time to go...
I am officially a published writer in print.
A proud day today. My copies of Beyond Words magazine, featuring my flash fiction story “time to go”, greeted me at home this evening.
I wrote this story shortly after our family dog, Maddie, passed away in 2021. I had learned that when a dog knows they are nearing the end of their life, they often take themselves off to a quiet place to begin the process. That small, devastating piece of knowledge stayed with me, and became the seed of “time to go”: a story that, for me, could only be told in 250 words.
I’m currently awaiting some important news from work, and I’m still taking time away from social media to focus on securing my future, refuelling with new reads, and working on fresh writing projects. But I wanted to mark this occasion, because it has been more than ten years in the making.
You can purchase a copy of this wonderful little magazine, full of beautiful, innovative, and endlessly entertaining writing, through this link.
If you bought a copy to support me, or to support this brilliant independent magazine; if you read “time to go”; if you open my emails; or if you are simply taking a moment to read this now — thank you.
I hope, in some small way, you are experiencing a little of what writing does for me all the time. It nourishes the mind away from the endless scroll. It fills us with new feelings, or old ones we had almost forgotten. It reminds us that something extraordinary exists within us: in the odd ways our loved ones cope with death, in the instincts of animals, and in the unexpected perspectives that help us understand our own lives more clearly.
I hope you enjoy this little story.
It is written in loving memory of Maddie Moo.
GR x
Here’s what else is coming this June:
📖 The Devil’s Thread: Sew No Evil — Substack + Subscribers
Listen to The Devil’s Thread in full, with an audio recording of the complete essay with bonus content and photographs from the real-life sewing woven through the story.
🗓 13.06.26
📖 My short story Chilli con Carne — Beyond Queer Words, 11th Edition
🗓 June 2026 (copes are available to order at the end of June)
📖 Alice: Chapter Six — (RCBC Borrowbox + Subscribers)
🗓 28.06.26