Do you remember my Monthly Inspirer?
For ten years, from 2002-2012 I sent out a monthly newsletter by email to up to 3,000 people.
It was a simple formula:
- I wrote an inspiring column about writing, running a home-based business or living abroad. That’s The Inspiring Bit.
- I added some connections to some cool websites, authors, courses, conferences or companies I thought would be useful to you. That’s The Connecting Bit.
- I told you the dates of any upcoming speaking or teaching engagements. That’s The Parting Piece.
Well, I am delighted to announce that The Monthly Inspirer is BACK and this time it is all about writing.
That’s it. That’s all it is. Past subscribers told me they loved it and it was the one email newsletter they would save and read with a cup of coffee. They bemoaned its demise. In my infinite wisdom I decided to stop producing it and move over to blogging. It didn’t work. I went from 3,000 subscribers to an embarrassingly small number overnight.
If you want a taste of what was in a decade of Inspirers, then feel free to download a free PDF you can read on your iPad or Kindle Fire called The Inspirer Collection.
You can click here to go straight to the sign-up box.
And so, here we go. I hope you enjoy The Monthly Inspirer just as much this time round. Love is supposed to be more wonderful the second time around, isn’t it? At least I’m crossing my fingers that this will be the case. But for now, I’ll just uncross my fingers for a while and re-introduce you to The Monthly Inspirer…
The Inspiring Bit
Mind Soup
We were experiencing a European heatwave when I wrote this…
It is currently 33 degrees inside my office and that’s with two fans on and the blinds drawn. I’m stifled – but my creative inspiration is certainly not on a slowdown. As it was only (only!) 28 degrees at 8 am I decided to head for a walk in the woods and deliberately left my phone behind.
A walk in the woods is what I do whenever I need to mull something over and for several months now I have had a massive project to mull over. It’s called the Life Story Jar and is the largest, most multi-faceted, scariest project I have ever created and is taking over my life. It’s a bit of a foray into a new area while putting all the things I have learned and taught over the years into a programme I consider to be my legacy. But that’s for another time. For now, suffice it to say that my head is all over the place.
So, I headed off in the shade of my wide-brimmed hat, up Bankastraat towards the Bosjes, which means ‘woods’. Out there in the cool of a leafy pathway it came to me. My mind was so full of ideas that it felt soupy, thick and hot. But now and again a rather good idea would emerge from the gloop and I’d take notice. I’d try my best to look at it in isolation and examine it long enough for it to not have disappeared back into the soup by the time I got home. How I wished my mind were as transparent and uncluttered as a consommé; a rich, tasty, nutritious bone broth that, like my thinking, was crystal clear. The perfect consommé were I to ever achieve such a state of mind would have one single exquisitely formed idea floating in the centre, like a truffle raviolo or a soft quail’s egg. But no, my mind was a permanent minestrone and I realised that I had to accept and embrace it for what it was – a muddle, but a good muddle in which there really were some good ideas.
As I walked more ideas flew in, some stayed awhile, some disappeared but still the soup metaphor remained. Like the best minestrone soup, made with a perfectly chopped mirepoix of vegetables that swim in a delicious, see-through broth. And like a minestrone, some ideas float while others sink. All have the potential to be great someday, but I don’t know about you, the ones that float on the top get taken first. Just as this post today persisted for the length of my wander and was still floating on the surface by the time I’d switched on the fans and sat down at my desk.
What’s On in September
September In The Hague
FREE WRITERS’ CIRCLE
- WHEN: Friday 27th September, 10:00-12.30
- WHAT: Writers’ Circle
- WHERE: Jo’s house, Archipel, The Hague
- COST: Free
BOOK: Email Jo at jo@joparfitt.com
FREE LUNCHTIME TALK WITH AUTHOR MARIAM OTTIMOFIORE
- WHEN: Friday 27th September 12.30-2pm
- WHAT: From Blogger to Writer to Author: How to Build an Audience for Your Writing
- Mariam Ottimofiore, author of This Messy Mobile Life
- WHERE: Jo’s house, Archipel, The Hague
- COST: Free. Includes lunch
BOOK: Email Jo at jo@joparfitt.com
Earlier this year, after 12 months’ mentoring from me, Jack and I were delighted to publish This Messy Mobile Life by Mariam Ottimofiore. We are very lucky that she is visiting The Hague in late September and can come to talk to us about her move from blogger to writer to author.
And finally…
Think you might like to sign up to the new Monthly Inspirer and grab a free copy of The Inspirer Collection? Then hop on over here and put your email address in the sign-up box. Don’t worry, it won’t cost a penny and you can unsubscribe at any time.
See you next month!
Jo
Abandoned at the age of three, Hortensia is raised by three peasants to serve the greater good of others. As Hortensia matures, losing her naivety and innocence, she realises her role in the game plan and fears for her unborn son. Her intention to provide her son with a secure future fails. She breaks her one promise – she gives him up. In return, she gains a girl who she raises as her own. When life starts to go as planned, her son’s biological father, a past lover and a man desperate to make her his lover, threatens all she has striven for. To save her children, herself and the valley’s livelihood, Hortensia must make the biggest sacrifice of all.
“This book is an incredibly extensive account of personal and theoretical content that helps families acknowledge and share the many strengths associated with their complicated international lifestyle. I love that Mariam gives us this term ‘mola’ to talk about all that it entails, and this book really is for EVERYONE with countless examples that will allow everyone to ‘see themselves’ in what’s written. The insights and the reflection activities will be welcomed by parents who are looking for ways they can support their kids in the midst of relocation. Mariam has positioned herself right there amongst some of the top experts in the field with this work.”