Caroline Hardaker

Didn't think I'd be face to face with an ice sculpture of Vecna today😮

'An accurate description of my current WIP plot, 2026'

It's sort of all there, but it's in a right tangle. It all needs teasing out. Sometimes I realise there's a loose end in there, and it needs woven in. But all in all, it's a full story, in the perfect shape of a world💚🌍🩵

A little bit of moonlight never hurt anyone ☁️🌕☁️

A bookshop all to myself?! 😍😍😍

I'm very near the start of it still, but so far👌

Been quite poorly this week. Not had any energy for anything, but I'm finally starting to pick up. Tonight's #onmyreadinglist is dedicated to a little bit of research for the current WIP...

Loyal little sofa pal (as long as her favourite blanket is spread out beside me, otherwise I'm abandoned)😽

Next up #onmyreadinglist is this little book. I've always loved Shakespeare's works - but never actually thought too much about the man beyond the most well-known facts. Well, now I vow to learn more!

A poem hidden within the clouds☁️☁️☁️

I've lost count of the scarves I've knitted this winter. It's been the perfect way to do something mindless when I've been overwhelmed or feeling a bit lost. And while I love making intricate things, almost every scarf I've made has been simple and safe.

Says it all, really.

Just hit 200 pgs and nearly 54k words on my 2027 novel. I'll always cherish the feeling of creating something from nothing, struggling with the story until that magical point where it clicks and blooms into something special. It's a singularly human experience that AI will never be able to match. 🖤

A photo of the cover for Mothtown by Caroline Hardaker. The cover design is by Sarah O'Flaherty

"This absolute song of a book."
@scribeofhades.bsky.social

"But Mothtown is silent... It's hard to believe it could ever have been a town, with its naked hills burning beneath the stars. Its wild twists of woodland. The loudest quiet."
@carolinehardaker.bsky.social

❤️❤️❤️

Thank you so much!

Mothtown: Blending poetic lyricism and prose. Interview with Caroline Hardaker I first came across Caroline’s prose when we met as fellow debut authors in the middle of the pandemic.

I just published an interview with the author @carolinehardaker.bsky.social about her stunning novel, Mothtown!
Check it out!

gabrielahouston.substack.com/p/mothtown-b...

Continuing my journey on the George Saunders train. This man knows how to do titles!👌

#onmyreadinglist

My only sale splurge this year!

Hoping this helps me develop lots of new ideas and avenues for the current WIP and more🌠✍️📚

Thank you!!

Mr.H and me began a new tradition last night. One night each month, we'll have an arty or crafty night together❤️

January was my pick, and I chose watercolours. More specifically, using watercolours to paint the cosmos🌠☄️🌒

Reading time for one of the best-namer novels I have - next up #onmyreadinglist 📚📚📚📚📚📚

2026 shall be my seaweed year🌊

Let the Solstice begin🪾✨🌬️

Thank you for this! Luckily, I'm not, so hopefully no triggering content there. I'll be taking a deep dive into it tonight...

2025: What happened? It’s that time of year again, when we all start looking back, wondering what we spent most of the year doing, and what we might take with us into the next. 2025 has been a strange year for me. In m…

It's that time of year again when I ruminate on the last year and think WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED 😂

Enjoy!

carolinehardakerwrites.com/2025/12/17/2...

A random and unexpected purchase from The Accidental Bookshop in Alnwick, recently. When I picked it up, it just seemed like serendipity.

Anyone else read it?

#onmyreadinglist

Isn't everything just BETTER when there's a creepy puppet or two??

‘The Devil,’ from the Mythic Tarot by Liz Greene, Tricia Newell, and Juliet Sharman-Burke.

In Stephen McKenna’s novel ‘The Oldest God’ (1926), the mysterious Mr Stranger is judged by some to be ‘the reincarnation of the nature-spirit,’ while others tell him ‘that your hat concealed the horns, your boot the cloven hoof, of the traditional devil.’ #BookWormSat

You know you've gone a bit strange when you're loving the kismet between your current WIP and a specific notebook💚😂This WIP is brimming with the weird and uncanny, brings together storytelling, poetry, and illustration, and may contain a fair few of the following🪾🏚️🪾 🧚‍♂️🔮🧌💀🪾

I can't seem to ever use it up - I think it's breeding

“No,” said Lizzie, “No, no, no;
Their offers should not charm us,
Their evil gifts would harm us.”

Christina Rossetti was born #otd 1830 and her “Goblin Market” tells the cautionary tale of forbidden fruit coming as gifts. At first.

Wrapped up here for #FolkyFriday

🎨 Arthur Rackham