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...
3 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...
4 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)...
5 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...
12 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 1.00 235 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, As you read this, I’m halfway to Solihull College to lead an 8-week “Write Your First Nonfiction Book” Bootcamp. The reason I’m sharing this is twofold. Firstly, I’m really proud that I get to do this! One of my clients had a launch party for her book, and one of her guests works for the college. As soon as we met, she asked me to be involved in one of their projects — and I said yes. Because when we say yes to exciting...
13 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: xxx words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “Jingling bastards,” Joe muttered. I snorted, clapping along as the Morris Dancers jingled around the village square, waving hankies and bowing. I don’t know why, but Joe’s afraid of Morris Dancers. He says they’re “fundamentally untrustworthy” but can’t explain why. Our local Morris Dancers practice in our village hall, 200m away from my house. I might join. Partly because I love anything to do with dancing, partly because...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 3.41 874 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Coroner’s report stated the cause of death was puffy sleeves underneath a tight cardigan. My mother made me wear it aged approximately four years, on our summer holiday in Betws-y-Coed. She paired this horror with slippy sandals for picnicking and messing around by the river, thus ensuring my inability to leap from rock to rock like the gazelle I clearly was. This is my first memory of dying. There were many more. Cause...
17 days ago • 4 min read
Reading time: 1.05 257 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, In 1945, Dorothy Parker sent the following telegram to her editor Pascal Covici at Viking Press: “This is instead of telephoning because I can’t look you in the voice. I simply cannot get that thing done yet never have done such hard night and day work never have so wanted anything to be good and all I have is a pile of paper covered with wrong words. Can only keep at it and hope to heaven to get it done. Don’t know why...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 1.08 266 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Do you keep a notebook? I have lots. They’re labelled and dated and in order on my bookshelf. I have at least five unopened ones on a shelf in my cupboard, too. What? I don’t have a problem. YOU have a problem. muttermutter. I also have my Notes app on my phone and Trello, for screenshotting stuff I find online and want to keep for future reference. This is where my memory lives but it’s also important. For instance,...
20 days ago • 1 min read