Vibrant Imaginative People

July 2024, Issue No. 29

Your VIP Newsletter from Soulla's Writing Room

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Hello my dear VIP friend

How are you? Last month I mentioned lots of busyness and new contacts which were feeding my soul with inspiration, ideas, and a feeling of pure happiness. And it continues this month with new editing commissions for wonderful new writers trusting me with their words and allowing me into their worlds.

In so doing, my own writing has slowed down and in many ways my life has continued on this path of meandering slowly, like a lazy river, where I am enjoying what life has to show me; a different perspective, a gentle pause. I am taking life "S.L.O.W.L.Y.".

What does slowing down or pausing look like for you?

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Vibrant Colours of Summer

Summer in London has either been too hot or too wet and I'm waiting for it to be just right. I sound like Goldilocks and the Three Bears but it's true. The best thing about the indecisive weather ahs been that the intermittent sunshine and rain have created the most beautiful abundance of colours in my garden and local park.

Bright Pinks and purples, lush green leaves and cherry blossom, fat lilac rhododendrons and golden yellows have cheered me no end. I feel happy to be living in such a beautiful world, and I like how nature is being looked after without us having to remember to water the garden in the evenings.

What colours are you noticing this season? How do they make you feel?

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Imaginative Writing, Scribbles and Notes

Client edits have kept me busy and away from my own writing and so I have been scribbling in my notebooks and journal. My imagination has been sparked and my writing prompted by single words which I randomly hit on and listed from the nearest book to me by my bedside.

It’s been a wonderful exercise in pushing myself to write differently, quickly yet in the moment, slowly yet with a busy mind and I like what I have come up with.

Some days I have written pages and pages and other days I have written a short paragraph or a simple two lines. There is no right or wrong and I like that. It takes away the pressure. The free-flowing aspect means I am fully immersed in whatever words fall onto the page and I allow them to speak to me the way they want. It's an exercise which puts no pressure on me.

Perhaps you would like to have a go: Take one word a day, making sure you have time and space to sit quietly with your pen and notebook and write whatever and wherever your heart and mind take you.

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People and Friendships

The 30^th July is International Friendship Day (read more here) and thought I would celebrate by sharing some of the friendships in the stories I write.

In Broken Pieces of Tomorrow Georgia and Thalia become friends just at a time when both their marriages fall apart… they embark on a journey to find freedom and themselves again, which is sometimes painful and heart breaking, but it is also punctuated with laughter, good humour and comedic incidents, making their friendship real, raw and ravishing. It is a friendship that will leave you laughing and crying and a story that may “even leave you a little hot under the collar” as one reader said.

In The Summer Will Come we see a young school-aged Elena become friends with Janet and their friendship endures the wrath of Elena’s mother, the unplanned pregnancy of Janet and the racism of peers at school. It is a friendship worth celebrating and shows how differences can often highlight what we also have in common and can lead to the most beautiful life-long friendships. Do you have a life-long friend who has always been in your life through your happiest and your hardest of times?

In Alexander and Maria the hot, passionate relationship between them arises after a romantic, poetry-filled liaison online and Alexander and Maria find that opposites do attract but is it enough to fulfil the needs of both their wounded hearts and their hopes for tomorrow. One reader said: “A thought provoking beautiful love story. Two people who have been dealt difficult , unfulfilled lives, meet in an unusual way. Heartening, emotional, enjoyable read.”

In A Palette of Magpies Judith and Louise, close to retirement age, have the biggest adventures together from rambling and hiking across fields, to drinking too much at parties, to getting lost and discovering past secrets, to finding love again as well as discovering the identity of the person anonymously sending magpie rhyme-inspired postcards to Judith. You will want to turn the pages of this book quicker than ever to find out what happens next… “This is an utterly charming read. Full of wisdom and warm-hearted friendship… A generous portrayal of this important phase of life and how communities can grow together, as can unexpected friendships. A delightful five stars.”

I hope that you enjoy good friendships in your life; ones which inspire you, make you feel safe and loved, excite you and make you want to reach for the impossible, to try. I hope they make you laugh and dance barefoot and I hope they ground you and help you in all the nitty-gritty of life too. Good friends are hard to find so when you do hold onto them.

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Until next month...

I hope you enjoyed this month's newsletter and that you find time to write, scribble, immerse yourself in the colours of summer (or winter where you are) or catch up with your friends... and hopefully make time for some reading too!

Lots of love and big hugs, Soulla xxx

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