The Next Chapter by Ellie Barker

Lindsay hasn’t just had one next chapter. She’s had several – from playing badminton for Scotland as a child, to working in sports journalism, singing in bars around Scotland and working in PR. She’s now using everything she’s learned in her work as a body confidence coach – which she decided to train as when she saw so many wonderful women in her life struggling.

She has her own podcast and over the years she says she’s worked with thousands of people helping them to feel happier within themselves and improve their self-acceptance.

Lindsay believes we all have it in us to ‘shine’ and it’s all about how we feel.  But she believes the ‘feeling’ we’re all hoping for always comes after the action. The feeling of wholeness, peace and contentment - however that looks for us. Whatever it is we’re putting off, is no doubt the very thing we need to do. She believes deep down we all know what we need to feel our best, whether it’s a little more exercise, changing our diet or leaving a job which is making us miserable. It’s the thoughts that are holding us back, but when we question where did those thoughts come from and are they really true?… well, we can push them aside, a bit like the clouds - and the sun they’ve been hiding can begin to shine again. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to a first for The Next Chapter. Our first Next, Next Chapter Episode!!!

I am delighted and thrilled to welcome back one of my first and very special guests: John Scott.

All my Next Chapter guests are special but those who came on in the very first series are extra special as they had no idea what this podcast was – or if I could do what I hoped I’d do.

John’s appearance was S1 Ep2. (I would highly recommend you listen to this if you haven’t already.) He’s brilliant, fun and what a story. We talk about life as a Hollywood costume maker when he worked on films like Four weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Tomb Raider and some of the Bond films. Then, he was a regular face on national television shows like Lorraine and This
Morning and when I last spoke to him, he was hosting his own sewing channel and show.

Since then, it’s no surprise John has had even more Next Chapters – including writing and publishing a book (which sold out in minutes) and now he’s starting his very own television platform called Threads of Life.
It’s exciting, ground breaking and brilliant- just like John.

In this episode he tells us how there is an actual real-life Princess John Scott in the world (I kid you not), how he manages his energy and why he has no plans to stop yet, in fact looking into the future may be another Next Chapter - watch this space.

John has one of the warmest and most engaged audiences I’ve known on this podcast – which I suppose is no surprise. He is so supportive, wonderful and engaged too. I am so honoured to have him back here again.

To learn more about John’s brilliant new platform go to www.threadsoflife.tv

And in
case you were wondering you can learn about me and my books at www.elliebarkerwrites.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kathy had a huge job in advertising which took her all over the world. But behind the glamour and fabulous hotels Kathy was suffering from burnout. One routine trip to the doctors changed everything – I’ll let Kathy tell you what happened but Kathy knew she had to make a change.

This change she found was in vegetables. Yes, vegetables! Gorgeous, colourful, wonderful veg. Her fascination of watching them grow and then creating delicious recipes with them, it turned out was the medicine she needed. When she was better, she went to cookery school and then became a food writer. Kathy created a wonderful website and has had partnerships with places like Waitrose. She wrote a cookbook From The Veg Patch which was named one of Delicious Magazines Top Picks of 2021, she takes part in festivals and has also held regular supper clubs. Plus she has a wonderful blog  - Tales From A Veg Patch filled with wonderful recipes for us all.

Kathy is open, honest and brave. She tells us what life really was like in the world of advertising (i.e was it like Madmen?) and the reality of life as a freelancer. But best of all Kathy shows even in the darkest moments, we can find light, sunshine and even a new path to a whole new life

You can find out all about Kathy at: https://www.kathyslack.com/

And just in case you were wondering you can find me and my books at elliebarkerwrites.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

S11 Ep 2: From 60 Minute Makeover & A bottle of vodka a day to Sobriety Coach: Dave Wilson

If you ever watched 60 Minute Makeover with Peter Andre – you may remember a lovely carpet fitter called Dave Wilson. But what we didn’t see was Dave was hiding a big drinking problem and at one stage he was drinking a litre of vodka a night.

