Debbie Taylor

I’m going to talk about creativity. Women’s creativity, to be more specific. Women writers’ creativity, to be even more specific. And I’m going to use the wise and wondrous Fay Weldon as a case study. I grew up reading Fay Weldon. Long before I became a writer myself, I was being challenged and shocked and entertained by her novels, pouncing on each new one as soon as it came out in paperback. The early ones are still on my bookshelf in a long, brittle, yellowing row.

They are celebrating their anniversary this month by reissuing one iconic book from each decade of their existence, each with a smart new cover design. Virago’s Publisher Sarah Savitt comments: ‘Each work was both a stand-out book of its time but also speaks to contemporary ideas and readers’.

Affirmations are like magic spells that we cast on ourselves, that can increase our creativity and confidence in our writing. Editor Debbie Taylor provides a quick primer from the Creative Toolkit section in Mslexia’s new Writer’s Diary & Planner. Affirmations are positive statements that are used to challenge negative beliefs that undermine our confidence and performance.