Anna Vaught Writes

E is for energy (or not) A very short post tonight as I’m not feeling too well, physically and had various jabs today, too! Energy. I had a range of things to say here. First, if you are naturally energetic and enthusiastic, promise me that you won’t let anyone crush that. Occasionally, it happens and it can set you back. As firmly as you can, stay true to you; to that. Then, about pushing…

In my life I have several periods of depression and I could not see beyond it. My experience is that – reminder I am not a medical professional and I’m a Doctor of Creative Writing! – sadness and depression may be confused. I have found that when you are sad you can still have joy alongside it, but in depression it is through a glass darkly. Perhaps it’s different for you. Depression, for me,…

The letter B. The first thing that came to mind for B was actually…be. Let’s go with that, shall we? Sometimes everything hurts and, because we are being realistic, the pain of some experience has to be tolerated, it has to be felt and, to a certain extent, and step by step, it has to be assimilated. In that context – but perhaps really in all, for which read on – some days all you have to do…

Midsummer’s Day, 2025. It has become really clear to me that, despite my doctorate, all my books, my teaching and my salient lived experience, I am not going to be able to get a big memoir or any kind of book that’s mental-health adjacent to market. I’ve tried too many times. I don’t have a big enough author profile, I don’t have the time or the health to start and maintain and build a massive…

On writing; on publishing: on life In February, 2026, my eleventh book will be published, by an award-winning, exciting independent publisher. I have just finished the first in a projected series of commercial fictions – cosy paranormal – and I have a novella out and about. In addition to this, I am reading for a new literary novel and thinking about another. I am the creator of a literary prize…

Today has been the day when I made decisions. I hope some people out there will find what follows helpful and loving. To you, from me, with hugs. Much of this is publishing industry-related, but in the context of a complex life – and my realisation that I am not meeting my own needs. (Picture is of me, in one of my favourite places, on St Brides Bay in Pembrokeshire – much of my family is from…

Well now what have we got going on? First thing is that I have a nonfiction book out on agency submission. I have actually proposed a series, but it can be a standalone book. It’s literary self-help, a short book each time, and on each occasion an area of literature and a theme to help with a particular ill, or something we might need. Anyway, it’s called Dr Bookworm Prescribes and plays with the…

I’ve seen the film twice; once at the cinema, when I was inconsolable afterwards and then, at home, sitting in bed. On both occasions I watched it alone. I do feel it’s a masterpiece, but I do not have the knowledge or the skill to comment in depth on film-making, so thought I would explain instead what it meant to me. I must tell you that this account will contain spoilers but also that I am…

For the writer-carer. A new, more vigorous approach and a new literary prize ‘I feel so much better. I feel seen.’ Many people who read this piece will be carers. If readers are not one now, they may be later and some of us will always be in this role. A carer (I use the NHS definition) is anyone who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness,…

Hello everyone, Soooo I am hard at work on a PhD by Published Works at York St John University TA DA. This foregrounds my own, previously published work and I am here – well, as a distance learner – for a year. It is hoped that this September I can start HEA training which would, post doctorate, give me more options for teaching at university level. This July, I have an essay collection out.…

Right. Things I am banning this Christmas. Please relax my darlings. Here are some things from your Momma Book Bear. 1. Comparing yourself to others. This is totally banned. 2. Making yourself ill by pushing yourself to create a perfect tableau. Basically, everyone just wants to eat more crisps and you could consider some sort of crisp adventure; a crisps tableau. Photo by cottonbro studio on…

Stigma. Shame. Embarrssing. Needs to toughen up. We just got on with it my day. We don’t have mental health problems in our family – we are really robust. Scandal Shame SHHH Don’t you feel exposed? Weakness Keep it to yourself I don’t know anyone who’s needed counselling, therapy: just get over it. Oh that’s just psychobabble. Did someone put that in your head? EVERYONE has trauma these…

Tht title doesn’t sound enormously hopeful, but don’t misunderstand me. I am having to adjust and refocus because of life’s strains and must write this without giving too much detail in order not to impinge on privacy or agency. I don’t know why I didn’t grasp it before, but in attempting to live more carefully in the moment, I had, nonetheless, not noticed the impact that my intense sense of…

Now, many people feel this: writing, not to mention actually publishing your work, feels like it’s something for folks known as OTHERS. You know; the other people, for whom this is all a breeze; the people who have their stuff together and who know so much more than you. They’re better read, more connected, more clever, more everything and OBVIOUSLY better writers. There are deep and…