Kate Garrett
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kategarrettwrites.bsky.social
Kate Garrett
@kategarrettwrites.bsky.social
450 followers 240 following 60 posts
An incomprehensible being in very strange surroundings (just like you).
Writer, tutor, & editor in Shropshire.
Postgraduate researcher of hauntology & Daphne du Maurier. 🖤
Spooky is a lifestyle, not a season.
(She/They)
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kategarrettwrites.bsky.social
Just before dawn in September is the best. While reading next to the window, I get to hear these lads making their 'this is my bit of woods! go away!' sounds at the same time.

Poor owl. I always feel properly told off when tiny songbirds yell at me (especially robins, house sparrows & blackbirds).
Screenshot from the Merlin app, showing calls from a European Robin and a Tawny Owl.
September 11, 2025 at 5:42 AM
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On Friday night, I saw Supergrass live at Ludlow Castle. 😍

On Saturday afternoon, inspired by the concert, I wrote a substack about memory, place(s), music, and embarking on a Fool's Journey.

You can read it at thefolklorefaery.substack.com 🖤
A photo of two swans on a riverbank next to a pavement, with the River Exe and a couple of trees behind them. A photo of Kate, a smiling person with black hair and tattooed arms, a patchwork skirt, black vest top, and black dr martens boots leaning against a white brick wall. A picture of Kate sitting on the ground in the sunshine, taken at an upward angle, with blue sky and white clouds behind them, holding a paper festival cup full of non-alcoholic beer.
July 28, 2025 at 5:54 PM
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While I have blossoms on my mind...

In just under 2 weeks, I'll be delivering this email course of daily creative prompts (12-21 April).

A bit of April flora, fauna, folklore, myth, & history to inspire your writing &/or art. Details in the link. 🌸

kategarrettwrites.bigcartel.com/product/by-a...
Bluebell flowers on light green background on the top half of the image, a daisy on dark green background at the bottom. White text on light purple says 'By April's Blossom - 10 Days of Fact, Folklore, & Inspiration - 12-21 April 2025
March 31, 2025 at 12:50 PM
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Flowers, so many flowers. 😍

For those who prefer birds: I did meet a robin while taking these photos. He made it VERY CLEAR that I was to stay away from his property (an ornamental bush at the side of the castle), then hopped back into said property before I could take his photo.

Noted, sir. 🫡
Pinkish white magnolia blossoms in the foreground, with branches of the same tree - plus more blossoms - and blue sky in the background. Close up of a cluster of tiny blue forget-me-not flowers with yellow and white centres, on a background of green leaves and more flowers Close up of fluffy white cherry blossoms with more blossom from the same tree in the background, with blue skies
March 31, 2025 at 12:36 PM
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A spring prose poem of mine, 'Gently does it', posing with some scrappy primroses (they sprouted through cracks in the concrete in our garden) - a day late for the equinox, but on time for World Poetry Day. 🌿💛
Gently does it It takes time for the days to strengthen. We want the world to be golden and emerald when we open the door to a March morning – we want daffodils resting on clover, gilt eggs, the heat of day. But this light is lemon, the pale neutral of newborn swaddling blankets. This is still a chilly sun, but the breeze promises leaf buds and the answers to your prayers as a reward for your patience. There’s no need for a sacrifice – unless you want to give up everything that wastes your time, to make room for brighter beams when they at last shine across the path. Give thanks to the sun and the shadows while we are perfectly balanced, spinning in space. The story repeating here is undefined; the magic of renewal is one-size-fits-all. In Christ, they say, they are born again. But every spring we are all born again. Each rotation is a chance to greet the slow warming, ready to run – lips parted, a mouthful of song.
March 21, 2025 at 2:43 PM
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Mimi-cat leapt onto my lap while I was taking a five minute crochet break - now I don't know when I'll be allowed up again.

It's a beautiful problem to have, honestly. 🩷💙🧡
A white cat with one brown ear seen from above, curled up on the lap of a person wearing light blue jeans, a turquoise graphic t-shirt that reads 'Livin Simply', and an orange and pink loose crochet cardigan, with a multicoloured crochet project resting on top of the cat.
March 21, 2025 at 11:25 AM
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Look, I haven't had any major bird drama to report since the cormorant & corvids business. However, it's now ducks-on-roofs season down here by the river. Spring has truly sprung.

