The Monthly ANXIOUS WRITER 🌿 | October Edition
Recommendations, reads & my own goals & projects from October for EVERYONE to read. Includes bonus content from my writing business for paid subscribers.
October passed by in a flurry of writing, videos, hockey matches, school runs and my birthday until it all came skidding to a halt when I got a very heavy cold and couldn’t do much due to the absolute exhaustion. And then my back tooth, the one that had been heavily compressed by myself due to TMJ, finally gave up the ghost and cracked in half. The dentist had no choice but to remove it. That was a fun morning.
Quite honestly, the busy-ness of work and school life meant I didn’t read, watch or listen to as much as I normally do. But here is what stood out during a busy then poorly month.
Television
My TV watching over this period was the usual cosy crime, The Big Bang and Ghosts. Have I mentioned my love for Ghosts on here before? It’s a series by the (I think) original members of Horrible Histories where they play characters that are all dead - and have died over different periods in time. There’s a caveman, a rather giddy Georgian noblewoman, a disgraced MP, an Edwardian lady of the manor, a witch trial victim, a scout leader from the 1980s and a World War II army officer. Oh, and a headless Tudor nobleman. And they all live in Button House with two living people: Alison, who can see and speak to them, and her husband Mike.
Anyway, if you haven’t seen it yet you’re in for a treat. It’s on the BBC. There is also a US adaptation (CBS) which I’ve also seen and enjoyed.
It’s great fun and has become one of my comfort watches. I love this short interview with a few of the creators about how they have written the show.
YouTube
I watched this 60 Minutes interview with Pink. I love finding unexpected inspiration from people outside of the writing or online world. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one such recent example that I wrote about.
I drew this in my journal after watching it…
…and I’ve since stopped aimlessly scrolling social media. I mean, I’m not perfect but my screen report came through today and I’m down again. Considering I use my phone a lot for work I was very pleased with that!
Theatre
My daughter is a singer, a soprano so we try and go to the theatre to see different musicals or musical events a few times a year. Earlier this year we went to see Hamilton and last week we went to see Les Misérables in London’s West End. I first saw it when I was about eleven, I think. My daughter is slightly older and was blown away by the sheer talent of the singers (she studies them from a technical perspective whereas I don’t have a clue!) What has changed since I last saw it twenty-something years ago is the lighting, the effects, the scenery. It was an incredible experience.
My Own Writing & Content
I produced eight videos on YouTube this month. Eight! Admittedly, one was a very simple ‘journal with me’ where I journaled for 30 minutes with calm piano music (but went down well) that didn’t take me too long to put together. But I’m really pleased and my stats are all going up accordingly. I’ll write more about this in my monthly Earning Money Online series for paid subscribers where I go into my strategy plus my numbers and earnings.
On my Substack, I produced six pieces of content, with two and a half being exclusively for paid subscribers. I’ve got thoughts about my Substack strategy and how I’m going to balance my writing on here with YouTube and my book plus how I’m going to balance my output between paid and free subscribers. I’ll be writing more about this in my writing-business-section behind the paywall below.
October’s essays included:
Why I romanticise my writing life (free to read until the end of November) where I talk about how my desk decor and my writing help me seek out the creative magic every day. Which, in turn, makes me more productive and focused.
You are NOT lazy (free to read until the 10th of November so be quick!) where I write about how so many of us are held back from writing by fear and the reason behind my Substack name change.
We have to make our own creative magic (for paid subscribers). In this essay, I write about the frustrations of being ill and how it led to feeling lost and that I’ve somehow, somewhere failed in my own life because I still don’t have my writing career ‘together’.
Highlights from my YouTube include:
How I’m growing my author platform without self-promotion. Inspired by Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work.
HOW I’M WRITING MY NON-FICTION BOOK. My book proposal journey and how it started.
Plus:
What to write in a journal to help you become more confident with your writing.
WRITING JOURNAL FLIP THROUGH | Where do writers get ideas? One month of writing in my new notebook.
My Writing Business
In my latest video, I was organising my writing week on a Sunday (yesterday, in fact) and in that video, I spoke about my guilt over Substack. Specifically, if I skip a day because of illness or only upload six pieces in a month instead of my usual eight (which is what happened during October) I feel bad. And it got me thinking.