As a new year begins and many of us plan of our new year’s resolutions, most of us will focus on dreams or goals and how we may achieve them. This year, however, I have a strong feeling that this is not right for me this time.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;

Right away, I knew that message was meant just for me and that it had to be the focus of my New Year Inspirer.

Sometimes we need to press our own pause button and stop and look more closely at what is in front of our eyes.  We need to take a minute or two to look at what is was behind us before we move forward. And so I ask you… did you take a few moments to consider all you achieved during 2011? Did you pause to give yourself a pat on the back? Did you achieve or even exceed the goals you set yourself last year?

If you remember, this time last year I decided to pick a word that would set the scene for me. I chose BRAVERY. My new year’s resolution was to be braver and for me that meant that I wanted to publish one book a month and to take more risks with the authors I commission. I wanted to be braver about the promotion I did for the books I published and to dare to delegate more to freelance editors and assistants.

When I pause and look back I can see that I did far more than this. Only it was only a few minutes ago that I bothered to collect together the books I published this year, lay them on the carpet and take a photo. It was only now that I even got round to counting how many there were! I didn’t publish 12 books this year – I published 15 and current have another 10 or so in production. I surprised myself. I even achieved a lifetime ambition and completed and published my own novel. I hired several freelancers to help me with editing, production, accounts and promotion and started Expatbookshop.com. I even started a radio show and made 30 shows! Just reading the list makes me exhausted.

I reckon I had a pretty good year but I also recognise that I worked like an express train, even at the weekend, and rarely found time to ‘smell the flowers’ or take a walk alone on the wide beach that is a stone’s throw from my home. When I look back, the temptation of putting a ‘pathless wood’ into my future is stronger than ever. And so, I am not going to set any goals for 2012. Instead I plan to do something braver still and attempt not to try so hard. Now wouldn’t that be wild?

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.

At this year’s wonderful WIN conference I had the pleasure of talking to Fran O’Hara of Scarlet Design for quite some time about the art of what she calls Visual Minutes. More than a mindmap, these are a graphic representation of what is said in a meeting, workshop or keynote session. I had met Charleen Michel, an Independent International HR Consultant, many times at WIN but had not realised that she was now assisting Fran and had discovered she had quite a knack for this.

So, when I found out that Charleen planned to attend my workshop on Blogs, Brands, Books and Bylines, I just had to ask her if she’d minute my session.

As you may know from my other posts about the conference, on The Importance of Art, Writing is Relaxing and Art and Fear then you will know how blown away I was at WIN this year with new learning on the importance of art. So that I now have a piece of art, made just for me, based on my own workshop, is stunning. Thank you Charleen SO much.

Here, guys are my visual minutes.

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…

This week’s radio show is a bit different. This time I am the one in the hot seat!

Global writer and journalist, Renata Harper,  interviews me about the agony and the ecstasy of writing my upcoming novel, Sunshine Soup. I talk about how long it took, how I took a risk, how hard it was to write and how I coped not only with the knockbacks but that well-known moment, when you can see the finish line, and suddenly think that every word you wrote was utter rubbish. See, I’m normal, just like everyone else!

Click here to listen to the show.

Sunshine Soup’s official launch is on 1st October. Yes, it’s my first novel!

I don’t think I quite believe it myself but I am SO excited!

As you probably know, my first book was a cookbook called French Tarts …

I wrote that before I could cook, so considered myself more of an editor and writer than a cook.

But  love to eat, so it was only a matter of time before  learned to love to cook too.

When, in 1995 my fellow foodlover and foodcreator, Sue Valentine, suggested we write a book on cooking with dates, I agreed. So we cooked our hearts out, invented like crazy and Dates was born.

Sure, I knew I loved cooking but was not sure the kitchen was m natural home. No, I thought I belonged at the computer helping people to write books. But, you know, even then I could not resist a culinary theme and became The Book Cook.

So, when I wrote Sunshine Soup – a novel to nourish the global soul (out in September) it was kind of a surprise to me that Maya, my protagonist started to cook…. and cook… and cook.

And now, with the book done, I realised it was a no-brainer that I put the recipes Maya invents into the novel too.

Which is how, this weekend, I found myself back in the kitchen, cooking food that Maya had created in my imagination.

On Saturday morning I went shopping for her ingredients and then came home and began creating.

My heart raced. My palms became clammy. I felt a tingling deep in the base of my belly, right by my root chakra, that I can only describe as ‘primal’.

I was in heaven.

In the zone.

