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“Can’t write and never will”
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Reading time: 1.29 352 words Hey Reader, When Sharon was in college, double majoring in English & Psych, her English professor told her she “can’t write and never will.” She’d written short stories as a child, and journalling seemed to her like good prep for writing a memoir (it is). And although Sharon had always dreamed of writing a book, after that encounter with her low-quality professor, she just assumed writing was a talent she didn’t have. So she didn’t pursue it. She’d had book ideas banging around in her head for years but was never brave enough to start one. Because she wasn’t a “professional writer.” It’s a funny thing, but nobody is a professional writer until they are. And what does “professional writer” mean, anyway? Is it a journalist? (Because two of my brilliant clients are ex-journalists and they’ve struggled with their books in similar ways to everyone else.) Is it a content creator? (Because all of my clients are, in one way or another, content creators… and they have similar struggles too.) Is it a novelist? (Because I work with people who’ve written novels but never nonfiction and guess what? Yep: similar struggles.) Or does “professional writer” mean “bestselling author” in which case… you can’t get there until you’ve written the thing. Many of the people I work with are not “professional writers” in any way, shape or form, and despite that — and the massively unhelpful English professors they may encounter along the way — they decide to do it anyway. Like Sharon, who wrote a brilliant little book called Self-Care is NOT a Bubble Bath and it shifted my entire perspective on what we really need to do to look after ourselves, and how self-care — like every bloody other thing — is packaged and sold to us as something that will “fix us” when really, it comes from within. Anyway. I don’t want the reason you don’t write your book to be that you think it’s only for “professional writers.” It’s for you, too. You can write. I know you can. TTFN, Vicky 🫡 p.s. Know someone who might enjoy this email? Please forward it to them and get them to sign up here.
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Learn to Write Like You Mean It
Join 500+ writers, creatives, misfits, and weirdos and learn to write like you mean it in 10 minutes a week. Get ONE practical tip, story, or shenanigan every weekday + a creative goodie bag on Friday 🖖🏼
Reading time: 2.20 553 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, What if the story that changes everything hasn’t been written yet? If we want to see ourselves in the stories we read and see, we’re probably gonna have to write them ourselves. Sometimes it’ll simply fulfil our human need to be seen, heard, and understood… and sometimes it literally saves lives. Malone Mukwende, a medical student, noticed that Black and brown skin was missing not only from his training but also from...
Reading time: 1.48 426 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, Relatability is everything. I once had a client who wrote a fantastic book called Eat Drink Think. Her book is about addiction, about ending the battle with food and body image and living a life of authenticity and joy. Renae Saager’s book contains multitudes, as does she, but one line gut-punched me: “Stop trying to love your body.” She was incredible at seeing through the glossy, aspirational, unreachable, beautifully...
Reading time: 2.06 498 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, I’m elbow-deep in soil and worms, building a new vegetable bed, when Joe finds me. He’s a bit surprised because I’m supposed to be writing my book. “I thought you said you were too busy to bowl,” he says. I am. Too busy to bowl, I mean. I’m supposed to be writing a book. So obviously I am now building a new vegetable bed and also cleaning out the greenhouse and filling the bird feeders. It’s URGENT. I’m too busy to have...