Reading time: 0.27 107 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Your “terrible” first draft isn’t proof that you’re a terrible writer. It’s proof that you’re a writer. As Anne Lamott said, “All good writers write shitty first drafts. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.” But don’t worry about that right now. The secret is to find some joy in the mess. And that’s what we’re doing in January Uncaged. Daily prompts, a judgement-free Telegram group,...
2 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 1.52 442 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, On February 5th, you’re going to look back at early January and not recognise yourself. You’ll have 30 pieces of writing squirrelled away. Some will be brilliant. Some will be shite. All of them will be yours. In your unique voice, through your singular lens. You’ll love at least some of your writing (probably more than you expect) and as you gaze at your work, you’ll realise this is more writing than most people do in...
3 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 3.55 929 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.” My favourite author, Sir Terry Pratchett, said that, and he’s right. But writing isn’t a solo sport. It kind of looks like it is, when you see a book or an article with one person’s name on the front. But then you turn to the acknowledgements and realise there’s a whoooooole lot of people involved in the creative process. My husband and my cats are integral to my...
6 days ago • 4 min read
Reading time: 1.25 337 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Me: I don’t have time to plant my winter seeds! Also me: Doomscrolls Instagram for 20 minutes and hates self. I’ve found, over the years, that it’s very rare I geniunely don’t have time to do something I want to do. The problem is usually one of these: I don’t know how to do the thing I don’t know where to start I don’t believe I’m any good at it I’ve convinced myself I won’t enjoy it So. When you say you don’t have...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 2.23 565 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, I don’t know what it is about humanity in general and westerners in particular, but we do like to punish ourselves. If we can take some relatively simple and make it brutally difficult, we will. Like writing. We turn it into this god-bestowed gift that mere mortals are not supposed to posess. We treat it like something we should just be able to DO. Effortlessly. We talk about muses and inspiration and writers block and...
8 days ago • 3 min read
Reading time: 1.53 445 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” This is a quote I’m fond of sharing because it debunks a big myth about inspiration. Unfortunately, it also suggests success in writing is down to habits. Somerset Maugham was incredibly prolific and successful for a variety of reasons and one of them was that he started writing every morning at 9am BUT that wasn’t a...
9 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 1.43 407 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Yesterday, I performed stand-up comedy in front of 250 people in Bristol. I can’t tell you how it went, because I’m writing this in the past. But I can tell you that I’m very proud of myself and the set I wrote and the work I put in. I’d always wanted to have a go at stand-up comedy, but there was always that voice: you’re not funny, you’ll humiliate yourself, it’s a waste of time, there’s no money in it. Well — none of...
10 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 4.03 961 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Fight the power! I can already hear the zombie-drones of capitalism moaning at us to drain our bank accounts in the pursuit of perfection. January crawls closer like a B-movie undead torso, imploring us to spend money, transform ourselves into something we’re not and can never be, and perform productivity in the name of the gods of consumerism. Yeah, I’m here with my fist raised, shaking it at the inevitability of “new...
13 days ago • 4 min read
Reading time: 1.07 264 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, For the first time in 13 years of running my own business, I’m having 3 (THREE) weeks off over Christmas. I’m calling it my Winterval. Everything is scheduled in advance. All my prepping is (just about) done. And at 5pm on Friday I switch off until Tuesday, January 6. Which, incidentally, is when January Uncaged begins! It’s my anti-burnout adventure for burnt-out writers, procrastinators, and joy seekers. For those...
14 days ago • 1 min read