“I can’t believe how excited this is making me,” I said to Ian with a grin on my face. “What is happening to me? It’s pathetic.”

“It’s not pathetic,” he admonished. “It’s who you are!”

Anyway, I made the food that I had first made not from tomatoes,  roasted peppers and cardamom pods, but from words!

I didn’t invent the recipes, Maya did!

I tell you, it was intoxicating.

I made, oops, sorry, Maya made:

Sunshine Soup

Tuna with chilli and lime

Arabic coffee ice cream

Keep an eye on the blog and these recipes will be shared with you as we near publication.

To whet your appetite, here is a photo of Sunshine Soup:

I always knew words had the power to do many things, from healing and sharing to changing lives, but I never realised they could create a character who really could cook!

Seems Maya got me back to a place that matters to me ‘more than words can say’. Thank you, Maya.

In yesterday’s blog post on the wisdom of Stephen Fry, I shared with you the phenomenal insights this master of erudition has on writing.

It was as if he was speaking directly to me.

At the point when he said ‘writing is difficult’ the penny dropped.

Writing IS difficult. At least, the writing that I consider to be worthy is difficult.

Writing according to me:

• Writing blogs is the easiest thing in the world – therefore neither difficult nor worthy (to me)

• Writing columns is the second easiest thing in the world – therefore neither difficult nor worthy (to me)

• Writing features articles is the third easiest thing in the world – therefore neither difficult nor worthy (to me)

• Writing non-fiction is the fourth easiest thing in the world – therefore neither difficult nor worthy (to me)

• Writing poetry? Aah … here we go … this is getting tougher. It took me 25 years to dare publish my volume of poetry, A Moving Landscape.

• Writing fiction? Now we have it … this is unbe****inglievably difficult, as Fry said himself.

If it’s easy

However …

If it feels easy we don’t value what we write … but that does not mean that other people share our view.

If it’s difficult

If it feels difficult we value what we write … it matters to us massively and in writing this tough stuff we feel vulnerable, exposed and downright terrified about unleashing our hardwon words onto the universe.

Tough writing gnaws at us endlessly

At heart some of us are too chicken (or too lazy) to work on the tough stuff, so we don’t. But what happens is that the thing we find hardest to do gnaws at us endlessly and, if you are anything like me, it becomes the ultimate goal. But the trouble with dreams is that if you try to make them come true – and you fail – you lose that dream. If you leave the goal as a dream, then it remains a dream, forever and so the dream is put on hold.

And I believe that …

We only value what we write when we have had to walk through fire in order to achieve it.

How my dream comes true

Let me share the story of my writing dream …

I have always wanted to write a novel. To me that would be the ultimate objective, the top of the mountain, the cat’s pyjamas.

In 1987 I took my first writing class and tried writing short stories. My teacher told me I was better at poetry and journalism, so I ditched the dream.

Eight years later, after taking more courses and teaching creative writing myself for five years I decided I was ready to write my first novel.

How I loved writing fiction! After 15 non-fiction books it was the most fun ever. It absorbed me totally. So, after many edits I sent it to an agent. The agent liked it and asked me to make a few changes. I froze. It had already taken me six months to write, for God’s sake. How could I spend more time on it? So, I ditched the plan and went back to non-fiction and articles (and poetry).

Twelve books for me and countless for my clients later, the dream reared its head. I took writing my other stuff for granted. It provided me with a good income. It was easy to do. It was a no-brainer to keep on doing it, wasn’t it? Besides writing a novel was a risk. A gamble. What if no one liked it or bought it … and after all that hard work too?

I also believe that …

Anything worth doing contains an element of risk.

My dream would not go away. The truth is that I recognized that I would only value myself as a writer if I did that novel; that only doing something difficult would feel like real writing.

I have now spent four years writing, editing and cutting (oh yes, 30,000 words disappeared into the ether last month alone). I have hired several editors and begged several readers to share their honest opinions. You see, writing a novel is unfamiliar territory to me. I don’t trust my own judgment so I overcompensate just to feel safe.

I felt vulnerable, scared and exposed … but also, rather excited.

And then this week I finally wrote the immortal words THE END and  immediately started planning the party!

‘Red champagne!’ suggested Megan my final and definitely most fabulous editor. ‘Nothing else will do!’

It seemed fitting. I’d sweated blood into that book. But boy do I feel PROUD.

Yes, writing is difficult, but I would not want it any other way.

Sunshine Soup – a novel to nourish the global soul will be published in September by Summertime Publishing.