How do I deal with someone’s lack of empathy?
On Empathy Day this year I had the great pleasure of doing a talk on empathy to the staff at my main publisher, Walker Books.
Personal stories
Empathy comes from brains not emojis #EmpathyDay2021
Today is Empathy Day 2021 and I’m very happy to have been asked to give a talk to the staff at my publisher, Walker Books.
Positively Teenage becomes real – and breaks a machine
Last week, I did something I’ve never had the chance to do: I watched one of my books being printed. My 100th title, Positively Teenage!
Why the celeb-heavy WBD list IS a problem
The celebrification of children’s literature is not new but it reached what my mother-in-law used to call a “peak low” with the list of books
Lovely news about #shelfhelp books from the Reading Agency
I was so thrilled to get the news from Walker Books that the Reading Agency has reported huge extra library borrowings of the 35 books on
And the BAFTA goes to…
This is a bit of a strange one. Back in 2015, my younger daughter, Rebecca, and a friend, Caroline Bartleet, who were working for a
Certificate in Counselling
I’m doing a Diploma in Youth Counselling and very interesting it is, too. I’m not planning to be a counsellor but I’m often approached by teenagers
Teenage Guide to Stress wins awards
Factual books don’t get many chances to win awards so I was thrilled when The Teenage Guide to Stress was shortlisted for the fabulous School
No more sedentary me
A few weeks ago, I joined the band of people who work while walking. I type and do almost all my desk work while walking on
In which I get stressed in a swimming pool
I went swimming in an actual swimming-pool yesterday. I’m still recovering from the trauma. I hadn’t been to a public pool (and I don’t have
Amputating an audience member’s leg
One of my favourite occupations! It’s amazing they let me into schools nowadays, to be honest. This was part of Larbert High School’s S2 trip
Remembering my grandfather
Today, on the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1, I’m thinking about my grandfather, Harry Robert Spencer. He was (like many others) too young
