Reading time: 5.04

Hey Reader,

On the top of Hergest Ridge, on Offa’s Dyke path, there is a random clump of monkey puzzle trees.

They puncutate the landscape with their spiky limbs, giving walkers a semi-colon to rest in before we continue our meanders along the boundary between England and Wales.

There are semi-wild Exmoor ponies up on the ridge too. They don’t let you get close enough to pet them (unless you’re a horse whisperer like my friend Darrien) but you can sit on a cairn and watch them roll around.

I was there on Wednesday afternoon with my friend Beth, and as we drew closer and saw some black and tan and white and grey smudges on the grass, we realised there were foals! Tiny, newborn, just a couple of days old in some cases, sleeping like they were being paid for it. Then wobbling around on their legs that are far too long for them.

All this is just a half-hour drive away from my house — how lucky am I?

A little further along the grassy path, and we met some bloody-nosed beetles marching along. Those dudes looked busy; they had places to be. We didn’t. So we sat and watched them and soaked in the sun and the breeze and the fresh air and the view and remembered that most of this *gestures wildly* doesn’t matter.

Not really.

Don’t misunderstand me: our work matters.

But how much of what we stress about daily is truly important?

I don’t know the answer for you, but I suspect that for me, the answer is about 80% of it. (Yes, I am employing the 80/20 rule with absolutely no data to support it but my gut says this is more-or-less accurate.)

That leads me to think: what do I WANT to do with my time?

I want to write more. I want to make stuff. I want to walk on the top of the ridge where I can see Wales on one side and England on the other and wild baby ponies in front of me.

And I want to help YOU experience more joy in your daily work, in your creativity, in your writing.

AND I want to make more money and help you make more money because we live in a world where fuzzy feelings won’t pay the mortgage, sadly.

If we want to move people to do something, we have to get them feeling something.

And to do that, we need writing skills (which translate into speaking skills, chatting skills, and general communication skills).

So I’ve made some MicroWorkshops.

This month, we’re doing Write with Rhythm — in which you’ll learn three techniques to help you take writing that feels a little flat and give it the kind of flair the Fresh Prince of Bel Air would declare swish.

Nobody wants flat prose.

Here are the deets:

• Thursday May 15, 11.15am BST
• On Zoom
• 45 minutes
• £25 + VAT
• Recording available so you don’t have to make it live
• Workshop + Q&A time
• FREE BONUS access to the Creative Playground Power Hour immediately afterwards

Book here

Have you booked? No?

I’ll give you a moment.

Right, ready now?

Excellent, it’s time for the Friday Goodie Bag — here's what I’ve found for you this week…

ME on Wendy Wo0’s ridiculously fun wo0 pod podcast!

​Wendy Wo0 Gannon, photographer extraordinaire, invited me onto her podcast a little while ago and I obviously accepted because I am a podcast ho and she’s smashing. The title is Embracing Neurodiversity and Writing Like You Fing Mean It* (I don’t know how to pronouce the asterisk, so you should just pronouce it “fuck”) and we had so much fun.

​Listen to the chaos here.

Pope Francis is Pope Hope on Celebrity Memoir Book Club

This is one of my must-listen pods because the hosts are funny and do a really great job of summarising and discussion memoirs written by celebs. This episode, they do Pope Francis and I’ve just added his book to my bookshop.org basket. It’s called Hope and I can’t wait to read it. He really was a beautiful human and the world is less rich without him in it.

​Listen in here.

An art zine in your inbox

Austin Kleon shared this beautiful digital zine by artist Erik Winkowski and I love it and have to share it with you. I’m obviously currently obsessed by paper-and-ink zines that I send through the post to a select few people, but the next best thing is Zinemail because it’s a delight.

I met a beautiful nerd and you should meet her too!

My VA, Caroline (who is my literal angel and if you’re feeling overwhelmed you should hit me up and I’ll introduce you) introduced ME to her book cover designer, Shanel Richardson and I expected to talk illustration and book covers (and we did a bit) but honestly we just nerded out about D&D, World of Warcraft, and video games because when nerds unite, we are unstoppable hahaha!

I’m talking to her about creating some ebook covers for me next week but you should defo check out her brilliant work right here.

Science meets Eurovision in this annual PhD dance contest WHATTTTT

I know, two of my biggest loves: science and dance, brought together? HOW CAN THIS BE? It’s been going for 17 years and I’ve only just found out about it? (thank you Sarah Silva for bringing this important information to my attention)

Look, communication skills are MAGIC, and dance is another way to communicate. Read all about the history of this contest and watch this year’s winning entries here.

What I’m reading

I’m currently reading Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees which is absolutely sublime. There are two narrators: a fig tree, and a third-person narrator. The story is about Cyprus, and a love story between a Turkish girl and a Greek boy in the 1970s when that was very much taboo. I didn’t know much about the history of Cyprus, and I know much more now. But mostly, Elif Shafak is (in my humble but correct opinion) one of the greatest novelists writing today.

What I’m writing

My second zine! I’m almost finished and ready to send it out to a select list of people. I’ll be creating a digital version for my email subscribers too, at some point.

Word of the week

conclave

The world has a new Pope! He’s American. The process of choosing a Pope is super interesting though — a conclave. They basically shut all the cardinals in a room together and light a fire so black smoke comes out the chimney and nobody is allowed to leave until they’ve made their minds up. I like to think they’re mud-wrestling in there.

They vote and vote until one person gets a two-thirds majority, then white smoke comes out, the new Pope waves, and the world moves onwards.

Quote of the week

Have a splendid weekend, remember to book your spot on Write with Rhythm, and go and look and some beetles.

TTFN,

Vicky