Reading time: 4.48 1,139 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, How many questions is too many questions? This is not rhetorical — I actually need to know, because getting it wrong has painful consequences. In conversation, we’re supposed to ask questions. We’re supposed to be interested in other people. I know this because I’ve been told many, many times over the years. And honestly, this isn’t a hardship for me because other people are endlessly fascinating to me. I’d like to...
3 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 1.44 409 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “She’s full of herself. Too big for her boots. Just who does she think she is?” But who else are we mean to be full of, my friend? The latest opinions fed to us by the techbro propaganda machine? The perfect tradwife the algorithm wants us to be? No thank you. We can get new boots that fit us perfectly because of course we’ve outgrown the old ones. And as for who we think we are, well, that’s a work in progress. We’re...
4 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 0.59 232 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “Everyone kept asking the same questions!” I was talking to my client about how her “open house” for her membership was going, and she said it was going great but that everyone kept asking her the same questions. And it was making her laugh because the book she is currently writing with me is going to answer allll those questions — so it was a real nudge to get it finished and published. Since then she’s made a ton of...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 1.03 247 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, If you’ve ever thought the world doesn’t need another book on whatever your book idea is, let me stop you right there with a little Mum Wisdom. My client Audrey quoted her mum last week. “You have to have more than one pair of shoes.” What she meant was: shoes for more than one occasion. Your wellies can’t double up as running shoes (unless you want the world’s worst blisters and tendon strains). Your party heels can’t...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 2.02 483 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, On Friday evening at 8pm I stood on a stage in front of 60-odd people and remembered: I’m not for everyone. And that’s okay. I was at the Piston Distillery again performing at their comedy night and the vibe was… weird. It was a very tough crowd. The first two acts did not get as many laughs as they deserved, Dave the host was feeling the oddness too, and I was on straight after the break. Not gonna lie: I wanted to run...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 6.24 1,522 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, You may have heard Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s quote that “well-behaved women seldom make history” — it’s on mugs and t-shirts and inspirational Instagram posts often. Perhaps you don’t know, though, that Ulrich was referencing the fact that “good wives” in Puritan towns were never involved in court cases, so their names only survived on gravestones, in family bibles, and possibly in wills. Men were all over the written...
10 days ago • 7 min read
Reading time: 1.34 372 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, When you join my email list, I ask you a question. The question is: If I were to dedicate the next issue of this newsletter to you and the challenge you’re currently facing, what would that challenge be? Sometimes I get answers to that and when I do, I store them up and write about it. The next issue if I can, but certainly sometime soon. Yesterday, one of my college students replied to ask me this: “Can you help me...
11 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 2.24 569 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “Oh, YOU’RE Laura’s book coach!” she said. I beamed. “I am! Isn’t Laura brilliant? Isn’t her book so good?” “Yes and yes. She’s told me so much about you. I want to talk to you about running a programme at Solihull College.” Me: gulp. Also me: absolutely hell yes! This conversation happened last summer at my client’s book launch party. It was quite a trek for me to get there (everywhere is quite a trek for me to get to)...
12 days ago • 3 min read
Reading time: 0.39 152 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Socialising is more scary than public speaking. This is a fact (for me) and is also the premise of my stand-up comedy set. Wanna see it? It’s up on YouTube now. You can watch it here. I don’t only do stand-up comedy, I’m also a great event speaker and I’m looking for stages to speak on — do you know anyone running an event I should speak at? Please introduce me! My topics include: Why writing a nonfiction book will...
19 days ago • 1 min read