A GLITTERY WELCOME!

Breaking free, why now and what I'll be wearing

Oct 08, 2022

Let’s start with a song lyric. This one conveys perfectly why I’m here, writing this.

“I’ve got too much life,
running through my veins,
going to waste.”
from Feel, by Robbie Williams

I am tired of channelling my creativity into the narrow tributary of my business. As entrepreneurs we are told to niche. Speak about the problems our ideal clients face, so they can find us. But 3000-character LinkedIn posts are no longer big enough to hold what lives inside me.

I choose to release myself from the obligation of every piece of my public writing having to be relevant to my work as a corporate leadership coach. It’s like wearing an ill-fitting corset.

[Did I mention you can expect mixed metaphors, as well as song lyrics, in this newsletter?]

I want to write about being a woman. I want to write about what’s hard about being a woman in a patriarchal world, and the perspectives I’m discovering that make it a little easier. I want to write about the women who have taught me so much on this journey already. I want to write about fear. Longing. Shame. Creative adventures.

Did you know that four years ago I flew from my home in the UK to San Francisco, to perform my first Burlesque solo? That my stage name is Aphrodite Jones?

I want to write about that. About the joy I’ve found in saying yes to things that make no logical sense, but that nourish my ordinary life as a mother, wife, friend, recovering ass-kissing people-pleasing perfectionist, and co-parent with a sometimes-tricky ex-husband, with whom I have learned to collaborate for the sake of our children.

That’s what I want to write about. And I don’t want to have to tie it up with a call-to-action bow in the hope someone who reads it books a free consultation call.

I choose to liberate my creativity from the grip of capitalism and give it a place to gallop freely, like a foal in a meadow. My sense is that when I do that, it makes this world a little more beautiful than it already is.

Damn, it feels good to get on the page.

How about the awkward and very un-British topic of money? Why don’t we get that bit out of the way, so we can both enjoy the rest of this letter…

I’m seeing Glitter and Biscuits a bit like busking, something I used to do with my sister, Katie. She’d play the cello; I’d play my violin and we’d bang out some carols and hope we brought a little cheer to people’s last minute Christmas shopping. We had crisp packets and cigarette ends thrown our way, as well as every denomination of coin and the occasional £5 note.

You’re choosing to be here, so there won’t be any crisp packets. Most people will listen to the tunes I play, and perhaps smile or give me a wave. Maybe even tell their friends to come along and listen. Just knowing you are here reading this, is enough to make me dust off my violin and play three rounds of Ding Dong Merrily on High. Some people may throw coins in my violin case and chat to me between songs. The thought of that makes me want to dance and play and sing all at once to I Wish it Could Be Christmas Every Day.

If you choose to become a paid subscriber, please accept a big, inappropriately lingering hug from me. My emerging dream is to spend more and more time writing and sharing what I create. Starting this newsletter is me taking a bold step towards that. By choosing to support me financially, you are helping me manifest this vision.

I also believe that money is just one of many forms of energy. If you are choosing to be here, I trust that you will support me and pay forward the nourishment Glitter and Biscuits offers in whatever way feels good to you. Everyone will receive the same version of the newsletter, whether you choose the free or paid option.

And I hope you are not too disappointed, but one promise I can certainly make, is that you will never receive any recordings of me actually playing the violin :)

Finally, I’d like to talk about dress code. This feels particularly important, because nobody enjoys turning up at a party and getting that bit wrong. So here is mine. And for the avoidance of doubt this metaphor, which I probably enjoyed writing a little too much, is about how I will show up on these pages.

Some weeks I will be adorned in my best knee-high boots, badass leather jacket, sparkly top that makes my boobs look full, yet pert, figure-hugging and oh-so-classy black pencil skirt, to-die-for make-up with beach-style waves that look natural (but that have actually been blow-dried to perfection), with a wind machine positioned in just the right place.

What will you see in my writing these weeks? I will have had some kind of breakthrough, and I will have crafted it into a gorgeous piece of writing for your enjoyment. I will be backstage drinking champagne, and you will throw roses onto the stage, and I will emerge from behind the curtain and take a second bow, and we will all do a little celebratory dance together.

What I think is more likely, most weeks, is that I will show up in a t-shirt stained with the smoothie my son tried to make for breakfast (he forgot to put the lid on the blender), jeans that are actually leggings because denim chafes the hell out of my thighs and takes me ten minutes to unbutton and refasten every time I go to the bathroom, with my hair pulled back in a bun and a smear of lip gloss.

Those weeks I will be showing up with what I have. What I share will be more Biscuits than Glitter. But my hope and wish and deepest longing is that me showing up, however I am, is in itself, in some small way, a gift.

Perhaps this is more of a gift than the glittery way, because what has kept me frozen and hidden for too long is the belief that I need to do or say something extraordinary to have the right to be seen, or even exist, at all.

So, there it is. My best attempt at describing this little corner of the world. I hope it’s given you an idea of whether it’s a place you might enjoy. If you know others who might enjoy it too, do invite them along. The more the merrier.

Thank you for being here. Our time and attention are precious, and I am grateful to you for sprinkling some of yours in this direction.

With love and shimmies,

Claire

p.s. With special thanks to my friend Larisa for inspiring me to begin this new adventure.

p.p.s. If you’d like to say hello you can comment via the button below or reply/like/comment via the buttons at the top of this email.

Glitter and Biscuits

A GLITTERY WELCOME!

Breaking free, why now and what I'll be wearing

Discussion about this post