Just leave that stuff for the children — We’ve all had them. We’ve all given them. The bad Christmas gift. The awful, panicked, last minute, hail Mary gift. Any old perfume for women. The aftershave gift pack for men. …

Your health is more important than your work — Ask anyone who works with me and they will tell you that I’m the least stressed person they know. There are more difficult, higher pressure jobs, but my job is busy — the kind of busy where the work never stops coming and lunch breaks are sometimes hypothetical. Even when…

Let’s stop pretending we have a connection with celebrities beyond the transactional. — I like John Mulaney. Although I should probably rephrase that: I like John Mulaney’s comedy. I like his persona, I like the version of himself he presents at the microphone. Because I don’t know John Mulaney the real person. The same goes for most of his fans. He’s someone we…

Giving your kids the connection they crave doesn’t have to be difficult. Washing the dishes together helped me reconnect with my daughter. — It had been one of those Sundays. The weather outside miserable and grey, reflecting my own, a strange anxious irritability. There was no particular reason for it, beyond perhaps the general background tiredness that every parent of a toddler knows is just part of their life. …

It can be a real challenge not to raise your voice in the heat of the moment — We’ve all done it. Every single one of us has said “I’m not going to shout at my child” when dreaming about the ideal parent we’re going to be, and then every one is us has broken that rule when the actual reality of being a parent hits. It’s easily…

There’s no easy way to grow your following, you have to put the work in. — When Medium makes changes its writers react. It’s understandable. While for some this is a hobby, for others partner program earnings are a useful side hustle and for others still a full time career. …

What to consider when an editor asks if they can republish your work — It’s an exciting rush the first time you get an email from an editor asking if they can republish one of your stories on their website. Finally, your work has been seen! But is it as simple as saying “yes" to what looks like a thrilling opportunity? Not always. Here…

We’re all stressed out, and we just want to comfort watch — If you’ve been on the internet in the last week or so, you’ll have heard about, or seen, the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, the third film in the Spider-Man link up between Sony and Marvel Studios that brought the webslinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Rumours have…

Small successes are harder to remember than the screw-ups — Parenting is a tough job. I know there are people still living in the dark ages who don’t think it’s a “job” at all, but I can guarantee stay-at-home parents work harder than most people who sit at a computer chair all day — and a parent can’t clock off…