Introduced By Amber Hall
Happy New Year readers! Today marks my three-year anniversary as your ‘Monday Moments’ page editor, so I want to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who’s been part of my Write On! journey so far. As a working-class writer, I know how incredibly lucky I am to have a platform and a readership and the mentorship that comes with being part of a community like Pen to Print. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you all the best for the coming year.
My first page of 2026 also introduces our new theme, ‘Choices’. With the new year comes uncertainty for many of us, but I think there’s a lot to be said for having faith that things will work out as they’re supposed to. I try to hold onto the idea that the universe has ‘got my back’ and this often helps me to manage any disquiet in my life. I’m not a religious person, but it’s hope and faith that gets me through, every time.
I’m a firm believer in ‘trusting your gut’, too. Intuition is a kind of innate knowledge we all have and, should we take heed, it usually leads us to make the right choices. I think our bodies know instinctively when something isn’t right for us. We have to listen to them and use this introspection to guide us.
There’s also no single route to a destination, and the uniqueness of our journeys is what keeps life interesting. Sometimes, we might even make choices that seem strange or just plain wrong, only to find they lead to something magic. The same can apply to writing. A creative decision could take us off track or lead us somewhere else entirely, until we find that it all falls into place later on. I really believe that the stories we need to tell have a way of getting told, even if we don’t consciously write them into being. One thing can become another, and ‘the other’ is the truth we wish to speak.
The pieces I’ve chosen for my page this month reflect on the idea of faith and choices, revealing how this shapes worldviews and creative journeys.
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First, Eithne Cullen reflects on Robert Frost’s famous poem, The Road Not Taken. It’s a poem about choice and, as Eithne writes, it invites us to think about our role as individuals and storytellers.
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
If you don’t know it, and I’m surprised if you haven’t heard at least a line or two from it quoted at some time, I’d like to introduce you to this famous poem which works on so many levels.
It’s often quoted in media and politics as a celebration of nonconformity, choosing the less worn path, taking risks. Though in the poem the roads aren’t really that different, I’ve read that Frost intended it to be more about human nature and storytelling. Everyone faces decisions, big and small, and everyone wonders about the paths not taken, so it’s instantly relatable. The poem conveys the idea of blazing a new tale, showing individualism, venturing off the beaten path.
As many stories do, it begins with a dilemma. Walking in a wood, the speaker comes to a fork in the road and has to decide which path to follow:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth…
And he hesitates, wondering if he could take both paths, putting off the decision, emphasising his dilemma.
But there are different ways of reading the poem and the last stanza says:
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Some people think this is about us as storytellers; how we turn our confusion and problems into narrative, telling stories as we always do.
Now, I’m no expert, but I think it’s a poem worth looking at and figuring out what your thoughts are!
© Eithne Cullen, 2025
Connect with Eithne on X: @eithne_cullen and Instagram: @eithnecullen57.
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Next, a poem by Ray Miles. Here, a marriage breakdown leads the narrator to walk away from the life he knows and to forge a new path.
Whose Coat Is This?
‘Whose coat is this?’ I asked my wife,
‘It wasn’t here before.’
She blushed and then she turned away,
said a friend had left it
there. I heard the tremble when she
spoke and recognised her
lie. In that instant I just knew
we were finished, we were
done, there was no return for us.
Saddened, I took my bag
and left. My home, my life, my wife,
all in the past, no more
fresh starts, no more let’s try again.
I heard her start to cry
as I walked down the path, away
from all that I had known.
© Ray Miles, 2025
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In this prose piece, Jilly Henderson-Long writes about a chance meeting that changed the trajectory of her work as a writer.
The Karma Of Writing
Do you believe in writing karma?
This is a true story. It all began some 15 years ago. I was living just outside Croydon and, one day, I happened to pop into the library, as I’d often found that perusing the books on offer in the children’s section inspired me and, at that time, I was seeking a new writing project. On this particular day, however, it wasn’t the books that did the trick, it was a young man making enquiries at the checkout desk.
