Emma Cox

A Cornish creative nobody. Leaving my mark in words and art. 

Nature lover and history enthusiast. Often found going on long stomps in wild places.

#Writing #Art #Photography
#Cornwall #Folklore #Nature #Landscape #Sea

Website: http://emcox.co.uk
Buy Me A Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/emcox
Newsletter: https://emmacoxcreates.substack.com/

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Last Notes

2025-12-03 11:23:29 GMT

I was dipping into historical newspapers for book research, but I came across this article just below the one I researched about an anti-vaxer from 1876 in Devon.
The anti-vaxer was forced to pay a fine because he refused to vaccinate his child. The usual arguments of complications is at the heart, but additionally, reasoning back then is there was a concern the vaccination would impart the nature of the cow into the child.
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2025-11-25 09:55:52 GMT

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Black-a-tor is the one I used to go to on Dartmoor.

2025-11-25 09:18:22 GMT

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It's a nice spot to visit. There's another I enjoy visiting on Dartmoor that's more of a walk so less visitors. There's a stunning one on the Cornish coast near where I used to live. Some are so stunted, they canopy only comes to thigh height.

2025-11-06 22:50:35 GMT

Despite messing my brain up with a migraine triggered by my run, it was a good day to be out on the dunes. The lighthouse always looks miles away on the phone camera.
#Sea #Beach #Seascape #Photography #Cornwall
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/115/505/183/091/003/804/original/714230dbe3eae962.jpeg

2025-11-02 08:14:41 GMT

#SundayLitQ
Q1: How does geography shape your story?
Add your thoughts in the comments.
#SundayLit #WritingCommunity #Writing

2025-10-29 12:12:20 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers Have you ever written a review of someone's creative work?
I review ARCs through NetGalley fairly often.
Personally, I don’t take much notice of online book reviews made by strangers. I’m more likely to pick up a book recommended through word of mouth in my social circles than by some random person on the internet. Besides, the blurb and the first page should be enough to keep me reading. I know my own tastes.

2025-10-28 18:43:05 GMT

Since cheesy genre splicing names like romantasy are a thing, I shall call my book I’m soon to query a Famtasy story since the plot is heavily set around a father/daughter found family relationship, and it’s set in a fantasy world.

2025-09-02 11:05:47 GMT

My annual grumble at how worthless sheep fleece now is. I've just seen what the British Wool Board have paid us for what we sent them. It works out about 50p per fleece.
Imagine how much that would have been in the Middle Ages!

2025-08-27 09:46:15 GMT

#ScribesAndMakers What is a genre or style that you think is under-appreciated?
The popularity of genres and styles rises and falls. People follow trends until someone takes a gamble on something that goes against it and sparks and whole new trend to follow. Styles change as language and grammar changes.
People will have their own preferences of genres and styles, which is fine. Like many feel romance is under-appreciated, yet it's globally one of the best selling genres.

2025-08-22 12:58:06 GMT

If money wasn’t an issue, where would you arrange a #WordWeavers writing retreat?
Pengersick Castle, Cornwall. A fortified ancient manor house.
I'm not sure much writing will get done. But if your genre is supernatural and/or horror, you will get a lot of inspiration from the spectral residents and the overpowering fear of dread that hangs around the place once the sun goes down.

2025-08-22 11:00:38 GMT

Tidal patterns in the sand. Godrevy lighthouse in the distance. Locals enjoying an early morning bit of sunshine and peace before the tourists head down here.
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2025-08-18 12:51:13 GMT

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there are holiday style beaches and then there are beaches like the ones I live by where smugglers once landed their cargo and wreckers caused shipwrecks and murdered the washed up sailors before stealing their cargo. There are caves where giants once fed on people passing by. Where a mermaid called upon a sand bar to choke the harbour after a man shot her, and mine shafts lead deep into the cliff face and below the sea where the knockers live.

