I’m back! I would tell you that my little hiatus was relaxing, but it was not because I was working like a madwoman to finish my WIP, so the ‘break’ in fact started this week because I am done, done, done! Yay! I still have a bunch of projects on the go, but I am forcing myself to take it slow and easy. The fact that I am going through one of my periodic spirals of writer’s doubt is helping, sorta, lol. But let’s not focus on that; let’s focus on the positive.

My garden is slowly greening, which means summer must be close. Also close? My annual clothing swap: two weeks and counting (down). And a few days after that, pub date for The Mysterious Affair at Gaunt Hall. Thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered a copy! I <3 you.

Scrapbooking is going strong; in fact, I’ve decided to start a daily scrapbook journal to work on alongside my scrapbook collage books. I also have to confess that I’ve fallen prey to the siren call of buying supplies. I’m still struggling to source magazines, but I’ve acquired a bunch of new equipment/materials – a paper cutter, a cutting board and scalpel/knife, several paper punches, and a slew of new stickers. Some are new/retail, some are thrifted; nothing is too expensive individually, but they do add up so I’m trying to be sensible. The problem is that I’ve always had a weakness for pretty stationery, and this is kinda scratching that itch. Oops. The good thing is that I’m using all my supplies, not merely hoarding them. And the craft section of the thrift store has been a godsend.

I’m currently reading Marriage by Susan Ferrier, which a dear friend of mine gifted me. If you love Jane Austen, this might be a book for you. Ferrier was a Scottish contemporary of Austen’s, and apparently sold more books than her during their lifetime, but is not well known these days. So far, Marriage has been a delightful read and very much in that Austen vibe.

Recently, I made my closet switch – from fall/winter to spring/summer – and I’m very excited to reunite with all my warm weather skirts, dresses, and jackets. With the clothing swap around the corner, I think it’s time to do a little closet edit too. I’m going to set aside some time this weekend and next for that. My style hasn’t really changed, but my body has (a little) so it’s time to reevaluate what still works and what doesn’t. My closet is feeling a little over-full at the moment and I’d like to make a bit of space. The problem is that I love pretty much everything I have, so letting go of things is gonna be harder than in the past. Wish me luck!

Have a great weekend!

I’ll be the first to admit that, these days, I don’t pay very much attention to fashion industry news or, similarly, celebrity news – and, by extension, the intersection of the two. I used to be an avid red-carpet watcher and I’m not anymore. But the Met Gala remains an exception, mostly because it’s the one major occasion where there’s a chance of interesting fashion displays. So, of course, I checked out this year’s event and … I have thoughts. Naturally.

In short, it was both fun and disappointing.

Let me explain.

On a purely aesthetic level, I enjoyed a lot of the outfits on the Met Gala red carpet. They were fun and inventive. And I’m a sucker for art references. There was some outfits I strongly disliked, because I felt they fell all the way into Halloween costume territory (I won’t name names, but you probably know who I’m talking about), but on the whole, it was an enjoyable parade of looks.

On a thematic level, I was disappointed. Quite apart from the Halloween costumes, I felt that most of the attendees missed the point of the year’s theme.

So, first of all, the Met Costume Institute’s current exhibition is called “Costume Art”. Per the Vogue cover story (May 2026 issue), the exhibition “sets art and fashion side by side – and erases any distinctions between the two.” The theme of the year’s Met Gala, which is a fundraiser for the Institute, was “Fashion is Art”. The Vogue article has a bunch of interviews with art and fashion people about the question of: is fashion art? I found it very interesting to read different perspectives on that, from both sides, but the key takeaway was that the Met’s overall message was that, yes, fashion is art. Not just a craft or a discipline, but capital-A Art.

This is what I think most of the Met Gala outfits missed. The majority were basically some version of a famous art piece (painting or sculpture seemed most popular) rendered in dress form. What this was giving was Art as Fashion, not Fashion is Art. These outfits centered other art as the art, and fashion as merely the medium of delivery. To put it differently, fashion was reduced to mere materiel.

Which is unfortunate, imo. As noted, I think the question “is fashion art” is a really interesting one and worth exploring. I think there are designers out there who have and do treat fashion as art – that is to say, as a mode of creative expression. I tend to agree with Tschabalala Self, who is quoted by Vogue as saying “[t]o me the separation between fashion and art is a false dichotomy. They’re both means of expression, and they’re both vehicles … that allow artists to express the concerns and desires of our time.” They go on to say, “when we dress, we all make a statement.”

This reminds me of what Charlie Porter writes in his book Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion (on which, more soon):

“… the clothes we put on each morning can lock us into acquiescence to the structures of power that we find so crushing. If we were to pay more attention to our thinking through clothing, we could begin to wriggle loose.”

