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About Frances M Thompson
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Blog postThis not your typical blog post from me - and indeed it's a guest post, written by the lovely Camille from Crafty Explorer - but it's the kind of travel blog post I REALLY enjoy reading. Facts about countries help you quickly get to know them quickly and they often prompt me to do a little further research into specific things about a place. So that's why I'm really proud to present you with 50 interesting facts about New Zealand Aotearoa.
The destination is especially important to me -
Blog postMy latest book, Lover Mother Other has now been out in the world for one whole week. To acknowledge that and to give you a bit more insight into the book's journey and what it's about, here's a quick collection of five facts about Lover Mother Other: Poems about Love, Motherhood, and Everything Else Womxn Transcend.
Five Facts About Lover Mother OtherNope, there are no commas in the title. This was intentional for a few reasons. I didn't want to make the distinction between the three names -
Blog postConsider this list of amazing books my favourite books of the year, but also note that there are many more books I read and loved this year that aren't on this list. I've been a bit slack at keeping up with the books I've read and loved on Goodreads, but some of them are there. I'd love to go back to writing book reviews one day on this blog, but for now let's just stick to the very best of the best books of my 2020.
When I say that these books changed my life I'm not over-exaggerating -
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Blog postSooooo today's blog post is a little bit different, but when it comes to things I wear, the watch I wear every single day - and have done for nearly two years now - is easily the thing I get the most questions about or asked for a review of. Whether it's in real life, or on a photo I share on Instagram, I get asked for a review of my Withing Steel HR watch, so I figured it would be a good time to do one.
The reason I mention how long I've had this watch is so that you know I have been -
Blog postThe Things That Helped Me Get Through 2020 (That May Help You in 2021) Well, that was a bit full on, wasn't it?
Yes, I'm talking about the WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR that is now nearly, nearly over. 2020, you are one for the history books, and you are one that I am equal parts amazed and grateful to have survived.
I hope you, dear reader, are feeling something similar too. In fact, let's all take a moment to breathe together and appreciate that here we are, in whatever form we are in, an -
Blog postTen years ago I was a big believer in new year's resolutions and on setting myself goals both personally and professionally for growth, development and "success". And many positive changes have come thanks to some of those resolutions like reading more books and writing regularly. But it's true that in the last five or six years, and especially coming out of 2020, I feel like making new year's resolutions brings about more unsettling and uncertain feelings than hopeful energy and mo
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Blog postI thought about writing this guide on how to staycation Amsterdam style at least a year ago, if not longer, but as with 50% of my blog post ideas, I didn't get around to it in 2020 because... well, you know. Back then, I also didn't think it would interest many people. Fast forward to the beginning of 2021 and I know for certain that many people living in Amsterdam or in other cities in the Netherlands are wanting to know some great ideas for an Amsterdam staycation.
Of course this is -
Blog postWell, it's not even the end of the second week of 2021 and here I am writing a post all about how hard things have already felt this year, and with that in mind, the lockdown self-care I am doing to help me and my family weather the ups and downs of this latest lockdown.
While I stand by many of the things I included in this post all about what helped me survive 2020 (and nearly four months of lockdown with kids at home), and I am doing as many of them as I possibly can, there are very -
Blog postMaybe it's the current climate, or maybe it's the fact I'm the mother to young children, but nothing sounds better to me right now than some solo luxury travel. The idea of disappearing to the Caribbean for some luxury travel ALL ON MY OWN, phew, yes, please! Unfortunately that's not on the cards anytime soon for me, or for many of us, but that doesn't stop us indulging our wanderlust and maybe thinking about where we want to go most in the world.
If this is the Caribbean, and if -
Blog postPositive Affirmations for a New Year Anytime of year is a great time to try out affirmation, but it's true that having some reliable, motivating and grounding positive affirmations for a new year is a great way to start a new journey around the Earth whether that's the 1st January, your birthday, or any flipping day of the year!
I spent a lot of time thinking about the power of letting go, the peace in just being, and the hope and energy that comes with setting new intentions with affi -
Blog postSo this is unexpected but I have been wanting to share these with you for a while now... I made postcards!! And they're available at discounted price for pre-order now, until 5th Feb 2021.
Similar to the "I believe in you, writer" postcards, these postcards come in a pack of eight (8) and each one is a different colour of the rainbow (yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue, green, and also the brand colour of WriteNOW Cards, teal). On one side of each postcard is a message o -
Blog postOnce upon a time when we could (rightly or wrongly) travel far and wide without fear of spreading a deadly virus, I established myself as something of a luxury travel blogger. This even extended to luxury family travel once I started popping out children - ha, I hate how easy it sounds when you say it like that when in reality family travel, no matter how luxurious, is anything but easy! - and you can find all my luxury family travel tips here.
But what about luxury travel in Amsterdam -
Blog postLast week, when I first heard a snowstorm was heading Amsterdam's way, it wasn't a lie. I've honestly never seen so much snow in Amsterdam.
