Hello darlings,
You may wonder where on earth I’ve been…
Since the start of the year I have been reflecting a lot on how I want to work, live and write. After wrapping my book tour in Auckland, an exhausted week recovering on my parent’s sofa, and taking a plane over the pacific ocean, I have finally had time to truly be still. Some might call this stillness I’ve experienced writers block, but now, as I emerge from it (and suddenly can’t keep my fingers away from the keyboard as I work on my novel again) I realise it’s been an integral moment of reflection for my career and for my life in general.
What actually kick-started this period of reflection wasn’t the burn-out I’d felt post releasing my book, or even the usual exhaustion after a long-haul voyage. Instead it was an episode of Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast in which she interviewed Australian author, Bonnie Ware, on her sensational book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
In this interview, and in the book itself, Bonnie reminds the listener/reader of something beyond what people ponder on their deathbeds. The message that stuck out to me most was that when you make more time for what you truly enjoy and value, life tends to meet you with more time, space and resources to pursue these things (and thus the stuff that isn’t serving you starts to fall away). Hearing this again woke me up and has had me sitting in a reflective space since.
Naturally, part of what’s come from this reflection have been questions around where I spend my time. To start I’ve pulled back almost completely from Instagram. Like many others I no longer find social media an epicentre of inspiration or connection. Instead it feels an exhausting place, offering only the odd sugar hit in meme form. Now this isn’t to say I’ve gone off the grid, but I have drastically pulled back from the platform and am now committed to only sharing important work announcements and occasional, inspired posts as and when I truly feel like it.
Beyond that, as much as I have thoroughly enjoyed writing this blog-turned-newsletter for the past four years, the appetite for online content still gets in my way of truly enjoying this platform, or finding my creative flow on here. I say this whilst acknowledging that many professional writers have turned to Substack for the sovereignty and connection it offers us compared to the current world of print and online media. Beyond that some writers have migrated here to incredible success (hello Emma Gannon & Farrah Storr), and some novices have launched their brands here and now have book deals. I’ll also say that I personally read roughly 50% of my weekly article intake via this platform (usually as a paid subscriber) because the calibre of the content is that good.
Yet, I have never quite found a way to make Substack work for me. I don’t seem to have the output or stamina to really feed this hungry online beast - in part because I’m still very focused on figuring out how I can create a career as a fiction writer. Beyond that I don’t really have a large enough following to really make Substack lucrative for myself, and that’s OK! I only started writing (not even professionally, but entirely) four years ago and I obviously have little interest in becoming an influencer given what I just stated about social media (I say that whilst respecting the profession immensely, more so since I’ve seen how the sausage is made).
I’ve also abandoned ideas of all kinds of other creative distractions, or things I’ve felt I should be doing with my career. I’ve come to realise that anyone remotely creative or entrepreneurial probably has multiple viable ideas come to them on a regular basis, but it’s the focused choice in what to pursue that leads to real success and satisfaction. This thought of mine has been buoyed by a conversation with a friend (who happens to be a business coach and brilliant writer) in which I told her all of the things I felt I should be doing with my career, to which she said “you’re shoulding all over yourself!”
So, in all of this rambling, and after four fantastic years consisting of loads of words published online, my vintage shop opening and closing, releasing my first book, and immense personal growth, I’ll be bidding adieu to Blonde not Beige.
I (over)share this with you in part as an explanation of my absence, in part as a long-winded way of thanking you all for your readership, and ultimately in hope to encourage you all to apply the same kind of thinking to your own life. The question I ask of you, dear reader, is where can you cut back in order to make more room for the true you, and what can you focus on instead?
Of course the archive is still here for you to enjoy (and is now entirely free to access). And if you do enjoy my writing and/or adore secondhand shopping, you can grab a copy of my book, How to Be Fabulous here.
Bye bye, Blonde not Beige.
Love, Charlotte x
Will miss you in this space, but love that you're choosing your focus xxx