The Lemon Soul sofa is a year old!
Celebrate with: The one where Nan did a skydive and we got a tortoise...
What’s in a year?
Well, lovely people, it’s been a year for me on planet Substack, and what a ride it’s been. I’ve published 100 essays, made friends from all over the world, become part of an extraordinary community, and met up with quite a few of you in real life. It has been an absolute joy inviting you to share thoughts, words and to take up a space on my sofa. There really is nothing else like it.
I came to Substack with zero subscribers at a point where I was about to be dropped by my agent, and was preparing to self-publish my first book having had my twenty year career in aviation brutally cut short for health reasons. Turns our an awful lot can happen in a year. So…
Welcome to Lemon Soul and thank you for making it what it is. Here is a summary about Lemon Soul, about me, and more importantly, about you and what is here for you. There are a few questions and polls further down and I’d really love your thoughts!
If you’re new here, let me tell you what to expect, and if you’ve been with me a while, thank you [I love you ❤️], but also let me tell you about some things that are coming up…
What is Lemon Soul?
Lemon Soul is a place where I share ‘refreshing perspectives, slices of life’. What does that even mean?
Well I write on a whole host of subjects: from applying for jobs in Antarctica to getting a book deal, from managing chronic illness to parenting teenagers, from mental health to cuddly cloth cats, from an Irish smile to New York nights.
Clearly I don’t write in a niche category because, well, I don’t live in a niche. Who does? I obviously exist in some categories - writer, parent, chronic illness er…experiencer (?). (I don’t feel like a sufferer or warrior right now so ‘experiencer’ will have to do). However we are all SO much more than the sum of our parts, and I never know entirely know which part I’m going to write about next.
I think the easiest way to tell you what to expect from Lemon Soul is to share what others say about being here:
“A beautiful soul with a brilliant voice, that makes you feel inspired and comforted”
“Highly relatable slice-of-life posts, brimming with warmth, humour and generosity”
“Guaranteed to bring a smile and feel like a good chat with an old friend”
“Poignant, raw and beautifully honest”
“I feel heard, supported and accepted. Truly wonderful, heartfelt and inspiring”
“Profoundly human and close to home”
What makes me especially emotional here is not just the words themselves, but that you took the time to write them, and that they reflect what I have been trying to achieve more than I can say. When I updated my ‘all important’ About Page, Bio and Short Description this week, I struggled for ages to convey what I wanted to say, but then I realised that you had done it for me. This is Lemon Soul in a nutshell:
“Refreshing Perspectives, Slices of Life. Highly Relatable, Profoundly Human”
Thank you. I could not have put it better myself 🙏
What does Lemon Soul mean for you?
Free subscribers
My model on here is to keep the majority of my posts free; it’s a perennial challenge – to paywall or not to paywall - when you write for a living, but my driving force is connection, having a community, and helping others to feel less alone. To that end, my general posts will remain free to all:
Weekly(ish) posts on a variety of topics that are thought provoking, offer inspiration, quite a few laughs, and a lot of empathy.
At the end of each post you will also receive my Lemon Soul Slices in brief with:
🍋 updates on writing life (what it’s actually like)
🍋 what I’ve been reading/watching/listening to - book reviews; film/TV/podcast recommendations
🍋 my favourite Substacks including the small and newly discovered
🍋 and quite possibly something random that you didn’t even know you needed…until just at that moment…
Paid subscribers
Additionally, my incredible and dedicated paid community will receive:
🍋 Exclusive content and insights from my forthcoming books including Breaking Waves: Discovery, Healing and Inspiration in the Open Water which is being published by Icon Books in March 2025!
[ My publisher would rather book excerpts didn’t go out in advance at all, but I have managed to persuade them that they are protected behind the paywall so I get to share stuff with you ahead of time, chat to you about it, discuss it, get your views. It’s such a treat! Oh, and I will NEVER get used to saying ‘my publisher’.]
🍋 Early insight into two other forthcoming books: Little Tufts of Tea and Slipping Through my Fingers: on Mothering Teens, Making Mistakes and Learning to Let Go (which is not yet on my website but I am SO excited about it…watch this space)
🍋 Access to my Book Deal Diaries series giving the inside track on how I made the change from air traffic controller to traditionally published author, sharing inspiration, tips and resources on how I got my first book deal at 51 with no background in the industry, and exclusive insight into the book publishing process as I experience it in real time. The focus from now is on the ‘live’ process of book publishing, editing, PR and marketing and everything that happens in the build up to the book launch as I experience it. The whirlwind is building and I’d love you to come along for the ride.
🍋 Full access to all archived posts (my regular posts go behind the paywall after 4 weeks, but paid subscribers can access them without limitation)
🍋 Masterclass access
🍋 Direct messaging with me and community threads
🍋 Most of all, my genuine, heartfelt gratitude for your support, and for making all of this possible
All this, for the price of a couple of coffees a month…or, should I say tea. I can’t make friends with coffee…
If you would like to upgrade your membership but it is not within your means just now, simply get in touch and I will gift you a free month, no questions asked 🫶
Founding Members
And as for you, well there is a truly special place being created just for you. Things are brewing and it’s becoming quite exciting! I will have more updates for you in the coming months, but know that as a founding member you will receive all of the above and also:
🍋 an individually signed and gifted copy of my book, Breaking Waves when it is published, along with a surprise gift chosen individually for you.
