I am writing a daily blog detailing how I am pursuing a new, fresh, start in my life.
I sent my books to a publisher last week for some further development editing, and have had some feedback from the publisher over the last couple of days. The depth and breadth of the feedback has been simply stunning and I am beyond grateful for the time, care and attention that has been taken. It’s a lot of feedback and means a lot of work, I will be honest. But it’s highlighted more than anything else the fact that I am a beginner in writing books. What the feedback has given me is the chance to learn the craft better, tighten up the loose areas of my books, and make them more enjoyable for my readers hopefully. I already knew that there were areas that needed working on, I am terrible for knowing what I mean in my head and expecting people to be able to read my mind. I’ve tried not to do that in my book, but I suspect I have done it inadvertently given some of the feedback. I’m going to spend the next few days absorbing the feedback and considering the approach I am going to take to incorporating it into my books. It’s going to be busy, my other nascent book is going to have to take a bit of a back seat but I think it will end up better for it.
I have also been discussing a community project with my friend who is facing the loss of his home. We were discussing how many elderly people there are in the village who might want some help with, say, some DIY or shopping services things along those lines. We started to list out all the people who work in trades such as plumbing, electricians and the like and realised that pretty much everything you could think of was covered in the village. We also talked about how people weren’t aware of these services by and large and how we could potentially help raise awareness of them. My friend was also discussing how he had been approached to be a part of a tender for some Local Authority work, and we talked about how having a list of all the trades and services in the village could help create consortia for winning such work, providing a greater sense of financial security for these small businesses.
In the night, I woke up and started to think of an initiative I tried to get started about a year ago called ‘Walk and Talk’. It was aimed primarily at women and the idea was we would go for a walk in lovely locations in different parts of Suffolk where we could talk as we walked – what it says on the tin, basically. It didn’t really take off for a variety of reasons, but a friend of mine did the same thing in her village in Yorkshire and it’s been a roaring success. In part because she had access to a community space to hold different types of gatherings than just walking. And she was able to connect into the community very strongly. I didn’t have that because at the time we were living in our previous house which was in a hamlet. Now, I have access to many more people who have connections into the local community and can help a lot more. To that end, I have been thinking about the potential for establishing a wellbeing hub or something along those lines to help alleviate loneliness, and help bring people together to create that stronger sense of community, sense of connection. I’m looking forward to starting this and seeing where this can go.
I’m not doing this for money. I’m doing it to help people, to provide a service, and to hopefully create a sense of community in the local area. If I can utilise some of the skills I have accumulated over the years such as coaching to help people, then I will do so. What I am looking to make money from is my writing hence the focus on the feedback I have received to make the shift and changes within them.
Because I am soaring. I am thriving. I am successful. And I am very grateful.
Louisa Simpson 