2025-08-12 11:08:40 GMT

On a scale from 1 to 10, how comfortable is your MC's life?
3/10
Ann's father tried to use her as a pawn to ruin a business rival. But when a sickness left her deaf, her father threw her out the home. She only has a roof over her head due to the charity of a hermit priest. He knows she's clever, but her father and the villagers think her disability has made her unintelligent.
But the one who truly knows her is the uncanny shipwrecked stranger. Together, they'll prove them wrong.
#WordWeavers

2025-07-31 09:28:09 GMT

After @npub1d6a…5qew and others suggestions, I added a background to my twisted oak tree pen and ink sketch.
The full image is on my ko-fi page along with some words about how important these ancient UK woodlands are.
#MastoArt #Art #Ink #Nature #Trees #FountainPen #Environment
ko-fi.com/emcox (free to view)
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/114/947/121/918/947/781/original/9ea5285372613888.jpeg

2025-07-26 16:56:00 GMT

I'm in two minds about adding a background to this image. What do you think?
Twisted Oak - ink on watercolour paper
To see the full image, head onto my ko-fi page.
#MastoArt #Art #Ink #Nature #Trees #Kofi #FountainPen
ko-fi.com/emcox
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2025-07-25 19:45:06 GMT

I'm enjoying painting these trackways. Love the reflections in the puddles.
Foundry Reflections - ink on watercolour paper
To see the full image, head onto my ko-fi page.
#MastoArt #Art #Ink #Nature #Trees #Kofi #FountainPen
ko-fi.com/emcox
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/114/915/575/021/612/611/original/4c165fd1a21ff09e.jpg

2025-07-13 06:07:13 GMT

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Peter Jackson forgot they even existed.
I need to give lotr a reread. I assume a semi nomadic lifestyle and help from the elves.

2025-06-09 09:16:02 GMT

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yes! It was really quiet. I remember lots of random (guard?) dogs lying around in the shade.
I haven't done Pompeii (except via a walking tour I found on YouTube during lockdown).

2025-06-09 09:03:19 GMT

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I went to Rome on a business trip years and years ago and manage to sneak in a trip here. It's such an amazing site.

2025-05-09 18:05:41 GMT

Wondering if the archaeologists here might be able to give me an idea on the age of some pottery fragments I found at my parent’s farm.
It’s located in Cornwall and the site is supposedly early medieval, but certainly occupied since the 1600s.
#history #pottery #Archaeology #histodons
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2025-02-14 07:52:56 GMT

#FensterFreitag #WindowFriday
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2025-01-25 10:37:55 GMT

I'm going to stop faffing with it now.
What do you think?
A Winter Depression - acrylic on canvas
#MastoArt #CreativeToots #Art #OriginalArt #FediArt
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2025-01-11 16:20:39 GMT

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The Discord group was specifically a group of people happy to provide feedback to other writers on their work. It wasn't trying to be another place to post, but a place to find help and useful critique.
Personally, seeing what is happening on other social media sites, I am reluctant to spread myself thin over many. Mastodon is better for chat and engagement. BlueSky is just Twitter and will go the same way as Twitter once the investors take over.
@npub19jz…fhkq @npub1wry…a8s6

2025-01-11 15:53:53 GMT

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I'm sad that didn't go anywhere, especially when so many people were up for it.
@npub1wry…a8s6

2025-01-01 13:20:27 GMT

Why do we celebrate the New Year with explosions?

2024-12-08 17:04:15 GMT

Grey wethers twin stone circles, Dartmoor, Devon
Folklore says some crafty bastard managed to convince someone (probably on a misty day) that the distant dots on the moorland were sheep, and got money for them. The buyer discovered in the morning they were just stones.
It’s not said if the main got his revenge. I hope so.
#StandingStoneSunday #Folklore #SilentSunday #History #Devon
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2024-11-24 09:25:49 GMT

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#WritersCoffeeClub cont…
There is no accomplishment in getting AI to write something for you. You might feel smug about bypassing all the hard work an actual writer has put into making a story. But where is the sense of achievement? The sense that you have an ounce of creative talent? The critical thinking used when researching? What have you learned, save for typing a simple prompt and getting a computer to spew up a story regurgitated from the illegally stolen work of actual writers?