🍋 a 1-1 creative brainstorm/coaching session where over the course of two hours, we will explore your hopes, dreams, curiosity and creativity; learn what is holding you back and discover fresh perspectives and renewed purpose. It is such an exciting and fulfilling process, tailored to you as an individual, enabling you to flourish.
[Note: I am a certified Life and Leadership coach with a postgraduate certificate in Coaching Psychology from Birkbeck University of London. I will bring this guidance, experience and insight into our session, as well as sharing what I have learned through my own transformation from air traffic controller to author.]
Allow yourself to dream, to imagine, and to make it happen 💕
And as for me? Who am I?
Well…where do I start.
My updated bio reads:
Air Traffic Controller who had a Dramatic Change of Direction | Creator of 'Lemon Soul': Refreshing Perspectives, Slices of Life | Author, Wild Swimmer, Tea Sommelier, Random
All true - especially the ‘random’ bit.
I am an air traffic controller turned author, wild swimmer and a certified tea sommelier (yes - it’s a thing!!), and I recently applied for a job in Antarctica. I have worked everywhere from McDonalds to the busiest single airport runway in the world. I have lost a brother and father, both in an instant, and my original five are now three - mum, sister, me. I live in the UK with my fire-fighter husband, two teenage daughters and a sixty year old tortoise 🐢.
My daughters are Taz and Fiver (NOT their real names
🤣). Taz - my Tasmanian Devil, is named after the Warner Bros. character. She’s my fiery, ginger whirlwind. A ball of chaos, magnificence, cuddles, hilarity, warmth and love. There is NEVER a dull moment… Fiver is named after the scared rabbit from the classic book Watership Down. She has eyes the size of dinner plates, is strangely prescient, has a wisdom beyond her years, and is simultaneously terrified of the world whilst having the ability to save it. She nearly died at birth and carries a marker of that which I can’t define but which I sense in her every day. They both take my breath away.My husband is an international rescue worker, who comes in and out of our girl world with regularity. One minute he is rescuing a horse (named Emma) from a river, the next he is called to earthquake rescue on the other side of the planet. He’s never been called to rescue a cat from a tree but he has been asked to rescue a monkey from one. He gets called to remove ‘appendages’ from places on the body that would make your eyes water, and the next minute he’s in Africa for catastrophic flood rescue. It’s a strange existence as I constantly try to assimilate him in and out of our daily lives of lost mascaras, friend dramas and exams…balancing the significance of what everyone is experiencing within their own spheres, expanding and contracting our unit of 3, then 4, then 3, then 4. It can be quite delicate.
For myself, I have experienced devastating grief, years of chronic illness and mental health vulnerabilities; and the two things that have saved me in more ways than I can describe are the open water and the power of female friendships - so much so that I wrote an entire book about it 🌊. I love elephants, like to rescue bumblebees and think that tea is the solution to most world problems.
My passions centre around the endurance and optimism of the human spirit, and the constantly surprising nature of this ride called life. I am fascinated by the dark beauty of all corners of the world and our capacity to love through adversity. Through this, I have learned that no matter what we experience, and however it may feel, we are never alone.
Air traffic controller to author…how?
This was not straight forward as I’m sure you can imagine, and it was precipitated by ill health. Having to leave a career I loved after twenty years was heartbreaking, but life continued to unfold in the beautiful and unpredictable way that it does. After leaving my ‘corporate’ world, I ran a life coaching company with my amazing, talented and inspirational sister for three years. This became a coaching exercise in and of itself as we both transitioned from our ‘before’ worlds to our current ones: her into semi-retirement and trusteeship of an animal rescue charity, and me as a writer. We spent more time together than we had in years, and something very special happened as we gently coached ourselves out of coaching and found our places of contentment. I seem to have found that right at the bottom of my very own garden, just where my ruby slippers wanted to take me.
Author Life
As I sit in my little cabin today at the end of the garden with the rain absolutely pouring down (somebody forgot to tell the UK that it’s summer) I’m currently in the throes of my ‘copy edits’ for Breaking Waves which I shall share with you as part of The Book Deal Diaries series. It is intense!! I honestly had no idea that there was so much involved, it’s extremely eye-opening. Once I can breathe from that I will get back to books 2 and 3 as mentioned above. I also have two further non-fiction book ideas and my first fiction idea is brewing. It might just be set in Antarctica. The pipeline is super busy.
If you thought the structural edits looked bad…
What’s coming up in Substack?
I’ve been finding my feet here over the past year, experimenting with things like my Friday Dip (thoughts to wash over you for the weekend) which I really enjoyed, but my health just will not allow me to work to a 'fixed ‘day of the week’ schedule so these are now part of my archive rather than a separate section, but all still accessible.
For the next little while I’m going to try things in a slightly different way – but don’t panic, my sofa is still the one you know and love, the one that always has room for you and a cup of tea waiting, I might just try a couple of new cushions.
