"If there really is a serious conversation to be had about drink in Northern Ireland, it might begin with admitting that pricing people out of the pub has not produced a nation of joggers and yoga enthusiasts, but merely a great many people getting half-cut in the house for a lot less money." Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/3v2xy6m3

“I am of the generation of kids who was simply considered ‘a handful’ given the outlook at that time.” Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/mwukwuvt

‘I fell victim to my first ‘Back in the day’ upon spending £500 on a Nintendo Switch console for my son’s birthday, when I gasped: “Back in my day the only ‘switch’ we played with was the one on the wall for the lights!”’ Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/mr3yt9ss

"It really has been a balm for the soul to be around not just other writers, but women who are mothers, working in an artistic medium which we describe as being part of the "creative industry." All the while being aware that the term itself seems oxymoronic given that true art usually isn’t born in an environment with industry and mass production in mind." Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/axbpztdc

"I think the Troubles have a lot to answer for when it comes to hasty marriages, as many people were living with a ‘live fast because you might get blown up’ war mentality." Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/yc3r6ntc

"I became angry at the amount of truth in this statement when I thought of the vast number of talented kids that I have worked with in community groups all around Belfast, and juxtaposed it to the countless funerals I’ve attended where those same young people have taken their own lives or died because of substance abuse." Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/ew4fs992

“I’ve officially reached the age when I see people I went to school with and think ‘Wow, they’ve got old-looking’, while mistakenly believing I look the same as I always have.” Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/5h66s9dv

"I often remember my granny declaring “Thon one is handcuffed to a lunatic!” – usually referring to whatever weirdo that my cousins or I (usually I) brought home for presentation to the queen of the family." Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/ye2yt6tz

“From where I lie looking over my muffin-top jeans, the living room looks like the aftermath of a Twelfth parade, and I’d rather walk barefoot over the Giant’s Causeway than look at another stuffing sandwich. Still, that’s how you know you’ve done Christmas right, isn’t it?” Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/hwnt56h3

"As a recovering alcoholic who endeavours to make Christmas memorable for all the right reasons, now that I know I’ll remember, I treat the food shop as a sacred rite, where my trolley shall end as a little cornucopia fit for a queen, in honour of our Lord’s birthday. "The ritual is layered with more drama than an Eastenders Christmas special..." Read Bronagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/bdfhtvjp

"For the uninitiated, a voice note is essentially a modern-day answer to shouting over the garden fence, only now you record your rants, ramblings and existential crises and deliver them straight to your mate’s phone, often with questionable sound quality and the occasional background noise of a gurning child or clattering saucepan." Read Brónagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/295en4dh

"There’s a certain camaraderie in exchanging wry remarks about the state of the world, rather than pretending that everything’s grand when we all know it’s lashing rain outside and the loaf that we’re buying is twice as expensive as it was last year." Read Bronagh Diamond: tinyurl.com/39dk8d54