#92 A Slow Sunday Scroll ☕️
ambition and softness can go together 🤝
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It’s been quite the week. I’ve been trying to protect my energy because it would be pretty ironic to burnout, when launching a book about burnout. Let’s not do that, eh. I am bowled over by the response to A Year of Nothing though. Lots of people reading and sharing the book. Thank you!
I have been promoting the book during January like there’s no tomorrow. Alas, this has meant my screen-time has been through the roof: because this is my first self-published book-baby, I have been obsessed with looking at my analytics. I can see all my book sales data for the first time!! Where the sales are coming from, which countries/markets, how much revenue etc. It’s addictive—I feel like one of those little mice used in studies who keep pressing a lever to get more treats. Maybe it’s time to put a lock on my phone before I get an eye twitch.
This week I went on NPR; I guested on a new podcast hosted by The Observer; it has been picked as a book of the week by a big podcaster which I will announce soon. I spoke to my friend (and Wintering royalty) Katherine May for the next season of her delicious new podcast. I’ve been talking a lot—self-promoting a lot, and now I feel I need to hide under a rock for a wee while.
At home, we’ve had some new bookshelves built in our living room. It has added so much colour to the space, and I get to show off my collection of beloved hardbacks, and in general, I am so pleased. I always wanted to be a thirty-something lady living in London, surrounded by books, and feeling very grateful indeed.
I have realised that ambition and softness can go together. The more ambitious I am with my work, the more snuggly I need my home to be. Case in point, I spend *a lot* of time in my office armchair, reading.
Events!
I had a fantastic time with “Lit Nights” in East Croydon last week (this video sums up the utter magic of the evening). I’m also going to be speaking at the London Book Fair this year on two panels, all about self-publishing vs traditional.
*And… tomorrow!* There are still some tickets available for my event tomorrow night, February 2nd, in central London, with The Observer, as part of their iconic book club! Tickets here*.
*The Observer team have very kindly offered five free tickets for Hyphen readers wanting to attend the in-person event at their offices in central London tomorrow eve! Comment below if interested, and we can reach out :-)
In terms of press for A Year of Nothing, I have been giving it my all, but also choosing wisely and going with quality over quantity. As I’ve been managing it all ‘in-house’, it’s enabled me to reflect more clearly on the key things I’d like to say yes/no to.
The self-publishing experience has been amazing—and I will definitely do it again. But I’m also looking forward to working with a bigger team again for my next book which I’m announcing soon. I think traditional publishing and self-publishing both come with their own pros and cons, which I’ll talk more about here and at the Book Fair.) Either way, it’s shown me how empowering it can be to have multiple paths and choices available.
Here are some of the recent highlights below.
I picked five key ‘moments’ for my book campaign:
1. An interview with The Guardian 🗞️
One of my favourite journalists is Elle Hunt. She has written great pieces ranging from thin-slicing your joy, to beating overwhelm, and building community. For the release of A Year of Nothing, I reached out to Elle and she interviewed me for her US Guardian column on all things wellbeing. We spoke about how to feel your feelings and reconnect with past passions: how to recover from burnout.
2. Bookstore Blitz! with Simon & Schuster— filmed at McNally Jackson Rockefeller Centre in NYC🗽
This was SO fun. I met the brilliant team at S&S and I raced around a big bookstore of 60,000 books and picked five based on the criteria they gave me. I had a blast and I always love visiting New York. I reached out to the team after reading this article (“Can Simon & Schuster Become the A24 of Books?”) last year. I love what they’re doing, and I think publishers need to be way more innovative on their own channels—this series is a great example of that. Watch here, or below.
3. An interview with Sari Botton’s MemoirLand 💻
I really admire Sari Botton. She has a big Substack presence (over 100k subscribers) across her publications Oldster Magazine, Memoir Land and Adventures In "Journalism" by Sari Botton. She interviewed me for Memoir Land where I answered a series of questions about writing, publishing and my career to date. You can read it here.
4. An interview on NPR! 📻
This opportunity came in very organically, but how fun is this! This was a vision-board moment for me—I love NPR (who doesn’t?) and I am a loyal listener. So this was a very fun experience being invited on. The theme of the topic was being child-free by choice, so I got to speak about Olive and A Year of Nothing. You’ll be able to listen via the It’s Been a Minute podcast soon.
5. A video conversation with Kathy Slack
I spoke to fellow author Kathy Slack about her brilliant book Rough Patch, which is her memoir about a year in the vegetable patch, following a very challenging year. It was really lovely to get to speak openly to her about our books and the crossover of themes, of spending a difficult yet healing year reconnecting with the nature around us. You can listen below, or via Apple Podcasts here.
(I also have a few other exciting podcasts I’m doing, and will share these with you soon!)
Right, over to this week’s Slow Sunday Scroll Picks…
Every other Sunday, I share some links, including book, podcast and article recommendations. Most of my recommendations are below the paywall. A big part of being a writer is being a reader too — and I love to share what I’m consuming with you. I recommend becoming a paid subscriber :)
— The lost art of paying attention
— On Not Enjoying Motherhood
— Meet Lena Dunham’s social media manager
— 30 things I learnt from my 30s from Suzi Ruffell
— A Conversation with Virginia Evans
— Catherine O’Hara’s memorable roles
— Free yourself from the punitive attention economy
— Farrah Storr’s burnout boltholes
— Amy Liptrot on escaping the internet
— Anyone Can Be an Auntie
— How Katherine May manages travel commitments
— I have pre-ordered The Best Dog in the World — an essay collection about the love for our canine friends, with contributions from Isabel Allende, Roxane Gay, Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Strout and more.
— I have three novels lined up to read next: Jennette McCurdy Half His Age, Catherine Newman’s Wreck and Louise O’Neill’s Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone? Which one shall I read first?
