Hello and Happy Sunday! I'm so so excited to tell you that my brand new E-Book is now live! I've been in a writing cave for the last few weeks, and before that, in a messy but fun photo-taking studio cave. I have loved putting this together, stretching myself with the photography and styling, and flexing my long form writing muscles (thank god for editors!) It's called A Soulful gathering: Simple Ideas to host 2 or 200. It's 130 pages (It's a beast!) of all of my best tips and tricks, inspiration and guidance to help you to host your own gatherings with soul. The release is timed to coincide with the Autumn/winter gatherings we are all thinking about ahead, but it is applicable all year round. I designed it to be inspirational yet practical and achievable.
This is all of stuff I wish i’d be told years ago! It's less about meeting social conventions, creating perfectly styled dinner parties and the correct placement of cutlery, and a lot more focussed on the joys of bringing the people you love together; whether thats 2 or 200; whether you’re introverted or the biggest extrovert around, whether you live in a tiny flat or a huge home, whether you have no budget or unlimited. Whilst the focus of the guide is the people and community, I also include tons of actionable and practical tips for styling and hosting.
This guide is for you if you want:
To create beautiful intimate dinners for your family and mates.
Know-how on styling larger events and parties.
To know how to style and host a gathering on any budget.
Hosting tips for introverts and extroverts alike.
To feel confident hosting dinners in your home, from planning to clear-up.
Tips and ‘hacks’ for entertaining.
To take the stress out of hosting.
Wisdom on styling and making an event that bit more magical.
Clear instructions, practical lists, DIY tricks and pointers.
Topics covered:
Creating a brief
Specific tips for planning and preparation
The five key bases you need to touch to create a soulful event
The most important part of putting on a gathering
How to choose a theme
Styling through the seasons
How to choose flowers and natural elements
What to do with flowers- tutorials and tips
How I keep calm and grounded in advance of hosting
Food ideas and ‘hacks’
Gathering with children
Dress any space to make it welcoming, comfortable and beautiful
Stress free hosting
After asking for what people wanted help with on stories, I have also covered the following 'Trouble shooting' topics :
Small space solutions
Hosting an eco minded gathering
Dealing with dietary requirements
Hosting on a low/no budget
Hosting in a not very beautiful space
Keeping stress and overwhelm at bay
Conversation starters to break the ice
The details: It costs £11 and you can pay directly using the link on the left. I am donating 5% of all profits to Canterbury’s Christmas Dinner for Care Leavers, an amazing project I have been involved with since last year. You can use Paypal or a card payment. You will be sent a link to download a PDF which expires in 24 hours. The PDF has been designed to have clickable chapter links so you can navigate around it more easily. Some people have been having problems downloading it, and it seems it needs a decent wifi connection. If you're greeted with a blank page, wait it out for a bit, as it downloads in the background. If you're still having problems, email me with your order number and I'll send the file to you in a different way.
I also wanted to say that I have wanted to write this guide for years. I'd put it off for a number of reasons before deciding to get my head down and get it written. What if I put all this work in then no-one bought it? Aren't there more important issues in the world to be writing about? When do I have the time to do that? But, after looking at my work goals and plans in July (part of my January/Life book process) I set aside some time to do it in Autumn. I ended up really enjoying myself, especially the last bit, oddly, even though it was also a bit stressful. Turns out I quite like the thrill of last minute. I asked for help, put off other work, said no to quite a lot of other work and social stuff. The actual launch happened whilst I was feeding Auden and doing bedtime with my kids. It took longer than planned, ended up being much meatier than planned, and we also had some last minute tech issues too, but it is out!
It has been received so so well so far, and I have been incredibly touched my the messages of support, the purchases, and the sharing amongst my community on Instagram. So if you also have a thing (or many- I have many!) things you would like to do, that you know would benefit your business, but you can't seem to get it done amongst the daily firefighting; get strategic. Make a plan, ask for help, set aside the usual work, say no to some stuff. Anyway. Thank you for your support, as always. I am reminded of how lovely this community can be.
I’d love to know what you think if you’ve purchased it.