The city woke up on Sunday morning to a blanket of white covering almost everything and still the snow fell. Indeed it fell all day and into Monday too. The temperature also plummeted and an icy cold wind whipped its way down the streets too, really reminding us that it was a snowstorm rather than a snowfall.
Ever since then we have been exp -
Blog postWhen your birthday falls in February and you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can quickly develop something of a love-hate relationship with this short month. I love that it's my birthday month, and while I have mixed feelings about Valentine's Day I do love me some hearts, and ooh, there's also Pancake Day but let's be honest too. WE ARE ALL SO OVER WINTER by the time February rolls around it can also be a hard month to get through no matter how short.
Daily Positive Affirmations for -
Blog postToday we have a guest post for you by a freelance book editor. While I have written extensively about writing on this blog, I haven't specifically written much about editing, and I certainly haven't explained the different types of editors that can help you make your book - non-fiction or fiction - the best it can be.
As an indie author it's imperative to me to produce and publish my best possible work, as sadly us self-publishing authors often have to put up with a stigma of bei -
Blog postI had hoped I'd have found a rhythm for writing these daily positive affirmations by now, considering we are three months in to this year of daily positive affirmations, but actually this month felt the hardest of all - hence the late publication date. Upon reflection, I don't see this as a bad thing, especially as (yet again) SO MUCH has happened this month. (And if you'd like to, you can also read January's and February's positive affirmations.)
Each week, huge world events have prom -
Blog postAs I was researching and writing this post on self-care for kids, I wanted to include some information about the history of self-care and self-love, in order to frame how they are both modern and historical concepts. After doing some research, it quickly became clear that what I wanted to include about this was actually big enough to be a stand alone blog post and so that's what you're reading today; a short history of self-care and self-love.
The reason I haven't separated the two con -
Blog postHere in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring has truly sprung and so my mind naturally feels a little bit more positive thanks to more daylight and signs of growth popping up everywhere. I am also tentatively starting to think about summer and what those months will be... However, with all this comes a natural tendency to think a bit too far ahead rather than keep my mind in the here and now, which as many of you is kinda basic level mindfulness stuff!
But of course, positive affirmations d -
Blog postUltimate Guide to Self-Care for Kids Tell me honestly, how much - as a parent, carer or just, human being - how much have you thought about self-care for kids? Enough to make it something your kids grow up learning about? Enough to know you would like to introduce to your children, but you're not sure how? Or is this maybe the first real time you are thinking about self-care for children?
Whatever your answer, welcome! You are in the right place to learn more about self-care for childr -
Blog postSelf-Care Activities for Kids In this post I wrote all about what self-care for kids looked like and suggested ways to introduce children to self-care that were very general. These self-care for kids ideas could be explored as much or as little as you wish, and the same goes for this post, which lists more specific (but still quite general) self-care activities for kids. If you're completely new to thinking about self-care for kids, I do encourage you to read that post first, or maybe go back
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Blog postI found this list of positive affirmations for May quite hard to right as I am experiencing a lot of multiple different, conflicting feelings right now. I am feeling deep gratitude for how life is a little easier in these post-lockdown months, and I cannot deny my heart is being buoyed by the hope on the horizon that are the vaccinations happening all over the world, but I am also feeling something of a hangover from the last year, and especially the hard, hard start to the year.
That' -
Blog postHow to Travel with Kids I shared these tongue-in-cheek golden rules for travel with kids in an Instagram post back in September last year, but had such a fun response that I want to give them a more permanent home here. Consider these rules for family travel as anything but real rules. They are more guidelines on a good day, or depressingly accurate annoyances on a bad day, and let's be real - we all have bad days when we travel with kids!
But all this being said, travelling with my ki -
Blog postSummer has finally arrived in Amsterdam and it's very, very welcome.
So yes, you can expect this month's collection of affirmations to be a sort of list of positive affirmations for summer, as many are heavily influenced by the lovely, hopeful, warm wonders of this new season. However, I would still like to think tha most of them can and should be used on any day of the year.
I will be honest and say that as I arrive at the half-way mark of this year's challenge of writing one affirm -
Blog postWriting has been my main source of income for nearly a decade and while it's been an up-and-down journey, it's not one I've ever regretted going on. I earn money writing stories on this blog you're reading now, for clients as a freelance writer, and also in actual real published books, like my three short story collections (Shy Feet, London Eyes, Nine Women).
It took me a while to figure out that making money from writing stories was not only possible but it actually also has unlimite -
Blog postWhen I sat down to write these affirmations - I normally do most of them in one or two big batches, and also add in other ones that come to me out of nowhere as and when they do - I really felt quite blocked. Rather than stare at a blank page, I went back re-read some of the positive affirmations I wrote for this challenge and you know, it helped release so much of the negative thinking I was having relating to why I couldn't come up with 31 positive affirmations in one go.
It was
Titles By Frances M Thompson