I don’t know, even now, what he was asking or why I noticed him, but I do know that, by the time I’d crossed the corridor into the adjoining coffee shop, a whole new story idea had come to me, complete from start to finish: characters, situations, everything. When I sat down with my coffee a few minutes later, I was in a state of euphoria, combined with shock, excitement and anticipation. I pulled out my notebook and wrote down the general idea, and later that day, began to write the book.
About three years after that initial flash of inspiration, My Writer was published. It tells the story of a young girl with dreams of being a writer who, following a chance meeting with a young man at the enquiry desk in the local library (yes, there it is – the first piece of karma), joins a newly-formed creative writing group for children.
Now, I need to go back to the age of seven, when I began to write. I had a lovely teacher called Stanley Morrison. An author himself, he must have seen something in me, as he did everything he could to encourage my interest in creative writing. Because of him, I grew up wanting to give other children the same kind of support and finally, in 2012, two years after My Writer was written, an opportunity presented itself. It led to the founding of Addiscombe Young Writers, which came about by pure coincidence.
One morning, my husband Steve and I decided to try out a coffee shop that had opened near our house. While there, I noticed the owner was selling locally produced crafts and paintings. I asked if she’d consider selling copies of my children’s books. She was very interested in the idea, then asked if I’d help her two children with their creative writing. The whole group idea came from there. I did some posters and contacted the local paper about it and over 20 youngsters turned up to the first session. That same group also became the first members. Over 100 others joined them over the next five years, producing work which was published and later exhibited at the local library. It had gone full circle. Now that’s what I call writing karma – oh, and keeping faith in our dreams!
© Jilly Henderson-Long, 2025
Connect with Jilly on Instagram: @jillyhendersonlong.
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Finally, K.L. Hood shares how gratitude and faith shape her worldview, and how this daily practice has positively impacted her life.
New Year, Newfound Gratitude
With the New Year upon us, it’s a good time to focus on what we want for ourselves. We may want to be fitter, give up smoking, commit to a new hobby, or prioritise family time. Many of us don’t give much thought to the fact that, to decide what we want for the new year, we need to reflect on what went badly or was lacking previously: a health scare causing us to make behavioural changes, for example.
Although reflection is a useful tool, for me it’s equally important, if not more so, to reflect on the things that went well and also what I’m grateful for. This is because I believe in the Law Of Attraction.
The Law Of Attraction relates to a belief that your thoughts and words attract more of the same. For example, being constantly stressed can lead to negative thoughts about what you lack or what you need. This is normal human behaviour we all indulge in at some point but, according to the Law Of Attraction, those negative thought patterns attract more of the things or events that caused us to feel like that in the first place. It insists that, if you shift your focus onto being grateful for the good things in your life instead, you’ll attract more things to be grateful for.
Please stay with me here. I know this is the point where I lose people, because they tend to think (rightfully so): ‘So my whole world’s just crashing down on me and I’m supposed to smile, be positive, pretend it’s not happening and will it better?’
Believe me, I do understand. I felt similarly when my friend Francesca introduced me to the book that started my journey: The Magic by Rhonda Byrne. I checked it out anyway – after all, I had nothing to lose!
The Magic contains 28 daily practices to help you practise gratitude. An example would be ‘counting your blessings.’ It involves making a list of ten things you’re grateful for.
It didn’t come easily at first, listing the things I was grateful for, as I was in such a negative mindset but, as I continued to practise, it got easier. When I noticed my productivity improving and good things beginning to happen, I made it a daily habit.
Even when I’m feeling down on my luck, it helps me to keep faith, reminding me that, despite any catastrophes I may be going through, I’m blessed because I still have so much to be grateful for, which I often unintentionally took for granted until I started my gratitude practice.
© K.L. Hood, 2025
Connect with K.L. Hood on Instagram: @k.l.hoodwrites and X: @klhoodwrites.
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Issue 27, featuring Sarah Westcott is out now. You will find it in libraries and other outlets. Alternatively, all current and previous editions can be found on our magazines page here.
You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo, or find us on Podcasters.Spotify.com.
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