When I think about writing from the deepest parts of myself – something I’ve done often – I always think of an incredible spoken word poet called Abe Nouk – his surname is spelled Nouk, if you want to look him up – who I once saw speak at a conference. He said, ‘Do not be afraid to reveal yourself to your pen.’ And I wrote that down, took it home, and it’s been pinned up in my office for all the years since. You make the biggest impact on your readers when you share yourself, but it’s not easy to do. Usually I offer a series of tips on how to tackle the week’s issue, but today I just want to talk about my experience of sharing my own vulnerabilities on the page, and why it matters so much.

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