2024-11-24 09:20:53 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub What's the most challenging part of the writing process for you?
It’s all challenging. That’s the beauty of it. Sometimes I approach it and it feels like an absolute slog and other days I’m flying. But it’s always challenging. Every sentence is a means to explore, learn and improve.
This is what people who develop/use AI to write books do not understand. It is the journey. The process. The learning. The shit days and the brilliant days that makes writing an accomplishment.

2024-11-22 18:40:13 GMT

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I find it beneficial to tune into nature and the natural cycles. I don’t like how humanity ignores the shortening days and puts loads of lights on. Winter is a restful, reflective time for inner work.

2024-11-22 15:40:22 GMT

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Mine mimics the seasons and monthly cycles. Like spring its the time for writing new drafts while Autumn is the time for heavy editing. Summer I want to tell everyone about my writing and winter is when I want to shut myself away and get it written.
After my father-in-law died and my own father was very ill, I found myself drawn to adding humour in my work. I needed it to help me cope.
@npub1puc…hekh @npub1ynj…judr

2024-11-17 19:13:04 GMT

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nothing like perspective. Something my brother in law lacks as he spent the entirety of his wife (my sister’s) first labour whinging about his indigestion pains.

2024-11-17 08:43:24 GMT

Men an Tol, Cornwall
A monument consisting of a central standing stone with a manmade hole through its centre positioned between two upright standing stones.
The current arrangement is not its original state and was thought to have originally been a stone circle. The purpose of the holed stone is unclear, but if you pass through it folklore says it will cure ills such as rickets and help get you pregnant.
#StandingStoneSunday #History #Nature #Folklore #Cornwall #SilentSunday
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2024-09-19 06:54:13 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub Do you include bodily functions in your stories?
Yes. What surprised me in my beta reader feedback is men were absolutely fine with the lead character being vocal about her endometriosis, but the women questioned if I should remove it altogether to make it inclusive.
I always add menstruating in my stories because they are uncomfortable, often painful and inconvenient. The menstrual cycle is not a quick, random body function, it’s a fortnight a month of feeling like crap.

2024-09-17 17:23:44 GMT

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a good analogy.

2024-09-13 15:04:56 GMT

Ventured to an ancient hill fort. Can still see the ditch and ramparts. Sadly, back in the 1700s a local rich family went and robbed some of the stone to make this rather ugly folly right on top of it. It looks like a stereotypical sandcastle design. Nice views though.
#History #Cornwall #Archaeology #Photography
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/113/130/852/918/298/002/original/1ca53154027ed45a.jpeg

2024-09-09 15:01:16 GMT

#WordWeavers What's the most destructive weapon/power that your characters get to use?
For Artan, it is his sword. But his ward abhors violence so he leans more towards words if his enemy allows him to speak them.
As his brother once said, 'The movement of one letter forges another weapon, but they are equal. A tongue lacks bone but can easily break them.'

2024-09-09 10:17:46 GMT

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If anyone else wants to jump onboard, I ditched my daily diary and replaced it with a daily haiku and I'm trying to get into the habit of posting them on here. The only prompt is it must have something to do with your day.
#DailyHaiku #WritingPrompt #Poetry #Haiku

2024-09-09 10:14:17 GMT

September Weather.
Unruly. Indecisive.
Distrust the forecast.
#DailyHaiku #Haiku #Poetry

2024-09-07 12:46:18 GMT

Daniel Gumb was an 18th century mountain philosopher. A stone cutter by trade, he found a granite slab measuring 10m x 3m, excavated beneath it and turned it into a family home (rent free).
Read more about the archeology in this area of Bodmin Moor in my blog.
http://emcox.co.uk/the-human-landscape-on-bodmin-moor
#History #Nature #Cornwall #Philosophy #Photography
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/113/096/334/887/466/040/original/1281c89ca700f9e7.jpeg

2024-09-02 20:41:17 GMT

Maybe I need to update my why I’m not doing #NaNoWriMo blog to why I deleted my NaNo account because of the grooming issues in their forums last year and their now cosying up to AI sponsors this year.

