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Hey Reader,

Outside my window, the jackdaws are taking a break from pulling bits of my house off my house to eat everything in the bird feeders.

There are three of them and they’re working together. Occasionally a fourth joins them, but mostly it’s these three. Jackdaws are the gymbros of the garden bird world, but in a fun way, not in a mansplaining-why-I’m-deadlifting-95kg-wrong way.

One is picking at the fat balls and scattering crumbs. A second is attempting to hover while punching the small-seed feeder with its beak to scatter seeds. (Have you ever seen a jackdaw attempt to hover? They’re not built for it. It’s like watching Andre the Giant do ballet.) The third is hanging around underneath hoovering up everything that falls out. Like me when there’s a bowl of grated cheese. I just lie underneath it and wait for cheese to fall into my mouth.

Occasionally they swap roles but there’s definitely one lazy jackdaw who spends all its time on the ground waiting for mana to fall from the heavens.

Every now and then, when there’s a gap in the shenanigans, a bluetit or a robin or a sparrow arrives on the seed feeder, which has little platforms for them. The platforms are too big for a jackdaw; watching them try to land is like watching The Rock trying ride a child’s tricycle.

I like the jackdaws, they’re full of personality, but I didn’t put these feeders out for them. I put them out for the smaller birds.

Still, the jackdaws come because you can’t tell a jackdaw anything.

And that’s okay, you know?

Just because I didn’t make it specifically for them, doesn’t mean they’re not welcome.

Being exclusive doesn’t mean excluding.

Like, my mission is that everyone whose voice has traditionally been sidelined, silenced, or sanitised should be able to write and publish their book. (So, if you’re a woman, or LGBTQ+, or not white, or disabled, or neurodivergent, or in poverty, or… well, you get the idea.) My messaging is largely about that.

But I also work with some of the coolest straight white able-bodied wealthy dudes. Because actually it’s a certain type of person who works with me. Someone with a message that’s important to them — but more than that — someone who thinks their message can change someone else’s life for the better.

I’m happy with that.

If someone who’s not a good fit for me slips through the net, I know loads of great book coaches and publishing professionals who might be a better fit, who I can refer them to.

So. If you’ve ever said anything like, “My book can help everyone who has a business” and you’ve pushed back on making it more focused, I hope this helps. Because writing to “everyone who has a business” is SO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT than writing it to that one person whose specific circumstances you understand deeply.

Write to that one person.

Others will find it too.

TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

p.s. the jackdaws have made me a liar. As I write this, there are now SEVEN of them. The gymbros went to fetch their buddies and now it’s a bit rowdy. I’m off to say hi to them.

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