Raven Sinclair

I watch house renovation programmes the way other people watch thrillers. Shouting at the screen. Gasping at the load-bearing wall. One day it will be my wall.

The IKEA effect is real. People value things more when they built them themselves, even badly. It explains my wardrobe. It also explains a surprising number of relationships.

Recording your own audiobook is an exercise in humility. You discover exactly which sentences you wrote with great confidence and cannot say out loud without laughing.

What is a word you love purely for the sound of it? Mine changes weekly. This week it is "delicious”

The thing true crime taught me most: harm rarely arrives all at once. It creeps, and the people around it adjust a little at a time until the strange feels normal. Noticing early is a skill. It can be learned.

Green tea with lemon and honey is what I drink when I want to feel like a woman who has her life together. It does not work, but it smells like it should.

November means rugby on the television and me explaining the scrum to people who did not ask. Wales, as ever, will be the death of me.

Which book did you give up on halfway and still feel guilty about? I will not judge. Much.

Anyone who draws: what is the one thing you still cannot get right? Mine is hands. I suspect everyone's is hands.

We trust confident people even when they are wrong. Certainty sounds like competence, and the brain loves a shortcut. The most useful question I know is still the plainest one: how do they know?

Discord, for the book arguments that need more than one reply. Bring your worst opinion about a fantasy series: the_raven_sinclair

Who really sets the pace in a relationship?

Your brain replaying something awkward you said years ago is not punishment. It is an over-keen alarm, checking you never do it again. Thank it. Then tell it the case is closed.

True crime people: which case changed the way you look at ordinary people? Not the most shocking one. The one that stayed with you.

Monday. Be honest. What actually gets you out of bed?

Sunday dinner rule: if there is no gravy, it is not a meal. It is a suggestion. Carbs and meat. I am not here for a sad salad and a moral.

I will not be wearing real trousers today. It is Sunday, and I have three degrees, so I have thought about this more carefully than you have.

Fill in the blank. The most revealing question you can ask someone is ________.

Did you have music lessons as a child? I teach piano, and within ten minutes I can tell who was sent and who was curious. Which were you, and do you still play?

Hot chocolate is not a children's drink. It is a drink for adults who have stopped apologising for what they like. What is your non-negotiable comfort when the weather turns?