Sparkle on Substack

The word Intention in Latin means purpose.

WELCOME to another day in the Substack universe. I hope you had a nice weekend?

Thanks SO much for your warm reception on last week’s note. You are all so lush and I cannot believe of 1000 of you listened… it’s a joy to do this work…

This one ended a little abruptly as I could hear my daughter coming up the stairs to the studio…

So it’s about creative practise and making friends with ours.

It’s really comes down to walking the sands of two paths…

* Following the nudges and understanding what the container you are being called to show up inside of.

* Being in direct comms with your most embodied vision.

Both paths are the right path, one is more expansive and easier than the other…

Let me know where you think you are in the comments?

Have a GREAT week on Substack folks,

Claire

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Early bird closes TOMORROW on my signature course. This one is such a beautiful way to spend time, get organised and create an irresistible online home on Substack.

PS - Listen to this if you fancy a Monday morning BOOST!!

Eeeeeeek I made a NEW thing.

I hope you like it.

This first pep talk is free and inspired by two brilliant women and congruently authentic voices; Selina Barker who does a regular BRILLIANT pep talk for her members over at Another Way with Selina Barker and Caroline Donahue who drops into her membership this way and shares her truth.

This pep talk is free to all and the rest of these regular calls to action will be paywalled for members.

I’d love to know what it sparks for you as we head deep into Spring and all her colours.

Sending SO many sparkles for your week ahead,

Claire

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PS - Ooo members can catch the replay and better understand how to stack your value here on Substack in our hour long class. Don’t forget you can also meet your fellow sparklers anytime in chat or over in our topical chat threads.

My Growth to Bestseller Challenge is coming 1-5 May, join us here. Grab your ticket today for just £101 and join 130 others building towards their ‘bestselling’ Substack vision in joyful, sustainable ways. I can’t wait to support you to set the strategy to magnestise the Substack and audience of your dreams.

Connecting on on the display changes to our bios and what we should do about it. Thanks for coming along to my live. It was lovely to see some of you!!

Cx

Don’t forget Sparkle on Substack the membership is having a price rise to reflect the value of the archive and take into account new fees I have to pay. To get in at the current pricing and stay there for as long as you stay hit upgrade before 3rd April. Do it now if you’ve been thinking about it? I promise you will ADORE it here.

Hi Sparklers,

I wanted to record a little something to address two new Substack features that have been rolled out…

Enjoy my eight minute take from my cottage office here on the Northumberland coast on…

* The Rising Star Leaderboards

* The new writer bio layout…

If you’d prefer to watch you can do that here…

Two beautiful opportunities for you in May …

* (ONLINE) Join our Growth to Bestseller Challenge…

b. (IRL) - I’d also love for you to join us for Substack for Ease Day Retreat with Tanya Lynch on 9 May 2025 in Oxfordshire. Here’s more info on that. If you’d like to meet on zoom this Friday to learn more, hit reply to this email and I’ll send you the link

Let me know any questions you have or thoughts on the new Substack features in the comments below…

Sending sparkles and a HUGE permission slip for you to ignore leaderboards if you like and do your best work in connection to your readers.

Claire

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PS - Go deeper - explore Substack’s article on leaderboards - https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/5999320475412-What-are-Substack-leaderboards

and mine and Russell Nohelty hugely popular post and take on them too -

Thanks for joining us this morning. It was BEAUTIFUL to see you.

You can check and sign up for more calls here.

Reminder - Diamond Membership closes temporarily to new members TODAY! Here are your benefits…

Join me for my next live video in the app

"Your publication is its own beautiful little garden, a little terrarium that you can keep safe and you can nurture your audience and connect to your subscribers and readers."

Sparklers!

You can build and grow joyfully and sustainably without burn out here.

Fancy a little creative boost as to how you show up? Need some insight into how to refresh your joyful growth strategy for Substack and beyond?

Join us for my 7 Day Joyful Growth (on Substack) challenge next week!?

Subscribe here - (it’s a whole separate Substack) to make sure you are clear on where to find everything. We run for 7 days.

This is for you if… you already understand Substack and have yours set up with under 3000 readers. It will be expansive in the best most considered way.

You don’t have to attend anything live. You can come to the posts when it feels right for you. There’ll be chat support too.

It’s perfect timing if you are craving;

A Clear(er) Path – Instead of feeling stuck or overwhelmed, you’ll get a step-by-step process to follow that becomes a holistic and person centred creative practise that sticks.

Fresh Inspiration – Looking for prompts, ideas, and strategies that make writing, showing up and growing feel exciting again? I’ve got you.

Gentle Accountability blended with community and connection – Knowing others are on the same journey makes you more likely to show up and take action. There’s a lovely gang gathering with 250 signed up so far. This won’t be a big noisy, busy challenge.

Results to celebrate Without Burnout – Always and forever.

Watch the video above or listen in your podcast app to see/ hear more and a quick joyful growth tip. This tip will help you connect with what your readers LOVE, how your work can drives new readers.

