Morning everyone!

I just want you to know that things are feeling a lot clearer for me after totally burning out with the newsletter and work/life in general. I can see the bigger picture again after not being able to see the wood for the trees. I’ve been reminded of why this work is important and how much more there is to do and the time off really helped with that. I’m so excited to be back in your inboxes again. In fact I am going to be unpausing subscriptions this week and next Sunday will be the official relaunch date. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for you all sticking with me and for sending me so many lovely messages of support. Thank you!

I know so many of you love this newsletter and I want to make it the very best it can be while also making it more manageable for me to run. What you see is an email on Sunday but you don’t see all the behind the scenes work that goes into it and all the emails and admin. It can be hard to keep up with especially given I am a freelance writer so have to prioritise work that pays my bills. Newsletters are truly labours of love – even the ones with a paid subscription so huge kudos to any readers who have their own newsletters (or podcasts or blogs etc). It is not easy! On that note, if you don’t already pay to subscribe, this is the best way you can ensure this newsletter continues. I’ll be sharing more about that next week. Huge thank you to my paying subscribers and anyone who has bought me a coffee on Ko-Fi.

The other way to support this newsletter, which is totally free, is by voting for me in the Newsletter Fest Awards! I was so touched to have been shortlisted in the Niche Newsletter category. Huge thanks to those who nominated me. I would have shared info about this but only heard about it after being shortlisted when a lovely reader congratulated me. I am not ashamed to admit I welled up at the news. The website to vote is a bit glitchy but I’m assured your vote will count but maybe try a few times just to be sure. To vote please open the Niche Category tab. This newsletter is listed under Independent Woman - The Single Supplement. You don’t have to log in to vote and it takes two seconds. Voting closes on 15 April. Please share the link as well! I need all the help I can get to win.

I don’t like to leave you without any reading/listening material so here are a few things I have been reading lately that I think you’ll enjoy (even though they are not all to do with being single):

• Sentimental in the city podcast series by Caroline O'Donoghue and Dolly Alderton (more on this soon!)

• Parenting as a solo mum by Mel Johnson on Mother Of All Lists

• Confronting My Chronic Illness Has Changed What It Means For Me To Be Single by Taylor Tobin

• Where are my friends? by Tiffany Philippou

• Do I have burn out? - episode of the Is This Working podcast

• First thing I turn to in a book? The thank yous at the back by Hannah Jane Parkinson (I do this too. I love the acknowledgements!)

• Nell Frizzell: From 'Panic Years' To Parentin‪g‬ - episode of the Alonement podcast

• ‘Braver than I gave myself credit for’: what Positive News readers learned in lockdown. And on that note…

• … The new edition of Positive News magazine is out and makes for a great uplifting read (and not just because my articles are in it)

• I was mentioned in a Red magazine article, which you can read here.

• Oh and I won an award! You can read about it here.

• I also wanted to share that Tiffany and I have a brand new set of writing classes coming soon which focus on mindset, memory and developing your writing practice. Early bird tickets are available NOW!

• Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram if you don’t already!

• Here’s a tweet that nearly made me spit my tea out:

Sathnam Sanghera @Sathnam

Boy, you really get into magnolia trees when you get older. No one prepared me for this shit.

March 24th 2021

969 Retweets20,252 Likes

That’s it for now. Really excited about next week. Please don’t forget to vote for this newsletter! I’ll be so grateful to you.

Lots of love,

Nicola

Twitter: @Nicola_Slawson | Instagram: @Nicola_Slawson

About me

For those who don’t know, I’m Nicola Slawson, a freelance journalist who lives in Shropshire, UK. If you loved this edition of the newsletter in particular, you can buy me a coffee, here’s the link to my Ko-Fi page. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter. 

Did someone forward The Single Supplement to you? Sign up here.