paigegardnerwrites

My Cocoon Era

One reality: It’s a Friday morning in Munich. I’m sitting in a cozy cafe at a large wooden table with other writers as lo-fi pulsates through the speakers. Large windows surround me, showing me the clear sky outside, a tantalizing blue. After I finish writing this, I’ll stroll along the historical streets of the city,Continue reading “My Cocoon Era”

Meetings and Partings

It seems every time I sit down to write about Manchester, it’s raining. Raindrops trickle down the glass of the window beside me and for a moment, I allow myself the thought that Manchester is mourning my leaving. (Then I remember a friend recently told me it rains in Manchester 152 days out of theContinue reading “Meetings and Partings”

Ending Credits

This past week, my husband and I were fortunate enough to have two friends from the States visit us in the U.K. We’ve known these friends for almost a decade, having first met them in college. It’s fun to meet people when they’re teenagers navigating life in college, and now know them as adults navigatingContinue reading “Ending Credits”

Head in the Clouds

As a kid, I once heard that you should always be able to look up at the clouds in the sky and see pictures within those shapes. This one’s a duck, that one’s a pirate ship. If you look at a cloud and cannot find the hidden picture within, well, that just means you doContinue reading “Head in the Clouds”

Living Life Without a Full-Length Mirror

This title sounds like a fun little tagline to something, but I can assure you… it is very much my reality. When my husband and I moved to the U.K. this autumn for a six-month project at his work, we brought just the essentials. We figured we could buy whatever we needed there. Once weContinue reading “Living Life Without a Full-Length Mirror”

Favorite 2023 Reads

Over the last few years, I’ve been honing my tastes and discovering what books I really love. As a result, this past year I’ve loved some books so much that I absorbed them into my being and they now make up most of my personality. Whoops. Using Goodreads, my favorite app/website to track what booksContinue reading “Favorite 2023 Reads”

NaNoWriMo Project: Ms. B, Beanie, and the Beat Up Bug

By the time December 1st comes around, I hope to have 50,000 words of my newest novel completed. I am currently one week into in National Novel Writing Month. I’ve successfully completed NaNoWriMo in 2009, 2018, and 2019… so while I’m confident, I also feel a bit out of practice. Novels are hard. The *tentative*Continue reading “NaNoWriMo Project: Ms. B, Beanie, and the Beat Up Bug”

Fast Fiction: Sister Knows Best

As soon as Maeve entered the gymnasium, a pulse of energy shot through her body as if she’d been shocked with a bolt of lightning. Here she was — her senior prom. The last dance of high school, and her last opportunity to tell Mick how she felt about him before they went their separateContinue reading “Fast Fiction: Sister Knows Best”

The Cusp

About a month ago, I was cleaning out my apartment, as I had been doing for days on end by that point. I was stuck in an endless loop of moving boxes to our storage unit, texting friends asking if they wanted anything, posting items on Facebook marketplace, and rocking in a fetal position whilstContinue reading “The Cusp”

Fast Fiction: My Best Friend Astrid

When I tell people Astrid is my best friend, they often look at me funny. Maybe raise their eyebrows, or give me a crooked smile and a half-laugh. But it’s true. She’s my best friend. Ever since that day in third grade when a group of fifth grade boys threw me down on the hard,Continue reading “Fast Fiction: My Best Friend Astrid”