June Notes to Self

Like Post-Its, so I don't forget

Dear readers of The Joy Rise,

In 2025, I’ve started sharing my monthly Notes to Self, which are little reminders I’ve been jotting down each year for some time now. Doing this can feel like finding Post-Its left by my past self in a book I love, pointing out things I don’t want to forget or miss.

My hope in sharing these notes that I write to myself at the beginning of each month is they might offer a spark of resonance. Take in any that do and of course leave any that don’t.

June notes to self:

1. You walked on eggshells for years because you internalised that what you have to say isn’t welcome. This has changed over the last decade. Continue to speak, and to trust yourself with your words.

2. A silent disco for one is never a bad idea: you are always bettered by dancing it out. (Headphones essential - the neighbours might not love Running Up That Hill on repeat as much as you do.)

3. Pay attention to what you notice on the walk you almost didn’t take. Let those moments and details change you.

4. When good news comes, you are still, despite everything, allowed to feel it and share it with joy. Maybe you’re not only allowed. Maybe it’s your duty.

5. Light your beacons. You never know who needs to see that little fire.

6. Every single day every safety, comfort, pleasure and freedom that you have becomes more vivid, more luxurious, more of a privilege. Stay committed to using what you have, to offer the good that you can.

7. When you’re not sleeping well and you have a day ahead of you bigger than your brain or body can compute, remember the staying power to be found in wearing a shit-hot outfit and requires-paint-stripper-to-remove lipstick. (Also: how fucking good it feels when you’ve made it through The Big Day, you’re home again, and you can get out of said outfit and lipstick.)

   

8. Scarcity mindset does not belong in your relationship with yourself, with your novel that you’re pouring from your heart to the page, or with anyone around you.

9. If you have a choice… the walk, sunset, skies, waves, cuppa with your mum, trees washed in light, dog licks, calling someone you love, little acts of care exchanged with strangers… are what you choose.

10. On any given day, life can rip the ground out from beneath you. If you’re lucky, you walk away with a scar. Don’t waste that miracle. You are in control of so little. Refer to point 5.

Wherever you are when you read this, whatever you’re facing this June, may we have the courage we need to do the next good thing for ourselves and each other.

Thanks for reading.

With a light left on,

Coming soon to The Joy Rise:

• Big UK and US news for The House That Joy Built!

• My conversation with Jess Rowe on The Big Talk Show

• Loving people who aren’t ‘real’: the awe and wonder of reading and writing letters to fictional characters;

• Donkey steps: how I manage writing when I’m stressed / anxious;

• Music I love to listen to while I’m brainstorming / daydreaming / writing;

• How I use the internet to help, not hinder, my daydreaming and idea developments.

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In case you missed it…

In the last issue of The Joy Rise, I shared a particular stack of books and clutch of words that I turn to when I need to be brave in my work:

(#15) Protect your magic: stoking creative courage

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UK FRIENDS!!! I’m completely beside myself about this!!! All the exclamation marks!!! SAVE THE DATE!!!

Brontë Women’s Writing Festival

26 – 28 September 2025, Haworth, England

The Brontë Women’s Writing Festival is back for its fifteenth year, celebrating women writers across fiction, non-fiction, poetry and scripts. Inspired by the Brontës’ evocative northern home, this year’s focus is on writers from and based in the North, and on stories that centre around northern landscapes and Brontë influence.

We’re delighted to be joined by internationally best-selling authors Tracy Chevalier and Holly Ringland, who’ve both found inspiration in the Brontë story. We’re also thrilled to welcome Oscar-winning writer and actress Emerald Fennell, who’ll be discussing her hotly-anticipated Wuthering Heights adaptation, coming to cinemas next year!

Tickets and event details coming soon! More details here.