Stories for Homes

Today, I 'ave been mostly proofreadin'. (Remember the Fast Show?)

37 stories down, another 26 to go. And boyoboyoboy! There's some damn fine writing in this anthology.

Stories for Homes is a project to raise funds for the housing charity Shelter and to raise awareness about the housing crisis in London and beyond. Established and emerging writers (love that phrase - makes me think I might be a butterfly one day!) were invited to submit a story on the theme of 'Home'. A multitude of talent from the writing, marketing, design and publishing worlds have offered their skills free of charge to create and sell the end product; I will blog when it's published so you can check out the book for yourself.

It made me think though, about 'home' and the sort of things that make it the place I want to be. I came up with the following about my own four walls...

Another mark to join the rest on the airing cupboard in the bathroom, charting the kid's growth spurts...

The LEGO minifigure army, standing guard on the hearth...

The cat curled up on the discarded double bass case...

Intricate origami models crowding the shelves...

The 'Man Tin' for all his clutter, bought to keep all the odd screws and tools and glue - that should really be in the garage - out of sight in the kitchen...

The pictures which are now spot-welded to the kitchen cupboards by hardened blu-tak...

The soft 'blip' from a demi-john of gooseberry wine we've just put on...

The sewing box, left out ready to sew another badge onto the camp blanket...

The scale model of 'Bob', our windmill, the unofficial sixth member of the family (the fifth's the cat!)...


I could go on, but that'd be boring for you, and I might just get a bit tearful if I think of some of the stories I've read today where 'home' sometimes has less favourable memories tied to it.

So over to you instead. What makes your home the place where you want to be?