Some things I have loved...

Morning folks, and a happy Solstice to you

I was going to send this at the end of 2023, but Solstice always feels like the end of the year for me.

I definitely could have guessed that I would have started a weekly thing and then failed to be in the slightest bit consistent with it! But hey ho, that’s life. I love how Substack is growing as a space, and I fully intend to make use of mine. I’m just not quite sure what that looks like yet. When I started this newsletter, I had come out of a long period of illness and had been spending lots of time with writing, poetry and creative prompts in general. I had been very, very still for quite a while. It felt easy to share some ideas, and I have really loved seeing the bits and pieces people have sent me here and over email in response.

This year has been a different vibe altogether. It’s been all about uprooting and lots of forward movement. We have moved house, the kids have moved schools and we have all been living with our friends whilst house hunting in Morecambe. We are set to move into our own place in January, midway between Morecambe and Lancaster.

I launched my first poetry book “Shadow Puppets” and really enjoyed getting into the swing of things with my band Spinsters. We released our first ep “Love Songs from the Apocalypse” and accompanying video into the world (see top of message). Turns out Lancaster is great place to play odd electro-indie-dancey stuff, who knew?

We slightly failed to push it as far as we wanted to, being 3 adults with kids and full time jobs, but I’m very proud of it nonetheless and can’t wait to gig more in the new year.

I’ve been writing bits and pieces of poems and collecting them up, but as yet they have no solid framework. I know it’s hovering there somewhere, but I also feel quite strongly that it’s not quite the time for them. It’s a bit disconcerting not having a concrete creative project to be working on, but I’m trying to trust the process. I often wish I could just concentrate on one thing, but I don’t think I have ever been able to fully commit to any particular creative path and get really good at it.

Whilst last year I was hammering the spoken word open mics, that’s not really been possible this year, bar a couple of excellent ones near me. I have however run a couple of in-person writing workshops and enjoyed them immensely. I’m considering how and whether to build this side of things slightly, and wondered whether online/in-person workshops might be of interest to any of you? Would genuinely like to know…

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I’ve mentioned before, but I do enjoy an end-of-year list! The purpose of writing this week was just to share some of the things I have loved, and to invite you to share yours with me. I’ve purely gone with the things that really stuck with me.

P O D C A S T S & N E W S L E T T E R S

I am always guilty of spending way too much time reading people’s newsletters in place of actually writing my own stuff. I love loads of them, but can only pay for so many. The ones I have stuck with (and pay for), that have consistently given me something to explore or read are:

Austin Kleon

- for playful thoughts prompts and explorations of the creative process

Suleika Jaouad

- “The Isolation Journals”; beautiful essays, prompts and snapshots of the life of writer Suleika Jaouad and her husband Jon Batiste.

Breccia by Ruth Allen

- Lovely thoughts and insights from an outdoor psychotherapist, embodied writing mentor, adventure traveller and former geologist.

Podcast wise, I tend to cycle through some regular favourites, which are Blindboy Boatclub, On Being by Krista Tippet and Off Menu. I am in need of some new listening!

B O O K S

This year hasn’t been one full of books for me. There’s only been Elizabeth Strout’s “Lucy by the Sea” that has stuck with me- the fourth in the series in which Lucy lives through the pandemic. Once again, Elizabeth Strout’s writing managed to pierce through my very scattered attention span with her gorgeous characters and gentle storytelling.

Also enjoying the book I am currently reading; Hilary Mantel’s “Beyond Black”. It’s a very odd tale about a psychic and her spiritual dwarf guide.

Poetry-wise, Billy Collins’ “Taking off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” has been my favourite. Especially The Night House. His lightness of touch and unique perspective on ordinary things has been just what I needed.

T V

Turns out there are many programmes I enjoyed, which may explain why my book list is so small…

Reservation Dogs - Taika Waititi’s series on Disney about four native-american teenagers growing up on a reservation is one of my favourite things things I have watched. Also hunted down Taika Waititi’s Ted Talk.

Slow Horses - I love a CIA/detective series, but watching Gary Oldham fart his way through this one takes it to a new and excellent level.

The Bear - Pure genius.

Deadloch- Australian feminist noir detective comedy. Absolute belter.

Also seen some great documentaries. Have enjoyed Welcome to Wrexham, Beckham (I was surprised I enjoyed this so much) and most recently, Pretend it’s a City; conversations and musings between Martin Scorsese and Fran Lebowiz for 7 episodes.

F I L M S

I am always terrible at remembering films. I’m sure there have been many great ones I have been co-opted to sit through this year, but the standout one for me is The Fabelmans. And not just because I sat in a plush Everyman cinema to watch it and had pizza and cider served to me throughout.

M U S I C

I’ve listened to a lot recently and heard some great new albums, but the one album I have played over and over again is Ezra Furman’s All of us Flames.

Gigs have also been thin on the ground this year, given that we moved away from our regular babysitters, but I loved watching Seamus Fogarty in a tiny back room at The Tallyrand in Levenshulme.

I’m compiling a playlist of my favourite music this year over on our bands’ spotify account, so will share that once it is complete!

Finally…

…as a massive Ted Lasso and slightly cheesy song fan, I LOVED this performance!

Your turn now, what have you enjoyed this year? Anything at all, I love seeing other people’s recommendations and always collect them up to delve into.

Have a good ‘un folks, and I shall see you on the other side.

Take care,

Em x