Hi! How’s your May been? Mines been a little better than my Sucky Month of April! I’ve decided to do something a little different this month and record you a lovely (long) voice note of me waffling on about all the things I wanted to update you on. Enjoy!🎧☺️
Then do come back for a teeny bit of ‘other news’ and this month’s recommendations and playlist!
🗞️In Other News
The ebbs and flows of life will keep on coming, as they do. One day you’ll walk out to a car with a flat tyre and the next day you might wake up with awesome and magical bed-hair! Such is life 🤷🏻♀️
I do feel like I’ve got a bit of the ‘old me’ back this month and have had many fun and joyful moments with the kids and friends new and old. I finally got my arse in gear with the garden and we now have some beautiful little flowers in tiny pots hanging on the fence.
Isn’t it amazing what a difference having a bit of colour in the garden makes. I do feel a bit guilty getting my 80-year-old dad to mow the lawn, but hey... he offered so… Thanks dad! ♥️
I had a note that went “viral” – well, kind of. Can we call 34 likes ‘viral’?! Maybe not, but it was fun to see so many people enjoying it.🥰
In case you missed it…
I’ve created an online art gallery (just for fun and because I can’t stop creating things in Canva – I’m obsessed!🫣) to showcase some of my paintings and drawings… and I love it! Feel free to have a browse, but be warned, if you’re browsing from your phone it might look a bit shit – Building websites on Canva is quite a new thing and they haven’t made the mobile version editable just yet.
My latest addition to the gallery was this little guy… how cute is he?! 😍
I’ve also added some stuff to the travel page on my website. It was fun to do but took me way longer than I’d anticipated… as do most things in my life. I definitely have time blindness!😆
My website is almost finished now, just the photography section to go. I’ve really enjoyed building it and having an online space to hold a lot of my passions in one easily accessible place. For anyone who feels like they’re all over the place, I definitely recommend it!
And Finally
I got thrown out of my own house by my teenage daughter (and the 10yr old joined in of-course🙄)! I brought it on myself really, as I’d said she could have some friends round for a BBQ (the weather has been unusually hot for May here in the UK). Anyway, I (mistakenly) thought I might sort of mill about in the background… maybe even join in a bit… what a fool I was! Of-course they didn’t want their old, cringy, loud and embarrassing mum around! So, after assessing that they were indeed completely capable, safe and had everything they needed… off I went, like a sad Eeyore not really sure where to go or what my purpose was anymore!!
⭐️Recommendations
If You Can’t Stand The Heat… come moan with me under the air con – Lauren Bravo
I feel vulnerable, insecure and Exhausted. Help! – Daisy Buchanan talking candidly about her book launch
Some Awkward Questions for Literary Agents – Matthew Clapham - Very funny… and so true!!😆
Anna Warton on a lifetime of Feminist Writing – Bibliotherapist Podcast
A Conversation with Jill Halfpenny – FAB first episode of Jo Hutton’s new Podcast!
Slowing Down Without Starting Over - Amy Pigott – I love how Amy talks about not having to overhaul your entire life but refine the one you already have!
Do Authors Still Need Gate Keepers with Emma Gannon and Amy Suto. This was SUCH a great chat and led to me feeling compelled to write the following in the comments… AND EMMA REPLIED!! 😉
It’s fun when an author you admire replies isn’t it? 😄
My Comment
“I really enjoyed this conversation ladies.🥰 Thank you for talking so honestly throughout and being your authentic selves. It’s very inspiring to hear women speak in this way about money and other topics not everyone is brave enough to speak about.
It’s so interesting to hear more about the world of self-publishing and gives me hope that maybe I CAN self-publish my own book one day. I definitely prefer the idea of “owning my intellectual property”, as (I think) Amy put it, and having creative freedom/power over my own vision of what I want to put out in the world.☺️
In terms of AI, I’ll admit I still hold some strong opinions about people using it for anything creative. I am working at trying to let that go, but when I hear about people using it (in any capacity) it still makes me feel “icky”. I worry that if we give too many of our processes to AI, we will lose the ability (and the value) of doing these things ourselves.
I think it’s so important for us to still exercise our problem-solving skills and (creatively speaking) wonderful, unexpected things can happen when we’re sifting through the shit - so to speak! ✨😆 I also worry about children losing critical thinking skills, as their brains develop missing out on growing vital neural pathways.
A final thought on AI (turns out I have quite a lot to say about it🫣)... there’s one thing that people seem to miss when discussing this topic and that’s the fact that (even if we’re not creating our work with it) people are happily feeding it all their hard work and creative insights!
Why are we freely offering up our good work, to essentially give to others to steal! Also, by using AI tools, we’re creating demand for more/faster development of AI! Oh... AND... we’re supporting the hustle and toxic productivity culture, in a world where we’re trying to fight against the demand for more, more, more and get back to our natural rhythms as humans!♥️
Ok, that’s it, I’ll shut up now! 🤣”
I very much enjoyed this little clip of Jo Hutton talking to Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 (from a while back). I love Jo and watch Jeremy most morning on his TV chat show – Jeremy Vine, so to see them interacting and having a giggle together was just delightful!
I’ve also been enjoying watching random brilliant movies, like Titanic and Aladin and just letting the tears roll on down, as one daughter looks at me like I’ve totally lost the plot and my teenager insists that “they have PROVEN that they could have BOTH fit on that door!” To be fair, I have always thought the same… BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT!!🤣
👀Random Extras
7 Gorgeous Meditations to Try This Week – Kate Harvey
I Will not Apologise for How I Prioritise my Art – Amie McNee
8 Minutes to Feel Calm – Joyful with Chloe Markham – New discovery!
10 Unusual Ways to Use the Notebooks You Keep Buying – Amy Catriona
Why “just do it” is the Worst Advice for Anxious ADHD Brains – Open Tabs Club
🎶Music
I always like to share a playlist with a few of the songs I’ve been enjoying each month, because why not. There aren’t very many this month and yes I have been deliberately playing my Whitney Houston records (and by records, I mean ACTUAL physical records) and either sobbing into a pillow or dancing around the room waving a half-drunk glass of wine around – Bridget Jones style! 😆
Oh Shit, The Work Stuff!
If you’ve listened to the voice note from me at the top of this newsletter, you’ll know what I’m on about. If you haven’t listened, basically I’m reaching out to tell people what I actually do (for paid work) and shamefully begging asking if people wouldn’t mind taking a little look and/or sharing with anyone who might need any of the services I offer.
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Okay love! There's this question I'm asking everyone. It's an invitation to our MINI-ZINE. "If you had one wise word or sentence for anyone to help guide them for what's left of this year, what would it be?
I can share the email here or please DM.
Much love 💚🌝
I have not laid by eyes on a beautiful essay or images like this in a while. take a gorgeous person to achieve that and you are a person.
Thank you for sharing these beautiful into your life clips. it makes so much sense and somehow I feel like I deeply relate to what’s going on here. You’re amazing believe me.