I am jumping up and down with glee… We have taken The Week newspaper for years, as it’s a fab round-up of international and British news in a handy A4 size. We love it. It’s long been an ambition of mine to create something – a course, a book, a service – that I could advertise in The Week, knowing that largely, its readers are my target market.

Then this week it happened without any intervention from me…

There was a list of recommended writing courses… sourced from The Guardian newspaper… and THERE I AM!!

Double-whammy, advertised in two great papers.

Guess, I must be doing something right!

It’s a brilliant opportunity by the way to follow the entire How To Write Your Life Story program in a beautiful environment and with lovely food. Thanks to Lois and Bill, who run The Watermill at Posara for inviting me.

I have just returned from the WIN conference in Rome, followed by a blissful three days on the beautiful Lazio coast.

Back at my desk, the magic of the conference, with 950 amazing delegates this year, slowly dissipates, as reality returns.

Yet, one message came across to me loud and clear this year. So loud that it is still ringing in my ears. It was a message that seemed meant just for me as my novel, Sunshine Soup, is released into the world. Until last Friday I had decided that I simply could not justify the indulgence of writing another novel for a while. I had also realised that once an avid poet, I had not written a poem yet this year.

Nancy J Adler explained in her plenary speech that only art allows us to see real beauty. Art teaches us to pay attention to the world around us and its people, and the more we pay attention the more clarity we have in other areas of our life. An academic in international leadership at McGill university in Montreal, Nancy, has taught and written much about organisational behaviour, yet, it is her work as as an artist that has allowed her work to go deeper.

Art is about appreciating beauty. We need art and that it is fundamental to life and leadership. She reminded us of the wisdom of two great men:

• “I am not a businessman. I am an artist,” said Warren Buffet.
• “The soul never thinks without a picture,” said Aristotle.

“We need an artistic lens in order to do the things we dream of,” continued Nancy. “It is only by investing in the artistry of our humanity that we will create the peaceful, prosperous planet we deserve.”

Art has always been important. In fact, if you remember, the world’s oldest universities used to teach art and philosophy alongside the sciences. So what happened? We began to separate art and science. Yet, we all know that we need to use both the left and the right side of the brain if we are to become balanced individuals.

Nancy told us how studies were done in which trainee medical doctors were also taught history of art alongside their other work, and how doing so made their diagnoses more accurate. Why? Because they had learned to pay attention.

In the image above, you can see a piece of the original Roman Appian Way, on which I had the pleasure of walking two days ago, in Terracina. It is a beautiful piece of road, eh? And looking at it reminds me that sometimes the old ways are the best. That we cannot live without art. We must incorporate it into our lives. For me, this means writing for me  – poetry and fiction – and it means paying attention.

There, on that platform, I had it spelled out to me – it is not just that I want to write poetry and to take nature walks, paying attention as I go, I need to. There is no other way.

At WIN I made a promise to myself to write more poetry. Daily, if not weekly. Over the next few days I will share some of them here with you.

If you have been thinking about taking a course in how to write life story but wishing you lived in the Hague so you could attend my workshops, you will now be pleased to know that How to Write Your Life Stories is going to The Watermill at Posara, near Pisa, Italy, next October (2012).

If you would like to learn how to add SPICE to your writing, how to write compelling prose about your experiences and discover how to write in complete stories, then this is the course for you.

Held over one week in sumptuous surroundings with all food, accommodation and transfers taken care of, you will not regret taking a week off and joining me in Posara next year.

There will be lessons every day, homework to do every afternoon and yet there will still be time for feedback and exploration. You even get a day off in the middle precisely for that purpose!

How do I know that this course will really be that good? Because I attend one of Lois and Bill Breckon’s workshops myself, at the Castle of Park, over four years ago and that is where my novel, published this month, was born thanks to the tutelage of Anita Burgh.

Book before the end of this month to enjoy the Watermill ‘price freeze’

Book before the end the year to enjoy a £75 discount.

Book soon to make sure you don’t miss out. Places are very limited.

Find out more here at the Watermill

If you are not signed up to my Monthly Inspirer (now in its 9th year and available by simple sign up here on my website) then today’s newsletter is also posted here. I hope you enjoy it.

Shameless self-promotion

I bet some of you are shuddering at the very title of this piece.

Not terribly British, is it, to boast?

The Australians call it Tall Poppy Syndrome, the Dutch advise that we don’t stick our heads above the parapet. The Norwegians call it janteloven (Jante’s Law), which, in a nutshell, means don’t think your special or that you are better than us. (Source Wikipedia)

But the trouble is that I like to stand out from the crowd, in fact, I think it is mandatory in my kind of business.  I am an advocate of shameless self-promotion. I have to be. And so, I believe, do you. That is if you want to be a successful writer who actually gets stuff published and (whispers) makes some money from it.

Networking = shameless self-promotion

I have run workshops on networking for a few years now. As someone who is now living in her fifth country and who has fought to keep her business alive and growing throughout the 24 years she has been abroad, I attribute almost all my success (bad word, Jo, slap wrist) to networking.

How do I ‘use’ networking?

I use networking to meet people who might hire me, buy my books or ask me to publish them, one day. I also use networking to meet people who may never hire me nor care two hoots about what I write but who like me and trust me and may refer me to their friends. Regardless of which type of person I hope to add to my network, it is fundamental that they know what I do.

But herein lies the problem. How can we communicate what we do clearly and concisely and memorably without sounding just a little bit proud of our achievements? How can we build trust in people unless we share a few of my success stories? But then… the moment we share our successes some may accuse us of breaking Jante’s Law. And, unfortunately, some may actually start to dislike us because they think we are bragging. Fortunately, there may be another way …

The easy way to ‘promote’ yourself

Andy Lopata is a friend of mine and I have helped him with the editing of all of his books. His latest, Recommended, has just been published by Pearson and I have to say that it is terrific. (Did you spot how I threw a teeny bit of self-promotion in there? See, I can’t help myself, sorry.)

