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STORIES FROM MY DESK | December 2025: A Monthly Update on Writing, Reading & Watching

What I've been creating and consuming in the past month.

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This Murder Mystery Series Took Over My Life: 15 Books in 30 Days

Aug 8, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Why I've Started a Reading Journal

Feb 11, 2025 • Helen Redfern

The Little Lies We Tell Ourselves

Apr 15, 2024 • Helen Redfern

My Journals for 2025 and What I'm Using Them For

Feb 28, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Recent posts

An Interview With Rachael Lucas on Procrastination, Blogging and Self-Publishing

Learning from the writers I’ve long admired.

Dec 10, 2025 • Helen Redfern

What We Think We’re Doing Versus What is Actually Happening

Chapter Three of my Non-Fiction Book: Stop Hiding Under the Desk

Dec 2, 2025 • Helen Redfern

STORIES FROM MY DESK | November 2025: A Monthly Update on Writing, Reading & Watching

What I've been creating and consuming in the past month.

Dec 1, 2025 • Helen Redfern

40:01

🎬 {watch} DESK TALK: What Happened To My Writing When I Allowed Myself to Follow My Joy?

How following my joy led to a new direction, new ideas, a passion project and enabled me to recover from burnout

Nov 25, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Christmas Gift Guide for Cosy Crime Lovers

A handy gift guide: Christmas cosy crime books, special edition hardbacks, Folio editions, children's cosy crime, writing crime and cosy crime…

Nov 17, 2025 • Helen Redfern

CRUMBS FROM THE WRITING DESK #7

A Writer's Junk Journal Diary | Week Beginning 9th November 2025

Nov 15, 2025 • Helen Redfern

From Brave Words to The Ink-Smudged Writing Desk

Not another rebrand, our Helen?

Nov 12, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Searching the Internet for Creative Connections. And Falling Down Rabbit Holes.

Chapter Two of my Non-Fiction Book: Stop Hiding Under the Desk

Nov 10, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Crumbs From the Writing Desk

CRUMBS FROM THE WRITING DESK #7

A Writer's Junk Journal Diary | Week Beginning 9th November 2025

Nov 15, 2025 • Helen Redfern

CRUMBS FROM THE WRITING DESK #6

A Writer's Junk Journal Diary | Week Beginning 21st October 2025

Oct 30, 2025 • Helen Redfern

CRUMBS FROM THE WRITING DESK #5

A Writer's Junk Journal Diary | Week Beginning 6th October 2025

Oct 16, 2025 • Helen Redfern

CRUMBS FROM THE WRITING DESK #4

A Writer's Junk Journal Diary | Week Beginning 22 September 2025

Sep 28, 2025 • Helen Redfern

CRUMBS FROM THE WRITING DESK #3

A Writer's Junk Journal Diary | Week Beginning 9th June 2025

Jun 15, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Monthly Summary

STORIES FROM MY DESK | December 2025: A Monthly Update on Writing, Reading & Watching

What I've been creating and consuming in the past month.

Dec 20, 2025 • Helen Redfern

STORIES FROM MY DESK | November 2025: A Monthly Update on Writing, Reading & Watching

What I've been creating and consuming in the past month.

Dec 1, 2025 • Helen Redfern

STORIES FROM MY DESK | October 2025: A Monthly Update on Writing, Reading & Watching

What I've been creating and consuming in the past month.

Nov 2, 2025 • Helen Redfern

STORIES FROM MY DESK | September 2025: A Monthly Update on Writing, Reading & Watching

What I've been creating and consuming in the past month.

Oct 1, 2025 • Helen Redfern

STORIES FROM MY DESK | August 2025: A Monthly Update on Writing, Reading & Watching

What I've been creating and consuming in the past month.

Sep 1, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Writing

From Brave Words to The Ink-Smudged Writing Desk

Not another rebrand, our Helen?

Nov 12, 2025 • Helen Redfern

My Writing Life, Right Now

People on t’internet often talk about a state of paralysis they feel when they have an appointment later in the day, and they cannot do anything but…

Aug 20, 2025 • Helen Redfern

The Longer Read: Why I Write

Re-posting an article that I published in 2022, but was written in 2021.

Jul 7, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Anniversary Essay: YEAR THREE

Thoughts from my third year on the Substack Platform.

Jun 25, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Behind-the-Scenes of an Agatha Christie Essay

How did it feel to be writing something out of my comfort zone? What was the initial spark and what did my research and writing process look like?

Apr 16, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Reading

30:49

🎬 {watch} October Birthday Books

Sharing the books I was gifted, or I treated myself to, during October

Nov 4, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Cosy Mysteries for Cosy Days

Refill your creative well and relax with these mysteries on TV and in books.

Sep 18, 2025 • Helen Redfern

This Murder Mystery Series Took Over My Life: 15 Books in 30 Days

A deep dive into the murder mystery series that had me hooked. What made it so moreish?

Aug 8, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Summer reading for 2025

The novels I'm planning to read this summer

Jul 11, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Agatha Has Been AI-ed, and I Feel Uncomfortable About It

What are the ethics of bringing a long-dead author 'back to life'?

May 14, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Essays

How Writing Becomes a Lifeline for Women on Screen

From Despair to Transformation in Something’s Gotta Give, Julie & Julia, and 84 Charing Cross Road

Nov 9, 2025 • Helen Redfern

From Nosy Spinster to Feisty Spy: The Evolution of Older Women in Detective Fiction

How the 'old maid' became the most interesting woman in the room.

Oct 10, 2025 • Helen Redfern

THE STORY BEHIND THE BOOK: Agatha Christie's Darkest Chapter

Betrayal, breakdown, and the book she could never love

Apr 12, 2025 • Helen Redfern

STEPPING OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE and straight into a flock of chickens

The first time I held a chicken, I thought: This. Is. It.

Dec 10, 2024 • Helen Redfern

When a Rabbit Hole Saves You

A recovering doom-scroller’s journey through books, films, and unexpected connections

May 15, 2024 • Helen Redfern

Mindset

The Fear of Growing Too Big Too Fast

Why we sabotage our own creative projects (and how to break the cycle).

Sep 15, 2025 • Helen Redfern

The Longer Read: Why I Write

Re-posting an article that I published in 2022, but was written in 2021.

Jul 7, 2025 • Helen Redfern

How does it feel to be running out of time?

Hustling our way through life.

Jun 10, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Navigating the Troughs: Finding Inspiration (and Not Allowing the Negativity to Take Hold) in the Low Bits of Your Writing Journey

For when the writing journey feels a little dispiriting.

May 19, 2025 • Helen Redfern

You're Doing It All Wrong!

There's a reason why some of us need rules on Substack. But, that doesn't make it right. And it certainly doesn't mean we all have to follow them.

May 4, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Stop Hiding Under the Desk

What We Think We’re Doing Versus What is Actually Happening

Chapter Three of my Non-Fiction Book: Stop Hiding Under the Desk

Dec 2, 2025 • Helen Redfern

Searching the Internet for Creative Connections. And Falling Down Rabbit Holes.

Chapter Two of my Non-Fiction Book: Stop Hiding Under the Desk

Nov 10, 2025 • Helen Redfern

So, You Want to Be a Writer? Why? And How Are You Going to Go About it?

Chapter One of my Non-Fiction Book: Stop Hiding Under the Desk

Oct 25, 2025 • Helen Redfern

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