Rosie Spinks

2 weeks ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

Ten months ago, I signed some paperwork and paid a £30.82 annual fee, making me the proud and slightly terrified steward of a 50 square meter plot of land. About one mile from where I live, it’s located at one of Leeds City Council’s allotment sites, which is part of the UK-wide allotment system. Allotments have a long history in Britain, dating back as far as the Saxons, as a way for poor, non-land owning folks to have somewhere to grow food.

1 month ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

The other day, during an unusually quiet walk home from childcare, my son asked me, out of nowhere: “Where does the sun come from?” Here we go, I thought. I knew this was coming—the moment he would ask me something that I am absolutely not smart enough to answer. “Well, the sun is in the sky,” I offered weakly. “And it’s so big, and so hot, that we can feel its warmth all the way down here.” My answer was a pathetic dodge, answering where the sun is, not where it comes from.

2 months ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

Almost everyone I know is worried about work: finding a job, keeping the one they have, or what will happen when the work they do no longer exists. I am no stranger to this state of being. After all, I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was 18, which means I spent the first decade plus of my career relentlessly trying to outrun print and web journalism’s successive death marches. I thought maybe, if I worked really hard, I could get successful enough just in time to stake out a stable career.

2 months ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks |Lisa Sibbett

Here is my Live conversation with of The Auntie Bulletin! Nearly 90 of you joined last night which was far more than I was expecting. We spoke about our culture’s weird divide between parents and non-parents; how to ask for (and receive!) help; cultivating an attitude of defiance towards the billionaires who want to wreck, and then leave, planet earth; and how to start loving “other people’s people,” as Lisa beautifully put it.

Mar 28, 2025 | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks |Lisa Sibbett

No essay this week. I often have periods where I feel things growing, shifting, and changing (often uncomfortably so) and I just need to shut up for a bit. I need to walk in the woods near my house, and sit on the bench in the sun with my cat. I’m currently in one of those moments. This kind of restraint is a big part of putting good writing out into the world, at least for me, but it’s not often encouraged or modeled.