In his book, Andy shares how to present yourself to others so that they actually want to refer you. He doesn’t suggest that you go about shamelessly promoting yourself… no, he suggests something that may sit easier with you – that you simply do a fabulous job of what you do. That you exceed expectations, that you deliver early, do terrific work and that you are super to work with.

Of course, you also need to be very clear about what it is that you do for a living. In fact, my line, above, about people needing to like, trust and know you, is one of Andy’s.

If you want to see Andy in action, take a look at this super short video on YouTube about how to get your clients to refer you.

And on the subject of getting your clients to refer you…

It is with butterflies in my stomach that I share the news that my first novel will go live on Amazon later this month.

As part of my promotion I am planning a ‘virtual book tour’ Sept 26^th – 3rd Oct – and I would like you to be part of it

It is with my heart in my mouth that I ask you to do me a BIG favour and help me with some promotion (bad word!) for my novel.

Could you mention Sunshine Soup to your network between 26^th September and 3^rd October, my launch week?

You can do this in a variety of ways:

• You could interview me about any aspect of writing, living abroad or running a business and place that on your blog or on a website.

• You could ask me for a review copy of my novel and post a review on your blog.

• You could ask me to write you a guest post for your blog.

• You could post an extract of my novel on your blog.

• You could post a link to my book for sale on its Amazon page via your Facebook page or wall.

• You could Tweet about my novel, with a link to either my website or to the Amazon sales page.

And to thank you for doing this, I will do something for you, in exchange:

• I could interview you for my Writers Abroad radio show.

• I could take a look at your book proposal.

• I could mention you on my Facebook page, blog or Twitter.

• I could take a guest post from you on my blog.

You see the other thing that helps you to grow your network without breaking Jante’s Law is to say thank you to those who help you. To reciprocate. To nurture the people Andy calls ‘champions’.

If you do something for me then I would love to do something for you in exchange.

Asking

Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to ask you to something for me?

I have agonized over the previous section while those butterflies went crazy and caused my stomach to clench.  Why is asking for favours so darn difficult?

But, the thing is, I believe that not only do we all have to find comfortable ways of promoting ourselves, but that we also have to ASK for help.

And there is no way it would sit easy with me if I didn’t practise what I preach. So I did. Here goes, I’m pressing the send button now…

I am a lazy writer. There I said it. In fact, one of the reasons I made a career out of writing was because I could get away with what I call researchless writing. I admit that I write about what I know and where I’ve been and what I’ve done because it meant I did not have to do much extra research before I had a passable article or book written. Sure, I would speak to some experts and interview a few people to case study, but by and large I could write from personal experience.

If you fancy the idea of being a lazy writer too then I urge you to read the piece I wrote about Writing about Your Life in the Netherlands for I Am Expat. Sure, it focuses on the Netherlands, but actually, the rules I mention apply wherever you may live.

If you want to see some examples of other expat writers who have created whole books based on personal experience, then take a look at my free report - How to Write Your Life Story – the Inside Secrets and find there more than 10 ways of writing a book about your life as well as some secrets about how to write it.

And if you do happen to live in the Netherlands and would like to attend a free lecture on exactly this subject then catch me at 11.25 on Sunday 19th Sept at the Feel at Home in The Hague fair and 4pm on Sunday 10th October at the Expatica I Am Not a Tourist Fair in Amsterdam.

Go on, be lazy!

Jo Parfitt networks with Nina du Pre at Connecting Women Sept 2010, photo by Stephanie Ward

I like to consider myself to be a natural networker and realised this week that I have been on the board of a networking group for 12 years. In fact, when I think I about it, I first became aware of the importance of networking when I heard Donna Messer say the immortal words: ‘it’s not what you know but who you know that makes your business grow,’ at the WIN conference in Milan in the 90′s.

I have been writing for over 20 years and as a journalist I know that my articles and books are enhanced by the quotes I can include from the experts I have met along the way. Now that I focus on helping other people to get their writing published I always encourage my students to get out there and build relationships with people so that they can then approach them later for comments for their work.

As someone who has made a living from writing I am well aware that Donna Messer is absolutely right. The more people I know, the more I can write about. The more people I know, the more ideas I have. The more people I know, the richer my information sources, the more people I know I can ask. And when I know a lot of people that means that a lot of people know about me.

One of the best ways for a writer to build their network fast is to attend a conference where the speakers and workshop leaders will cover areas that they would like to write about . The best conferences are places where the delegates too provide a rich source of contacts and information. As someone who  specialises in careers, particularly portable careers for people overseas, I am a big fan of the Women’s International Networking Conference (WIN) and next month I will attend for the seventh time. Just three days among some of the most creative, fascinating women from all over the world will keep my muse and contacts book fed for a whole year. As someone who specialises in expat life I also attend the Families in Global Transition conference, and next year will go for the seventh time too. But I go one step further. I don’t just attend these conferences, I speak at them too. Standing up in front of an audience is one of the best ways of promoting myself and raising my profile. Better still, these conferences have bookshops too, where speakers can sell their books, so I take advantage of that too.

In the photo above, you see me at Connecting Women, a network I have chaired for 2 years and for which I have been on the board for 5. Last night I was the speaker too, speaking about, guess what? Networking!

If you are serious about getting published and making a living as a writer you need topics and people to write about, you need people to know about you and approach you with your stories. So, go on, get networking.