Celebrating The TEN's first year - and a 25% discount

Because you're all, quite frankly, brilliant

My goodness, how is it possible that I’ve been posting here weekly for almost one entire year?

Rhetorical, obviously but still, that’s a lot of consistent work my end and some rather heroic engagement from you lovely lot.

Just over a year ago, I had a lofty vision of creating an online writers group and magazine that delivered the motivation to keep you writing to your inbox but also offer nuggets of wisdom from others, a sprinkling of pop culture and a place to share my own musings.

My first post, on January 2, called On Your Marks, Get Set…Think, was about not rushing to write just because it’s a new year. Thinking is just as important as writing (although at some point you obviously have to write too).

It didn’t take long to get into the habit of sending out the Monday mote, or start reaching out to writers to interview. I began to squirrel away snippets for The Write to Know and text newsletter ideas back to myself on an almost daily basis.

Unlike many here on the ‘stack, I didn’t bring any kind of mailing list with me and I don’t have a Sunday Times bestseller to entice you. (Ha! Not yet anyway). But I reckoned that I had enough enthusiasm and energy to find a momentum, and was thrilled when people started to engage with the newsletters.

In the grand tradition of blogging, I’d planned to write a hefty navel-gazing missive on what I’ve learned from a year of The TEN but actually, there’s no need. Why make it more complicated than it needs to be? It’s simply this:

• Community is everything.

• You get out what you put in.

• Writers are, at heart, a generous bunch.

• Being my own publisher has been hugely empowering.

• The more vulnerable you are, the more people engage.

• I’ve found a different audience and made new friends (actually some of you are new/old friends).

• It’s a relief, as a word nerd, to be somewhere that honours correct spelling and good grammar.

• The support and sense of belonging has blown me away.

• We’re all just doing the best we can.

As a show of appreciation, I’m offering a 25% discount on all yearly subscriptions.

The offer runs until January 10, 2025, which is a year to the day that I published The Thrill of Joining a Writers Group (Part 1), the newsletter I feel really kicked off the year.

That works out at around £3.75/$4.70 a month, which is a considerable saving on the usual £5.99/$7.50 per month.

For that, you’ll receive the Monday motivation newsletter, interviews with writers and industry insiders, my own ponderings on writing, and a curated newsletter packed with writing comps, books, film, TV and podcast recommendations, long reads and just about anything else that catches my eye. Plus, you get access to all the juicy paywalled content, and there will be more of that this year.

Because of The TEN, I found the impetus to start a new in-person writers group, which now meets monthly at my local book shop/cafe, and which will soon also celebrate its first anniversary.

Immersing myself in a creative community has filled a void. Post-Covid, I was struggling to find my people, having landed unexpectedly back in Leigh-on-Sea. Between Substack and the book shop group, I have found a safe and welcoming place. It’s fired up my creativity and given me unending joy and enriching friendships.

Over the summer, I started to write a novel. By the end of summer, I’d ditched said novel. In hindsight, I was trying to be something I wasn’t. After a considerable amount of thinking time, I’m on the cusp of starting over, the difference being that I now have the confidence to write from the heart and in my own voice.

I don’t know how possible that would have been without The TEN or the irl writers group. I’ve written many screenplays and stories in different forms over the years but never a novel. However, I’ve seen you all working towards your dreams, I’ve read your stories and absorbed your wisdom - and all of that has been so encouraging. Being around people who just ‘get it’ makes such a difference.

Turns out that this is so much more than a newsletter. I’ve learned a lot from not just you - my subscribers and followers - but also the writers and industry professionals I’ve interviewed for Ten for The TEN and the INSIDERS series.

I truly hope these interviews have inspired you too. Thank you to everyone who has given up their time this year to talk to me about their writing process and professional lives.

I’m always on the look out for people to grill so if you think that’s you, or know someone who fits the bill, do get in touch!

Over Christmas, I haven’t just been discussing the merits of After Eights versus Mint Matchmakers, on Threads (although no word of a lie, it’s been greatly amusing). I’ve been plotting out the year and thankfully, it’s already taking some kind of shape, especially as I pivot in terms of how I earn a living.

I’m editing a memoir for a first time author, which is something else that may not have happened without The TEN, and also writing an e-book on how to get press coverage for your self-published novel.

Because of that, I’m taking a break from posting here until Monday January 13. So in the meantime, have a wonderful New Year, you lovely people. Enjoy the celebrations, eat the last of the cheese and remember to forget your old acquaintances.

Or as Harry Burns, in When Harry Met Sally says, “What does this song mean? My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot’. Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances? Or does it mean that if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot ’em?”

I still don’t know either Harry, but here’s to 2025 and more of the good stuff.

Lisa

Back page extra: Did anyone else fall down a Pentatonix black hole over Christmas? I’d only vaguely heard of them but they seemed to be all over the place wafting through fake snow, wearing cosy knits and warbling like the harmonious songstrells they are. This is their cover of Seasons of Love, from rent, you know, the one about measuring a year in a life…