), then I may have tidings of comfort and joy to deliver to your screen right now. Rather than sit there chewing your metaphorical pencil (thank goodness we don’t need to do that anymore, unless you’re still writing everything in long...

It was the first present I bought, the first to be wrapped and popped into a Jiffy bag ready to put on the address and take it to the Post Office. The first because the gift was for an ex-colleague who lives in Perth, not our nearby one in Scotland, but Perth in Western Australia. The parcel sat on the end of my very long kitchen table for a few days, still with no address. Then I located the address book and went to pick up the present. But it wasn’t there.  This was several weeks ago and it has still not turned up, despite several huge hunts among Christmas wrapping paper, cards, ribbons and other wrapped presents. And more widely throughout the whole house. I’m hoping that writing this now will trigger something to help me find a new place to look in my hunt. I was on the rota for Sunday school today. We usually have a clutch of pre-schoolers who attend. The first item on our timetable was to find sheep, so I hid them around the room at a suitable level to be discovered ...

I was very young when the Dead Sea Scrolls were displayed in Edinburgh and I remember waiting in a long line with my mother and sister to witness these important historical manuscripts. T he Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the biblical canons , including the deuterocanonical manuscripts. I found them inspiring and magical. T hey came to mind recently during this season of Advent and set me to musing about writing to promote the importance of Advent and this led me to consider the types of stories written to promote Christmas. It's amazing the way the mind works. Now, so much writing and too many stories at this time of year tend towards secular characters and tales of mythical creatures rather than concentrating on the importance of the period of Advent within the Christian calendar. While Advent for us is the four-week period dedicated to the reflective preparation for the time of birth of the baby Jesus at Christmas as ...

For this introductory blog post, I’ve been reflecting on the words we use about ourselves—especially the ones that hold us back. Whether in faith, creativity, or everyday life, our inner narrative shapes far more than we realise. In my various roles, I’ve seen how quickly self-doubt can silence a unique voice—and, conversely, how beautifully confidence grows when we dare to share our words. How often have you heard statements like these? “I can’t draw” “I’m rubbish at baking” “I’m useless at writing”. It is fair to say that these indicate a sense of self-sabotage that is both negative and damaging. It is sad that our inner critic’s voice is the one we hear the loudest, and life should most definitely not be like that. These statements often come from old comments, and they become so familiar and convincing that we believe them. But they are echoes of old moments, not truths. One of my great joys in life is to run a local writing group in Bampton, Devon, where I live. We are ...