Had coffee with a mallard this morning (even if he didn't know what was going on). I just love ducks-on-roofs season. 🦆
Blurry zoomed in photo of a male mallard duck - brown and white body, orange legs and feet, emerald green head, yellow beak - on a brown rooftop with trees in the background.
March 21, 2025 at 7:27 AM
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Ahh I'm glad someone else gets invested in bird drama!

I tried to take pictures too, but my phone camera doesn't like distances.

(This blurry mess was the cormorant + a magpie - allll the neighbourhood corvids had beef with this guy today.)
February 11, 2025 at 8:46 PM
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I wrote this February creativity course & it starts in one week - Sat 1/2!

An email lesson/prompt each morning for 28 days to inspire your art (written, visual, musical - anything you create).

The prices start at 10p a day. For more info & to join: kategarrettwrites.bigcartel.com/product/febr...
An image of white snowdrops in sunlit green grass at the top of the square, and dark purple and black hellebore flowers with dark green foliage at the bottom. Text reads By February's Light: 28 Days of Fact, Folklore, and Inspiration
January 25, 2025 at 2:45 PM
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The other day I finished crocheting a shawl. It was my first attempt at a shawl - worn here as a scarf because it's very cold. I called it my hobbit shawl, daughter (8) says Robin Hood.

Either way, I'll see you in the woods! 🌿
A portrait shot of a person with short wavy dark pink hair, wearing a green crochet scarf with a brown stripe, beige cardigan, and large tree earrings.
January 11, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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Day 4 (just).

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#20DayBookChallenge #BookSky
Cover of Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems by Gary Snyder - drawing of mountains and sky in the background in black and blue tones, and tall slim trees in browns and yellows in the foreground.
November 20, 2024 at 11:37 PM
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Day 3!

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#20BooksChallenge #BookSky
The cover of a 1987 edition of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Tasha Tudor - an illustration of Mary Lennox, a small girl in a yellow coat, two small leafless trees either side of her. Drawing is in an oval on a green background, with trailing roses around the edges of the cover.
November 19, 2024 at 10:17 PM
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Blurry photos of my wild bird friends enjoying super cold breakfast in the garden. 🖤 At one point the jackdaws were actually playing in the snow!

(Yes, corvids play - I'm not anthropomorphising them. They're wonderful. I probably spend far too much time with the jackdaws, but I love them so much.)
Snow-covered garden with a wooden fence to the right side, six jackdaws - black birds with grey heads - are perched along the snow-covered fence. There is a pigeon on the bird feeder to the lower left side. Four jackdaws and a pigeon in the foreground eating bird seed and mealworms in the snow, in the background, behind a seesaw and many wintry plants in pots, on snow-covered grass are three jackdaws and two magpies.
November 19, 2024 at 10:09 AM
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Day 2!

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

#20BookChallenge #BookSky
Book cover of Why Rebel by Jay Griffiths - bold black all capital letters spell out WHY REBEL and white all caps above it spells JAY GRIFFITHS on a grey background with green leaves sprouting underneath.
November 18, 2024 at 7:02 PM
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Ok, I'll bite! Day 1.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
#20daybookchallenge #BookSky
November 17, 2024 at 4:35 PM
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Hello writers! I haven't made a Bluesky account for it yet, but I'll be publishing an online lit mag - just one this time! - again in January.

We've had lovely submissions so far. It's not too late to send yours: we close on 30/11.

Mugwort
Magazine can be found here: mugwortmag.wordpress.com 💚🌿
A bright green background of mugwort leaves with the words Mugwort Magazine: writing from the edges
November 17, 2024 at 11:19 AM
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Mimi-cat was hidden away in her tower earlier, looking out on the world (or at least the bedroom), waiting for me to go to bed.
A white cat in a sitting position looks out through a cat-sized circular hole in the wooden side of a cat tower. Only part of her body, plus one green eye and her pink nose, are visible.
November 17, 2024 at 12:13 AM
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This is 'With the Green Man', a poem from my time-hopping verse novella about love and god/s (amongst other things), Hart & Ha'penny. 🌿
November 16, 2024 at 10:31 PM
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I got to hang out with the dog-in-law today. His name is Barney, and he's the best boy. 🖤
November 16, 2024 at 6:13 PM
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What a beautiful view of this fluff sleeping in the sunshine. She's a very relaxing sight while I'm on my volunteer bat care helpline shift. Creatures are just everything. 🖤
A short-haired white cat with a brown tabby tail and one brown tabby ear sleeping on her side on a beige carpet in front of drawers and a bookcase, all lit up by sunlight through a window.
November 14, 2024 at 11:54 AM