Society has many ways of enforcing its structures and surveilling individual compliance, and clothing can be one of the ways that bodies, specifically, are subjected to that enforcement and surveillance. As Porter argues in his book, clothing is archetypal. Fashion as art is intimately about the body – more so than any other art form, perhaps, given that it is literally worn on the body. In this way, it is set apart from other art.

This is the piece that, on reflection, I think was missing from the Met Gala. By focusing so much on other art pieces, fashion’s essential relationship to the body was obscured, as well as its ability to communicate in a very unique and specific way ideas about our bodies’ existence in the world of today. You might be thinking: OK, but what’s the big deal? Ultimately, the Met Gala is just an excuse for rich people to parade in pretty clothes before the admiring eyes of the unwashed masses – right? [I say that tongue in cheek, but not really.] And on a certain level, that’s true. But it’s also an opportunity to hold a different, interesting public conversation about fashion and art – and by reducing fashion, once more, to frivolous fripperies, we are reinforcing the message that it’s irrelevant. Which, in turn, obscures the very issue that Porter highlighted: fashion is not frivolous. It is art and like all art can be used for good (self expression) and bad (aka propaganda and reinforcement of social structures).

Anyway, that’s my take on the Met Gala.

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Apologies for the lack of posts lately – it’s been a very busy time on the home, work, and book writing front, and the blog has had to take a bit of a backseat. I’m planning to take a break from my various other projects in the last half of May, and to devote some time to writing here. I miss talking about stuff with you guys!

The exciting news this week is that my next book, The Mysterious Affair at Gaunt Hall is now available for pre-order (ebook only)! It will be released on June 9, 2026 in ebook, paperback, and on Kindle Unlimited. And if you’ve been looking for genre-bending mystery with a supernatural twist, well, you’re in luck:

Here’s the blurb, to whet your appetite:

Twelve guests, two dead bodies, one cursed village …

Thea Paget has a problem. She’s standing in an unfamiliar room with a dead stranger at her feet and the last 48 hours are a complete blank. The last thing she remembers is driving into the small village of Spalding Crow, following a mysterious summons from a man whose name may or may not be Mr. Noddy. With her personal and professional life in tatters thanks to a heartbreaking betrayal, Thea hasn’t got much to lose. Even so, a murder charge is something she’d rather avoid. Two people are dead – and one of them might not even be a garden variety human. Wolfram Breakspear, late of Gaunt Hall, was an immortal creature responsible for Spalding Crow’s ancient curse. Allegedly.

Every 27 years, at the summer Solstice, Spalding Crow must send a bride to Gaunt Hall or else face the wrath of its owner. Floods, earthquakes, and the threat of a motorway running straight through the village (among other terrible things) have kept the inhabitants of Spalding Crow in line for centuries. Now, one of them seems to have taken matters into his, or her, own hands. With the Solstice just around the corner, and a new bride due to fulfill the covenant, the traditional engagement party at Gaunt Hall has become the scene of a double murder – and Thea is right in the middle of it all. Never mind the fact that she’s a historian, not a detective; to get herself out of a tight spot, she must not only recover her missing memories but also find the answers to a number of pressing questions. If Breakspear is truly immortal, can he really be dead? Why would anyone want to kill the second victim, a local antiques dealer? And what’s going to happen once the clock strikes midnight on Solstice Eve if the covenant isn’t fulfilled?

Gaunt Hall holds the key to the puzzle, but it will not yield up its mysteries easily – especially if Theo Devlin, Breakspear’s personal secretary, has anything to do with it. Luckily for Thea, a magical talking mirror proves more willing to help than the devilishly handsome Mr. Devlin. Offered an unorthodox means of investigation, Thea embarks on a race against time to unravel the truth and, very possibly, save Spalding Crow from utter destruction. But nothing at Gaunt Hall is as it seems, and Thea is about to discover that its secrets can change everything … including her life.

I’ve been working so much, getting this book ready for publication and writing a new/future book, that I’ve not managed to do much else – except my nightly scrapbooking, of course. But I did manage to squeeze in a binge read last weekend: Anthony Horowitz’s latest release, A Deadly Episode. It was fun. Two mysteries in one, including one that took place on the set of a movie. Horowitz has done a ton of screen-writing, so this is very meta for him; I don’t normally love when authors get too meta, but it works in the context of this story.

The weather has swung all the way now – we went straight from boots to sandals, pretty much – which means that I’ll be spending my Mother’s Day in the garden, tidying up. Am I looking forward to it? Yes and no. I’d probably rather be on the couch with a book, but I know being outside in the fresh air will be good for my mental health. That’s what they say, haha!

What are your plans?

Have a great weekend!