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Hey Reader,

What do you picture when I say

NETWORKING

?

Is it a dude in a shiny shiny suit shoving his business card at you while he tells you about his boring company history and product you’re not interested in because he didn’t ask you while looking over your shoulder in case he sees someone more interesting to talk to?

Cos that’s what I see. That’s what I DID see when I went to my very first networking event as a baby business owner with a group that has an acronym as its name and is basically awful.

(I will be taking no questions on this point.)

So I didn’t do any networking for years.

I’m very literal, see, so that definition of networking stuck and for more than a decade I would rather sauté my own toenails in bin juice and eat them than go to another “breakfast networking event.”

(Actually that’s still true of breakfasting networking events with this specific group.)

BUT.

That’s not all networking is. This will probably come as no surprise to you but I realised networking is simply getting in a room with people.

YA JUST HAVE TO FIND THE RIGHT PEOPLE.

Last Friday night I attended my first Founders Dinner hosted by Daniella Genas at a really fancy restaurant in Birmingham (Varanasi) and it was a BRILLIANT experience.

I drove an hour and a half, all fancied up in my nice clothes, to be in a roomful of people I’d never met before. I was terrified, even though I never look it. The only outward expression of my terror was the fact that 30 seconds after sitting down and starting a chat with a really lovely woman, I threw my fancy mocktail into my crotch.

That didn’t put her off and we yammered away about all sorts for the next half hour.

Anyway, it was brilliant. I was the only person in the room who looks like me and let me tell you what a beautiful and transformative experience that is. We’re so used to being in the majority, it’s good for us not to be. And I met some fascinating people who are doing the MOST to make the world better. And I’m having conversations with people who want to write their book, which is very exciting.

Daniella has created a delightful experience that does NOT feel like networking but is one of the most valuable spaces I’ve been in.

Then yesterday, I went alllll the way to London to deliver a guest talk and workshop at Kier Adair’s Speak & Shine Day, and reader, you’ll never guess what I realised.

THAT’S NETWORKING TOO!

Yes, I was there to share my expertise and be the guest expert, but it was also a great room to be in because there are people who are interested in writing a book so that’s obviously great for me but also just people who are interesting. And doing interesting things.

And I LOVE meeting people who are doing interesting things and listening to them talk about it.

Same with memberships. Usually the value of a membership group I’m in isn’t really the benefits of joining the group, it’s the people I meet in the group!!!

WHO’D HAVE GUESSED IT?

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(Yes, I know you, probably. I’m very smart in a lot of ways. And not in others.)

All of this gave me an idea I’m going to make happen in 2027: Writers Supper Clubs.

And on that note, it’s time for…

The Friday Goodie Bag! Here’s what I’ve gathered for you this week:

The Great Bitter Lake Association which had its own postal service

Humans are the strangest and most awful and sometimes the most wonderful creatures. Did you know that during the 6 Days War between Egypt and Israel, the Suez Canal was blockaded and bombed, and 15 ships and their crews got stuck in the lake between 1967 and 1975. They were from eight different countries and were nicknamed the Yellow Fleet after the desert sand that coated them.

They all banded together for morale, entertainment and — because humans are gonna human — trade and commerce. They founded the Great Bitter Lake Association to regulate everything.

My favourite fact of all of this is their postage stamps. They developed their own legal postage system with hand-made stamps.

When I was at school, I collected stamps rather than friends, so this is one of my favourite pieces of forgotten history.

The Life of Norwegian Death

I think Norwegians are beginning to be some of my favourite funny people. In a past Goodie Bag, I shared the Enshittificator. In this edition, the Enshittificator finds a bestie. And the Norwegian Consumer Council makes a really good point.

Leominster Heritage’s Instagram account

I live in a tiny village just outside a little black and white town called Leominster. (Pronounced Lemmster if you’re local and Lemner if you’re VERY local.) They popped up on my Instagram feed the other day and I don’t what’s wrong with them but I like it.

This fact about Prince’s Little Red Corvette

Did you know that Prince wrote Little Red Corvette for white people? NOR DID I! He already had a huge following among his Black audience but he wanted global domination and who can blame him? So he wrote a song deliberately designed to hook in a white audience too. It’s even got the “Saturday night” vibe so often seen in a certain genre of music.

I am bad at explaining this so instead I implore you: go and listen to this episode of Song Exploder because it’s really interesting.

Space. It’s in your life more than you think.

Whenever I hear someone complain about the amount of money we spend on space travel and exploration (a minute amount compared to, say, how much we spend on blowing up other humans for existing in the “wrong” place) I roll my eyes so hard it becomes a full-body workout.

Aerodynamic trucks? Came from NASA. Memory foam mattresses that make bed suuuuuuper comfy? Yep: NASA. Ventilators that saved loads of lives in India and Brazil during Covid? Invented by NASA engineers who realised they’d be in short supply.

It’s creativity in action in the most exciting and practical ways. Research into one area creates innovations in other areas.

What I’m reading

I’m reading two books right now. The Elements of Humor by The Onion’s Scott Dikkers and it’s a very good intro to how to write funny.

And the absolutely delightful The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon which is about a bunch of sentient appliances in a smart house who have to work out how to save their human from eviction. Sounds daft? Yep. It’s not. It’s gorgeous, actually. A little philosophical wander through humanity. I’m loving it.

What I’m writing

This. Hahaha. That’s actually all this week because mostly I’ve been learning to make dovetail joints in carpentry class and delivering workshops in London.

Word of the week

elegiac: a feeling of sadness or nostalgia or missing something before it’s gone.

I feel elegiac allllllll the time. I don’t think it’s a bad thing as long as i don’t let it consume me. I think it reminds me how very lucky I am to have the thing or person I love so much in my life.

Quote of the week

TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

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