The Hyphen: Being A D*ck, Podcasts & Choosing Love

Hi friends—
I hope you are doing okay?

I'm personally feeling very grateful for these two articles: "Why is everyone being a bit of a d*ck right now?" and "I've become ruled by fear and it's making me dislike myself." Thank you Lauren Bravo & Bella Mackie for writing so honestly. I feel like these last few weeks I've just been a bad judgemental version of myself. I hiss at my boyfriend under my breath; I throw a wobbly if my WIFI doesn't work during a work meeting, and I'm rolling my eyes at people in supermarkets. I see something that normally would just annoy me a bit; and now it's making me feeling rage-y (like something as innocent as someone using the hashtag 'Ladypreneur'). Or y'know— the endlessly confusing messaging from the government. I have had to sit on my hands to stop myself slyly subtweeting and I find myself criticising innocent people on Instagram who are just living their lives. The worst part of it is I know I am being The Worst in these situations — it's like I'm watching myself from a birds-eye view but I just can't stop myself. I'm blaming others because it's easier than doing a 20-minute meditation. I'm sure it will shift soon, but facing up to my dick-ish feelings has felt a bit icky as of late.

Hope you enjoy today's newsletter — I've decided to make this newsletter weekly (instead of monthly) while *all of this* is happening. Please do let me know what sort of things you'd like to see more of round 'ere.

Emma xo

Firstly: Podcasting for charity!

Fancy helping raise some money for Choose Love?

Years ago, I did a fun side-project podcast with my friends Llliana Bird (co-host) and Shola Aleje (producer) called Get It Off Your Breasts, a roundtable type podcast where we invited guests on to 'get things off their chest'. The podcast is no more, even though you can listen to the back catalog on iTunes.

HOWEVER: We're BACK for one night only, for charity, THIS THURSDAY MAY 28th 8.30-9.15pm GMT where we'll be doing a live-stream podcast episode that you can tune into for a bit of fun to raise money for Choose Love - they are doing incredible things to help refugees who need our help more than ever right now.

Our special guests for the evening are bestselling authors Emma Dabiri (Don't Touch My Hair) and Dawn O'Porter (The Cows & So Lucky).

Fancy signing up and tuning in? It's £3 - and the link to do so is HERE. (You'll need to sign up in advance.)

Four podcasts I've enjoyed this week...

1. BEWILDERED — I love Martha Beck and after finishing her book Steering By Starlight this week I went on a hunt to find more inspo. I really enjoyed this episode in particular about having the courage to rest.

2. DEAR SUGARS — I've been listening to this show on and off for around three years and the intro makes me feel immediately calm, a bit like Desert Island Discs. I really enjoyed re-listening to the episode all about having the courage to be your own guide with some incredible life advice from Grammy-winning artist India Arie.

3. NEW YORKER RADIO — Specifically an episode called How A Pandemic Ends. Such an interesting listen. Jill Lepore speaks on the 'stay at home' campaign during the polio years. She says: "one of the reasons I study history is I like to see how things began— so I can see how bad things end."

4. HURRY SLOWLY — I loved this episode called The Importance Of Uncertainty with Mark Epstein (whose book No Advice Given I bought after listening to this episode.)

"Relax, You'll Be More Productive." I've been really struggling with any sort of routine as of late, and trying to go easy on myself. I've reinstated the '90 minute burst' rule into my day, and it's been really helping. I've been working less hours, but in these bursts, and have definitely been getting more done than just staring at my screen for 7 hours straight. Read more here.

Liz Gilbert's Creative Toolkit. I really enjoyed listening to Elizabeth Gilbert on the Tim Ferriss Podcast. I thought I'd heard everything Liz Gilbert had to say, but no! Every time she goes on a podcast I learn something new. She takes us through her entire creative toolkit, from The Artist's Way handbook to saying no, to managing grief to things she's learned in therapy. Love her.

How 14 Writers are Finding Joy During Lockdown. I absolutely loved this New York Times series. From jogging slowly, to cooking, to stalking strangers, to caring for others. It might be a shitshow right now but we are allowed to find little pockets of joy wherever we can. Have a read here.

ICYMI...

I interviewed Jess Evans about classism in journalism for the latest episode of Ctrl Alt Delete Podcast.
I interviewed brilliant queen of fiction Adele Parks this week! If you sign up to MyVLF.com you can stream the interview. We discuss plotting a novel; writing routines and why she wanted to write about winning the lottery in her most recent book Just My Luck.
Have you joined The Hyphen Book Club? I picked this month's book club pick, it's Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny. Join in, grab a copy, and follow the Instagram page here!
I did an unboxing video for my debut novel OLIVE as I received final copies to my flat this week and it was VERY EXCITING INDEED.

Join 30,000+ Students By Signing Up To My Skillshare Class! "5 Exercises To Build Creative Confidence" (Launching on Tuesday!)

Pre-Order My Debut Novel OLIVE

The Multi-Hyphen Life Is Coming To America!

Thanks for subscribing! If you enjoyed it, why not forward to a friend?

See you soon.

Love,
Emma xo

I'm Emma, the person behind this newsletter. I am the bestselling author of The Multi-Hyphen Method and the soon-to-be-published novel OLIVE, and creator of the hit podcast series Ctrl Alt Delete — a podcast for creatives that starts off talking about work, then follows wherever the conversation naturally goes. You can also follow me on Instagram here, and Twitter here.

The Hyphen: Being A D*ck, Podcasts & Choosing Love

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