You’ll also see me share openly how I did a dance with my own scheduling to grow my newsletter giving my readers something that I knew that they'd be excited about.

Questions? I’m all ears.

It’s not about ticking off a list of “to-dos” or hammering yourself with extra things - it’s more about how joyful growth can and should feel as you build your publication (almost) effortlessly.

If you’re short on time don’t worry - the challenge is meant to be experienced AND implemented in less than 20 minutes each day. Come to it in your own time. New daily posts delivered each day right to your inbox/ app.

Yay! Sign up here ⬇️

Let’s work out what joyful growth really means to you long term.

See you there folks,

Claire

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PS - the challenge is totally free but will close and go behind a paywall at the end of Feb.

PPS - if you want to share use this referral link because there are some FANTASTIC prizes up for grabs if you do.

WELCOME back to Sparkle on Substack, the podcast. You can listen to this wherever on Substack or wherever you get your podcasts.

My second guest for Season 3 is the wonderful Emma Simpson. We recorded this episode back in September and I can hardly believe it’s been four months.

I first met the delightful Emma Simpson at Alnwick Story Fest this time last year actually. Since then, we have stayed in touch, met in London and cheer-leaded each other’s work from a far.

If you want to join us for tea and cake at this year’s Alnwick Story Fest, drop me an email. I’m excited to be meeting up with some fellow writers. Tickets are here. Emma and I are both speaking at the festival which takes place 2/3 March.

One of the things I love about Emma’s Substack publication is that it’s eclectic. It’s refreshing, unpredictable and she writes longer stories I want to snuggle up with.

Emma is headed towards 1000 readers and I’d love to help her get there ahead of her book publication date in March. Subscribe below for the good stuff!

Emma in her own words

I am a wild swimmer and life-long hobbyist writer specialising in narrative non-fiction. Having spent a couple of decades being distracted by a career as an air traffic controller and experiencing two life-wrenching events, I rediscovered my pen and my passion for storytelling at the same time as discovering how transformational cold-water swimming was for my health, wellbeing, and sense of connection with the world. Trained in coaching psychology, I have combined my years as an observer of human behaviour in high stress environments with my love for listening to people’s tales around the shores of a lake; mug of steaming hot tea in hand. I hold these stories with great care and trust as I reflect on the great oral storytelling traditions of our past.

My current book is an exploration into the primal powers of femininity and water; with stories gathered from around the world that demonstrate the power of connection and humanity in an increasingly crazy society. Future offerings include tales from Ireland, the land of my ancestry, and a collection of soul stories showcasing the astonishing beauty and simplicity of people’s actions in the everyday.

* Pre-Order Breaking Waves on Amazon

* Pre-Order Breaking Waves at Waterstones 

* Emma’s website 

* You might also enjoy these articles on lifting the lid on the book publication process. It’s truly fascinating!!

Watch on YouTube

Timestamped overview

00:00 From Air Traffic Control to Writing

06:12 Extraordinary Marathon Swimmer's Profound Moments

15:01 Wild Swimming: Community and Connection

17:39 The Great Unplugging

24:57 Social Media's Impact on Behaviour

30:20 Writing to Connect and Heal

35:08 Community Connections and Unexpected Success

39:23 "Embracing PR and Book Festivals"

48:25 Agent Feedback on Book Proposal

49:53 Agent Decision and Personal Connection

57:29 "Creative Influence and Recognition"

01:00:54 "Connecting with Creative Muses"

01:05:26 Emma Simpson's Literary Journey

Happy Friday all,

I was so excited to connect with fellow creative mum Charlie Swift who I met (I think) on instagram some years back…

This was an impromptu live as Charlie shared with me she’d like to try a Substack Live in our members call and her word/ phrase of the year is ‘Show Up’ so here we are… Beautiful things happen online every single day. Here’s you invite to see more of them and less of the things that fry your nervous system.

In our Substack live, Charlie shared more about her creative process, her work, self expression, expression. We also delve into her ‘viral moment’ on IG and our relationships with platforms (IG and Substack plus the others that ‘work’ for us).

We go deep into online literacy including ‘being’ online, present, authentic, editing or curating ourselves and leaning into our feelings on that. We also share more on how we make our unique creative and business eco systems work.

You might like to connect and listen to Charlie’s podcast over here too;

Other things/ links/ classes we mentioned;

* Abstain or Moderate? with Gretchen Reuben

* Substack with Ease retreat

* Laura Pashby and her retreat here

* Your Creative and Content Eco-System class - it’s free join us live or catch the replay in a couple of weeks.

* Write your Book with us this year in 12 Chapters Club

* The reel with the hair.

* Sign up for visioning class next week (Sparkle members) -

* Charlie’s website to book mentoring with her.

We’d love to continue this conversation in the comments if you fancy it over the weekend and into next week,

Claire and Charlie

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