Notes from the Inkpot

Writing, teaching, creating - one ink-stained idea at a time.

Placeholder image with the text 'Start here.' in large black font on a white background.
A stack of five closed books on a wooden table, with an open book nearby, and a blurred plant in the background, captioned 'The Literature Library'.
Open notebook with a fountain pen resting on lined pages, on a wooden table. Text overlay reads 'Creative Writing Prompts'.
A nearly blank white background with no visible objects or details.
The Resurrection Collection: Writing Into the Dark History of Body Snatching
For Teachers, For Writers, Creative Writing Boxes Ink & Insights . For Teachers, For Writers, Creative Writing Boxes Ink & Insights .

The Resurrection Collection: Writing Into the Dark History of Body Snatching

Edinburgh, 1828. Anatomy lectures are full. Graves are not staying closed. As medical knowledge advances, a quiet trade emerges in the shadows of churchyards and lecture rooms. Bodies are exhumed, sold, recorded, and forgotten — while institutions continue as normal. The Resurrection Collection is a document-led creative writing experience inspired by the real history of body snatching, anatomy, and institutional silence. Through fragmented records, personal writings, ledgers, adverts, and modern historical commentary, writers and students are invited to investigate what happened — and what was deliberately left unrecorded. This isn’t a single story or a guided prompt. It’s an archive. The documents don’t agree, some voices are missing, and the truth depends on what you choose to trust. Every reader uncovers a different version of events — shaped by inference, interpretation, and the uncomfortable spaces between evidence.

Read More
What Are Digital Writing Boxes? (And Why Teachers & Writers Are Quietly Obsessed)
For Writers, For Teachers, Creative Writing Boxes Ink & Insights . For Writers, For Teachers, Creative Writing Boxes Ink & Insights .

What Are Digital Writing Boxes? (And Why Teachers & Writers Are Quietly Obsessed)

Digital writing boxes are downloadable sets of fictional relics and documents that spark creative writing through curiosity, investigation, and worldbuilding. In this post, I break down what they are, why they work for both teachers and writers, and how The Soot & Shadows Series blends historical mystery, folklore, and atmospheric relics into a flexible creative writing tool. If you’re tired of prompts that say “imagine a door…,” you’ll love this.

Read More
The Silent Directive: A Creative Writing Box Inspired by a World Without Sound
For Writers, For Teachers, Creative Writing Boxes Ink & Insights . For Writers, For Teachers, Creative Writing Boxes Ink & Insights .

The Silent Directive: A Creative Writing Box Inspired by a World Without Sound

What if silence wasn’t a choice, but the law? In our latest writing boxThe Silent Directive, citizens live under a regime where sound itself is treason. Broadcasts, memos, detention registers, and propaganda leaflets reveal a world where silence is loyalty, silence is safety, and silence is survival. Unlike my other writing boxes, this one doesn’t whisper secrets — it issues orders in plain sight.

Read More
Creative Writing Lessons That Feel Like Time Travel: How I Use Writing Boxes in the Classroom
For Teachers, For Writers, Creative Writing Boxes, Creative Writing Ink & Insights . For Teachers, For Writers, Creative Writing Boxes, Creative Writing Ink & Insights .

Creative Writing Lessons That Feel Like Time Travel: How I Use Writing Boxes in the Classroom

Tired of blank stares during creative writing lessons? These immersive story boxes turn students into detectives, poets, and storytellers. From séance invitations to village festivals with a secret, here’s how I use creative writing boxes to spark serious engagement (and save my sanity) in the classroom.

Read More
The Kindling Collection: A Writing Box of Ritual, Firelight, and Uneasy Traditions
For Writers, Behind the Business, Creative Writing Boxes, Writing Prompts Ink & Insights . For Writers, Behind the Business, Creative Writing Boxes, Writing Prompts Ink & Insights .

The Kindling Collection: A Writing Box of Ritual, Firelight, and Uneasy Traditions

If you’ve ever wanted to stumble across a forgotten box of secrets, piece together a decades-old mystery, or uncover what a village has tried to forget, this is the one.

The Kindling Collection invites you into the village of Ashwick, where the Longlight Festival burns brighter than reason. What starts with weathered letters and faded photos slowly begins to feel… real. You’ll find cinnamon-scented fragments, unsettling children’s drawings, volunteer lists, and sealed envelopes that beg not to be opened.

Step into something old, strange, and quietly horrifying, and let the story pull you under.

Read More