The Monthly RED FERN 🌿 | June Edition
Recommendations, reads & my own goals & projects from the month of June for ALL subscribers to read. Includes bonus content from my writing business for paid subscribers.
Hello and welcome to the June edition of The Monthly Red Fern 🌿.
If you’re new, and I know some of you are because of my recent feature on Substack, this is the fourth in my series of monthly articles which brings you not just the books, podcasts and videos I’ve been watching over the past month but also my goals and the progress or struggles with my writing and writing business. The latter is for paid subscribers only. If you’re interested in my writing journey (which this month shares what has flopped for me in terms of growing my Substack and how I’m adjusting what I’m focusing on as I move forward) then upgrade your subscription below.
Most of my Substacks throughout the month are essays that dive into the creative mindset. I draw deeply on my own experiences over the last sixteen years of writing and being online, but this monthly newsletter looks at the behind-the-scenes. What inspires me, what refills my well and how I am taking my writing and mentoring business forward.
Despite saying ‘preview’ on the title of this newsletter (especially if you’re reading this in the app) this newsletter is actually a full newsletter for all subscribers. There’s just bonus business bits if you’re a paid subscriber. I mentioned this on Notes recently and there was an interesting discussion:
As I said in my Note above (but it’s cut off unless you click on it):
“On my preview Substacks I like to include a full piece of writing and then, behind the paywall, I add bonus content: like a video, behind-the-scenes of my writing business or perhaps more vulnerable writing.”
How do you feel about posts with preview on them? Do you feel frustrated if you’re not a paid subscriber? Do you ignore them?
Books
Yeah, I still haven’t read anything. Really struggling with this. Let’s move swiftly on…
{Edit: I wrote this newsletter a few days ago and I was just doing a light edit before it goes live tomorrow. And in those few days I’ve read a ruddy book! I’ll perhaps write more about this because it took a brief flirtation on the edges of depression again in order to put down my phone and pick up a novel. Hopefully I haven’t left it too late.]
Television
Arnold (three-part documentary on Netflix).
I admit I enjoyed Terminator 2 when I was younger (partly because of Guns N Roses). I remember renting the video Twins from the mobile video library and yes, okay, I have a soft spot for True Lies and Eraser.
But I’d never say I was a massive fan. I certainly didn’t know much about his beginnings as a bodybuilder in Austria. But my husband is and does. And a few weeks ago when he started watching the first of this three-part documentary I couldn’t help but be drawn in.
I had no idea how driven Arnold was. He wanted to be the best bodybuilder. So set about achieving that. He wanted to be an actor, or more specifically a Hollywood star - so set about achieving that. Then he wanted to get into politics - and became governor of California.
Listening to him talking about his visions, about the hard work he put into turning these visions into a reality and overcoming failure - well I’ve scribbled nine pages of notes from the first episode alone. I’ll be writing about this in more detail and how it relates to my writing soon.
YouTube
Speaking of failure. I am loving this interview by High Performance with Gary Barlow. Now, if you don’t know (and I don’t think they ‘broke’ America) Gary is part of nineties British boyband, Take That. He was the lead singer, the songwriter and basically, the person the band was built around.
When the band split fans were devastated. Gary and another of the band members, Robbie Williams, each went solo. Robbie to great success. And Gary became a massive flop. But without this failure, his career wouldn’t be what it is now. He needed that failure in order to move forward. The band have now reformed, they play and sell out massive concerts and were recently performing at the King’s Coronation celebrations.
Gary also has lots of interesting things to say in the interview about creativity and confidence:
“I just don’t believe someone who doubts themselves can create wholeheartedly, it just doesn’t work without that belief.”
~ Gary Barlow
Again, I’ll be writing more about this soon. Here’s the interview in full.
Substacks
I really enjoyed this podcast/voiceover Substack by
from Gather & Grow. Sarah talks about the miracles from everyday life which was really enlightening as I listened during my dog walk and I also found her thoughts, inspired by my own piece on burnout, really interesting.You can find the article Sarah refers to that I wrote, called What’s Wrong With Just Ticking Along, here.
Podcasts
Letters From a Hopeful Creative a podcast by
and echoes some of my own feelings about Instagram right now.
My Own Writing & Content
June has been such a rollercoaster month for me. I was a little upset near the beginning of the month, after the excitement of my one-year anniversary on Substack, when I lost a number of paid subscribers.
Or, that’s what I thought I was upset about. As ever, not everything is what it appears. After some digging I realised my upset was being driven by the fact I didn’t feel I was back to being productive Helen, go-getting Helen, feisty Helen after my significant period of burnout. So, naturally, I wrote about it:
Are You Currently Lacking in Creative Confidence (free to read until 16th July)
Other pieces I wrote during June included:
What’s Wrong With Just Ticking Along? (free to read until July 6th)
Planning My Creative Tasks Using my Productivity Planner (free to read until July 19th and includes bonus video content for paid subscribers)
I’ve Lost 2000 Followers on Instagram. And I Don’t Care. (free to read until 28th July.)
The highlight of my month has to be my one-year anniversary on Substack. Which was also shared by Substack.
I wrote a long essay all about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of creating my presence here. It includes: how I pushed fear and imposter syndrome to one side in order to start, the mindset issues around going paid, why I view my Substack as the centre of my ‘writing empire’, how my Substack has evolved over time, embracing the different features available, my subscriber growth (both free and paid), how my Substack is helping me write books and lots more. This is an in-depth piece of writing, so it’s behind the paywall. You can read (via upgrading) here:
Anniversary Essay: One Year of Behind the Scenes from My Substack.
This essay is normally for paid subscribers but to celebrate Substack sharing it I’m opening it up for 24-hours only.
I also created two podcasts:
Our Substack Story - May 2023 with Claire. Each month Claire and I discuss what’s going on with our Substacks.
Using Pinterest to Find a Better Way of Connecting with Trona Freeman. My first interview for my podcast in some time.
My Workbook and Masterclass
Journaling Your Goals: The Workbook is now back over on my website. And it is on sale. It is a 200-page workbook to get to the heart of your creative purpose & goals - making you more productive, motivated & energised. You can find out more and purchase here.
Your Writing Notebook: A Masterclass about Journaling for Writers is also now available at a reduced price. My writing notebook is how I created my writing business, worked out what projects to focus on and also how I figured out what my mindset issues were that were stopping me from completing my projects. You can purchase and find out more here.
I’m now inserting a paywall because what I’m going to write next is a little more vulnerable so is for paid subscribers only. It’s about the behind-the-scenes of my writing and writing business from the month of June.