Not taking part in The Chain this summer?

What you can enjoy as a paid Member or free subscriber over the coming months

Hi friends,

The kids broke up for the summer on last Wednesday and they’ll be off now until mid-August. It’s a different holiday cadence from some other parts of the UK, and I still wonder at why this is. You’ll keep me right with the whats and, perhaps, the whys.

This is not a post about holidays but it is about what you can expect over the next six weeks or so as a paid Member or free subscriber.

The Chain

As you’ll know, The Chain kicks off this Sunday with a piece of flash memoir written especially for us by

Caro Giles

whose new book, Unschooled: The Story of a Family that Doesn’t Fit In, is available right now to pre-order from Little Toller Books. I’m waiting for my copy to drop, and in the meantime have had my appetite well and truly whetted by

Kerri ní Dochartaigh

who says Giles “writes of the everyday world of mothering …with such unassuming, humble, raw, grace.” I just know that her words will provide the perfect starting point for our six weeks of co-creation, tapping into themes of belonging, motherhood and identity.

Each Sunday’s piece of memoir, written by the week’s chosen member of The Chain, will be free to read for all subscribers. Please like these posts by hitting the heart! The comments (where writers will share their own pieces of flash memoir written in response to the prompt) are closed to the Membership. Up to 33 writers each week will be sharing their work and I’d love for those to be enjoyed (and actively “liked”!) by as many of the Membership as possible. Please do cheer them on as they share first drafts and early work; this is vulnerable stuff and I’m in such admiration of them for embarking upon this project with such fearless enthusiasm.

A European Summer

If you are in the mood to travel virtually to northern Europe in a motorhome, then let me send you directly to a brand new section of my publication, A European Summer. Last June, July and August we took a trip from Scotland to Sweden and back by way of The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. I wrote about the trip and have lifted the paywall on the first of those posts from just before we set off. In it I muse on Problematic Objects as I get the house ready for the pet sitters.

This is a section just for the Membership, many of whom joined after this trip and so weren’t along for the ride in real time. I wanted to make it easy for you to find and enjoy this series, so dig in:

Held in Mind

My award-winning memoir, Held in Mind, on disrupting the cycle of intergenerational maternal trauma is also available to listen to in full either by clicking through to the episodes and bonus bits in this post:

or by tuning in on Spotify here:

The prologue is a free listen and you can unlock every episode no matter where you tune in if you upgrade to the Membership for £7 a month or £50 annual:

Seasonal Session

The next Seasonal Session will take place towards the end of August. These hour-long live journaling sessions based on the UK-reimagining of the Japanese tradition of viewing the year as 72 micro seasons run six times a year for the Membership, and if you want to know more about them, then head to this post:

What Now? Group Chat

This will return in September after we’ve all recovered from The Chain!

Ok, that’s about it, folks! I’m working on some off-Substack writing projects at the moment and looking forward to sharing news on some of those soon.

Over and out!

Lindsay x