Then, one day when he was 54 years old, everything changed. I’ll let Dave tell you what happened but five years ago he stopped drinking and he’s never looked back. He has his own podcast called One For the Road (which has around 10,000 downloads a week), he interviews celebrities, world experts and shares stories of all different people and how they’ve overcome their struggles. He’s also written a bestselling book, he has a huge following on social media and he works a coach – helping mainly women with what he describes as grey area drinking.

Dave believes we all tell ourselves a story, like he did. He could never live without drinking, he would lose his friends if he gave it up and he’d never be happy again. But it turned out the opposite happened. He didn’t lose a life, he gained one. He has more friends, more adventure and more joy than he ever did when he drank.

Dave believe there’s always hope – and we do have the power to make change  – but this starts with changing those stories we tell ourselves, about everything, not just how much we drink. This conversation had a huge impact on me (and something very odd happened in the lead up to Dave appearing… I explain in the episode, but thank you again Universe). I hope this conversation will help you as much as it has helped me.

To learn more about Dave and his wonderful work you can find him here: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/

To learn more about Empire Fighting Chance and their brilliant work you can find them here: https://www.empirefightingchance.org/

And just in case you were wondering you can learn more about me and my books at https://www.elliebarkerwrites.com/

x

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Louise Ross loved reading and storytelling as a child but she had her heart set on being a lawyer. She became a barrister and while she loved helping people -she started to feel it was time to do something else.  (In fact speaking of skies, it was when she realised her head was always down and she never looked up and appreciated a blue sky, she knew something had to change). 

Her husband James planted a seed on a train journey which changed everything. That tiny seed led to Louise writing 27 books and selling  more than 10 million copies. She has her own publishing label (Dark Skies Publishing) and her work is also helping celebrate people living in the North East. Her books have been among the biggest sellers on Amazon and at one point 16 of them were in the top 50 in the charts.

But Louise believes it has nothing to do with algorithms, large advertising budgets or any trends or secret formulas .  Louise believes we must all ask ourselves this one question and be completely honest with the answer...

What is it that we really want to achieve? 

(I'll let you listen to find out how this helped her so much.)

Louise is humble, gracious and so generous with her thoughts. She has been a big inspiration to me for so long – but even if your next chapter isn’t about writing, Louise’s approach has helped her create a wonderful life for her and her family and she believes we’re all able to do the same.

https://ljrossauthor.com/

(and just in case you'd forgotten you can find me and my books at elliebarkerwrites.com x)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’re suffering from Christmas overwhelm, it’s time to
put those headphones on, maybe even go for a little fresh air and let coach and author Joanne Mallon guide you through.

In this week’s episode we talk about:

How to cope with Christmas overwhelm

Why we must embrace the imperfections of this time of year

Why it’s sensory overload and all sorts of triggers are
going off

And how to cope with those tricky relatives

Joanne Mallon is a Media Coach with over 20 years of
experience and the author of 8 books including How to Find Calm in Five Minutes a Day. Here’s her work: https://joannemallon.com/

And just in case you were wondering you can find me at
elliebarkerwrites.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joanne Mallon 'quite' enjoyed her job as a television producer working on shows like Vanessa, This Morning & GMTV. But she wanted to do something she loved which had a much deeper meaning so more than 20 years ago she trained to be coach. 

She's spent the past 2 decades helping people not just discover what it is they want to do it, but to find a way to actually do it. She's also the host of her own podcast - 5 Minutes To Change your Life… Full disclosure, I love this podcast. She discusses all sorts of problems: from people-pleasing, negative thinking,
trying to control everything - and gives some simple tips in just 5 minutes.

Joanne believes we all have a calling and we owe it to ourselves (and everyone around us) to be kind enough to listen to it. She gives some great advice about fear, how it drives most of us but how we can step around it. And she gives some wonderful practical festive advice. 

