Vulnerability or Die?

In September I began studying the MA in TV Fiction Writing at Glasgow Caledonian University thanks to a scholarship awarded to me by BBC Scotland. By October, I had told all twenty-one of my classmates about my son, Ryan's, death from a diabetic coma. I hadn't intended to do that, it may have happened by complete …

My Name’s Heather Hill and I’m a Highly Sensitive Person

Who'd have thought this would feel like a confessional? Yet here we are... When I was a girl, we moved house a lot. It seemed like I went to around eighteen primary schools in total. This meant that every time I made friends I had to learn how to say goodbye to them, ready to …

Dancing With Myself

Deborah Carr, chair of the sociology department at Boston University says, “The death of a child is considered the single, worst stressor a person can go through.’ I can agree. I feel like it’s the worst trauma any human can experience. Ask me how I feel about the prospect of having to live through or …

A Writer’s Life – The Raw Truth

"If you want to be a writer, nobody is going to tell you that it's easy. You have to love it enough to get on your knees with annoying regularity." - Heather Hill Seven years ago I wrote a post called, Blod, Sweet and Teers. In it I talked about giving up a secure, well-paid …

How To Cure Love

It's official: Ann Widdecombe thinks science has a cure for love. The long-time campaigner against LGBT rights has said in a TV debate that "science may produce an answer" to homosexuality through gay conversion therapy. I can't even.... I had to join the endless list of people who are outraged and hurt by her comments. …

When Tomorrow Never Comes

I met my friend Mandy on 10th June 2018. We were in a furniture painting class at the local community village hall and she radiated towards me with her infectious smile and abundance of Welsh humour, telling me we were already Facebook friends. We were. At the time I was living in a cottage in …

The Transformative Power of Humour

Far too many people, in my opinion, don’t appreciate the full and incredible power of humour in its capacity to support and to heal. As a comedy writer, I’ve always been aware of it on a level; but as a mum whose son recently passed away, I finally see it in the way that I …

Happy Birthday, Dear Spike

This morning I realised that one of my comedy heroes, Spike Milligan, would have been a hundred years old today. There was nothing else for it but to write my own tribute to the man who, from beyond the grave, gave me permission to ‘Never lose the silly side of myself’. This is a direct quote …

Exercise, Ovaries and the Meaning of Life

The late, great Victoria Wood is one of my all-time comedy heroes. With lines like, 'Take my knickers off and my ovaries will 'ave fell out or something,' I challenge you to watch this genius step aerobics scene without splitting your sides. God, I miss her. I read an article in Reuters this morning, entitled, When Heart …

Why Didn’t You Tell Me I was Getting Old?

I've started to worry about a lot of things lately. Even worse, I'm waking up in a panic at night without fully knowing why. But I found out that Google does: "The hormones oestrogen and progesterone work together to regulate mood. The declining levels of these hormones during the menopause mean that a woman at this stage …