Thank you!
I started this newsletter to get used to sharing my words and getting feedback. Last we we talked about ‘teaching from our scars’ you sent me lots of feedback so I thought I’d pitch an article going deeper into this to one of my favourite magazines. They said no but they invited me to write something else and they were able to look back at the newsletter to see my writing. Your likes and comments really do make a difference to me and apparently to editors.
I have written hundreds of magazine articles, mostly under another persons name. When you work in a government press office you write articles and speeches for ministers and they put their names to them. I have been David Cameron, Vince Cable, Ed Davy, Sir Michael Wilshaw, Dame Judith Hackett, Sharon White, Jack Straw and so many other people - trying to get into their heads to speak in their voice wasn’t always pleasant.
Under my own name its been ten years since I actively did any freelance writing and back then I didn’t really know what my motivation was. Well I did but I wasn’t yet comfortable with it. Now I am, I am a working class writer with a lot to say and a lot of stories to share. And with a little cheerleading crew behind me I feel a lot more confident to go out and tell those stories - so thank you your good vibes and encouragement is working.
I’m hoping the inclusion of working class writers is not a trend but a genuine invitation to the table. I was so happy to see that Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for Shuggie Bain, his debut novel about a boy in 1980s Glasgow trying to support his mother as she struggles with addiction and poverty.
These stories are too often overlooked and ignored but the glimpse into another persons life can have such a profound difference to people now. We all know books inspire people. Working class stories may not inspire people to take a gap year and travel to Asia, but a policy maker working in government today reading Shuggie Bain just might reconsider some of the policies they are working on, do a bit more real research and create a policy that lifts a generation of children out of poverty. Now wouldn’t that be something.