2024-09-01 12:08:18 GMT

I do still laugh at the memory when someone commented that Mên-an
-Tol looked like an ancient MRI scanner. 😁
Passing through it is meant to cure ills and negate fae magic. It was in fact a Neolithic/Bronze Age stone circle that has been badly rearranged.
Yes, that’s me.
#StandingStoneSunday #Cornwall #History #Folklore
https://cdn.masto.host/writing/media_attachments/files/113/062/188/240/396/288/original/4d40d15293b3bdc2.jpeg

2024-08-25 14:42:00 GMT

I get a lot out of a solitary long walk. Everyone around me seems to be hurrying or plugged into their devices while the world goes by unnoticed. It’s nice to get my thoughts in order before letting them settle and allowing my full attention to focus on the world around me. Then, I find a spot to sit, get out a notebook and jot my thoughts and observations down.
#Writing #walking #nature #photography
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2024-08-17 14:44:50 GMT

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you put it better than I could.

2024-08-13 16:15:39 GMT

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when you’re born, you have two inbuilt fears: loud noises and falling. Everything else is learned.
Sound is very important when it comes to us and our surroundings. Certain sounds triggers if we will fight/flight/freeze. But modern life has outpaced evolution and our brain hasn’t caught up.
I can’t stand dogs barking because I am reminding of the German shepherd and despite everything I tried, I didn’t feel safe in my surroundings and ended up moving.

2024-08-13 13:30:59 GMT

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maybe what I have is hyperacusis? The sensitively to certain sounds. At a previous house we had a neighbour who left his rescue German shepherd on the doorstep from 7-11 and it barked aggressively at every single thing that moved. Then he'd go to the door and tell it off and go inside. I was in tears at times because the sound was so triggering.

2024-08-13 13:25:35 GMT

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mine rubs his palms together to warm them up when they're cold and OMG, it is one of the most annoying noises going.

2024-08-13 06:54:19 GMT

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I have this as well. No PTSD, but I do have midrange hearing problems and I wonder if I’m more aware of the low and high pitched frequencies.

2024-08-08 07:59:52 GMT

I’m debating on starting a writing hashtag. It would run on the weekends and each month would have an overall theme.
As well as prompts, there will be exercises to try, as well as opportunities for discussions to share ideas and snippets of your work.
I like the idea of trying to make something in social media that feels like a writing group.
Thoughts?
#writing #WritingPrompt #WritingCommunity

2024-08-06 06:46:42 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub In your writing, what location has inspired you the most?
My home county of Cornwall and its nearby Celtic cousin, Wales. It is a perfect landscape to feed a fantasy writer. Plus all the folklore and ancient history dotted about, waiting to be explored.
I’m a keen photographer. Photos are my own.
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2024-08-05 08:11:39 GMT

I have neglected my blog so I am going to write a post about plotting and pantsing and why I love them both.
Do you have a favourite?
#WritingCommunity #Writing

2024-08-03 12:00:05 GMT

I’m still trying to figure out where romantasy sits between romance and fantasy. Is it a romance story set in a fantasy world? Or is it a fantasy story with a romance subplot? Where’s the delineation?
I’ve got a fantasy story with a slow burn romance going on in the background. Does that make it romantasy? 🤷🏻‍♀️
#romantasy #WritingCommunity

2024-07-04 18:31:04 GMT

Debating a few hours sleep, then spending the early hours partly writing and partly enjoying feelings of schadenfreude as Tory ministers lose their seat.

2024-07-03 06:11:56 GMT

One more sleep to go.

2024-06-26 10:07:10 GMT

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I think here in the UK, the temperatures drops about 10C. When is debatable.
I too remember learning about global warming in the 90s, and the whole idea we would build a tidal barrier in the Bristol Channel to create cleaner energy and that never happened. Considering the UK is an island and the tide is reliable, you’d think the gov would focus on that renewable resource.
M Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful is a good book (written in the ‘70s) about future economics post fossil fuels.

2024-06-26 09:47:01 GMT

It’s that time of year again. I’ve received four horsefly bites in the last two days.
Bastards!
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2024-06-26 09:39:38 GMT

Despite wearing a big hat, I had too much sunshine yesterday = banging headache for the remainder of the day.
Feeling more human now.
It's hitting around 20C. I'd hate to be in London where it's peaking around 30C. 🥵
Sadly, this is now the norm (until the Gulf Stream collapses and everything gets colder).