My ‘Lemon Soul Slices’ are always hugely well received - this is where I put a round up of book life, Substack life and recommendations. Instead of doing them in chunks every couple of months, I plan to put a little selection of slices into each post going forwards. Hopefully this will be less overwhelming than a quarterly ‘list’ and something might catch your attention just at the moment you were seeking a butterfly, even if you didn’t know it…
I’ll also include a more regular but brief update on the comings and goings of family life - you know just your average week: 83-year-old mother did a parachute jump, I applied for a job in Antarctica, swam naked under the new moon, got a tortoise… that kind of thing.
These will appear as a little round up at the end of a post as below.
If you like this idea, do let me know. If not, also let me know!! Lemon Soul is not a vanity project. To use Substack’s own tagline, it is an engine for connection. If you find you preferred it as it was before, with curated round-ups every 3 months, you only have to say...
There are also plans afoot for a podcast which I am incredibly excited about - this is likely to launch in the New Year to coincide with the publication of Breaking Waves, but will be packed full of inspirational interviews on life changing moments, the profound yet simple things that impact our lives, and how we navigate the ebb and flow of life. More on this soon.
What else would you like to see?
I am planning some further Masterclasses and I’d love your input on what topics may be of interest to you. I have some ideas here, so please indicate as many as you may be interested in, or add any suggestions in the comments below! [Note: some of these incorporate a coaching element]
Masterclasses would be scheduled live, with me presenting, interacting and taking questions as we go along in order that content can be recorded and shared afterwards for those who can’t attend.
Question for you
Would you also like to have some live time that is not in the form of a Masterclass? One that isn’t recorded but gives us another way to spend time together? Not as a writing hour - because if you want a weekly/twice weekly writing hour then you simply cannot get better than joining the
Heartleap Club - you will find me there most Tuesday and Thursday mornings.Instead, how about an occasional Q&A? An ‘ask me anything’ session where we can gather and I can share some extra insight into what it was like leaving a corporate career after two decades, how I am finding life as a writer, my experience of the book publishing process, the highs and lows and what I’m learning along the way?
I LOVE a good natter, and there’s no better way of us getting to know each other. Again if there is something you’d particularly like me to focus on, let me know.
🍋 Lemon Soul Slices 🍋
So that’s all for now, and I’ll just round up with the aforementioned Lemon Soul Slices:
🍋 What we’ve been up to
Well, people always ask my ‘where do I get ‘it’ from’, whatever ‘it’ is… and the answer is definitely from my mum. Just as a flavour, she got a tattoo on her 80th birthday to match the ones my sister and I have…although she didn’t just get one tattoo, she got two. On her 81st and 82nd birthdays she came open water swimming with me, and this year, she did a skydive. In support of my sister’s charity, raising £7000 in the process. The woman is remarkable… Before (with my sister), during and after!
🍋 In other news, my eldest daughter came home from work the other day (in the pet shop) with a full blown sales pitch about how we need to get a tortoise. It just so happened that my best friend had rung me the day before saying ‘Em, we’ve got 3 tortoises, don’t suppose you want one?’. You couldn’t make it up. So this is Columbus - named after my childhood tortoise who used to escape frequently and go exploring. She’s 60 years old and is particularly partial to kale mixed with strawberry tops, and likes burying herself in the ‘grassy knoll’ in our garden. She makes us all very happy.
🍋 What I’m reading
I treated myself a book in a genre I now know is called ‘Healing Fiction’: Welcome to the Hyunam Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum. The protagonist has left her corporate career after burn out, to fulfil her dream of owning a bookshop. A woman after my own heart, and I particularly love that she doesn’t open the doors until 1pm each day… Her bookshop becomes the place for disenfranchised people to gather as they learn what it means to live. Described as ‘delightful, reflective and heart-warming’, it’s a joy.
🍋 What I’m listening to
On audio, I’m listening to the brilliant ‘Sins of My Father’ by
. Tenderly narrated, it is an engaging and mesmerising literary memoir about family, uncovering truths, lies and what she describes as her ‘wild unravelling’ subsequent to her father leaving to join a cult in India. It’s extraordinary.On vinyl, I’m thoroughly enjoying revisiting my Kate Bush years. The Whole Story was always one of my repeat plays and I’m so happy to have rediscovered it wedged on my vinyl shelf. I caught Fiver humming ‘Army Dreamers’ in the car the other day - I’m not sure who was more surprised at our mutual recognition (apparently it’s trending on TikTok), and I just had to hear it again, in original form. What a track listing: Wuthering Heights, Cloudbusting, The Man With the Child in His Eyes, Babooshka, Wow, Breathing, Hounds of Love, Sat in Your Lap, The Dreaming, Running Up That Hill…
Here’s a tiny snippet:
🍋 What I’ve learned
That my long standing phobia…the one I don’t speak of…has a name! It’s called omphalophobia. I challenge you to guess what it is before you look it up…
Thank you for EVERYTHING over this past year, and I cannot wait to share more with you as we go along.
As always,
Love & lemons 💕🍋
Em xx
Love this 🥰🥰🥰
Happy anniversary and so pleased you’re enjoying my book! Such a pleasure to get feedback.