I appreciate there's not a lot of time at the moment so I've divided the episode into two. Today's episode is her story. Then next week she'll give some brilliant festive advice, like coping with overwhelm and those tricky relatives. 

Joanne has a lovely, calming wisdom about her. I loved my conversation with her and I really hope it'll help you too. 

You can find Joanne at Joannemallon.com

And you can find me and my books at elliebarkerwrites.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Annie Garthwaite loved history as a child.  She went to a comp in Hartlepool where in her words, if you got 3 CSE’s your name would go on the wall.  Annie then, would never have believed that one she’d day be an historical fiction author. But thanks to a love of reading shared from her mother and a wonderful history teacher, Annie decided this was what she really wanted to be in. Only in her twenties, she discovered it was much harder than she imagined, so she decided to set aside her dream until the age of 55.

The idea being she’d spend the next 3 decades earning enough
money to retire and then she’d write the book she’d been planning. I mean what 20 something-year-old really keeps such a plan? Annie did.

I’ll let Annie tell you how, but her fascination with strong women in history and one in particular has been her driving force for so many years. Annie had been learning about Cecily Neville since the classroom, the mother of Richard III who had 12 children, played a key role in the War of the Roses and lived until she was 81 (in the 15th Century!) But her story had never been told.

The more Annie learned about Cecily, and the longer she sat
in the boardrooms of her huge corporate Communications job, Annie realised life for women hadn’t changed nearly as much as she’d thought.

Annie believes we must keep telling women’s stories to help
bring the change we need. But Annie is also a strong, passionate woman and it’s an honour to share her story with you.

You can find out more about Annie and Cecily at: https://www.anniegarthwaite.com/

And just in case you were wondering you can find out more
about me and my books at elliebarkewrites.com

(Thank you to my lovely listener Lesley Hannah who wanted
a guest whose Next Chapter was in history. I hope you enjoy Annie’s conversation.
And do remember if there’s any guest you’d like to hear from, please get in
touch and I promise I’ll at least ask.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A few years ago if you’d met Michal it would have been easy to
think she was one of those women who ‘had it all.’ A huge job - Head of Global
Culture at Tik Tok, (I know!), the mother of 4 beautiful children, a
wonderful husband plus, a wardrobe full of designer clothes.

But inside she was struggling – really struggling with terrible anxiety. She’d been in therapy for 15 years and going over the
past - while informative was not helping this awful feeling. But then she began to study Jewish wisdoms and everything changed. Michal learned so much she’s written a book called What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid.

Michal is so open, honest and generous with her thoughts in this
conversation. She tells us what life is really like at those great big tech
companies and how some of the biggest leaders who she still coaches have just the same insecurities as us all.

Michal was told several times not to be herself. But thankfully
she didn’t listen. She says it’s only by putting aside fear and being true self- you find your place in the
world. 

You can find Michal’s work at: https://www.michaloshman.com/ 

And just in case you’ve forgotten (how very dare you?)  you can find me and my books at www.elliebarkerwrites.com x

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*SPECIAL EPISODE ALERT*

Every week I think my Next Chapter guests are so brave telling us openly and honestly - about the ins and outs of their Next Chapters, I decided to hand over the microphone (for one episode only) – and tell the story behind my book. 

Now, I want you to know I wouldn’t let just anyone into our Next Chapter world. My interviewer is Rob Murphy, who is not only of the most respected journalists at ITV where I work - he's also my husband. He’s a crime journalist so his stories are different to mine. But I do know his question-asking is one of the best, and he has decades of experience. I didn’t know what any of the questions were going to be (I wanted it to be a proper/no special treatment interview) – nor did either of us know if Cookie would try to interrupt the recording. 

But I wanted the story of how Iris, Jack and Peggy came to life to be told and I really hope you'll enjoy this first meeting of them.

And if you would like to read Do We Really Have To Do This? you can find it at elliebarkerwrites.com or you can click here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.