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Purpose: Make books, deliver talks, create art.
Share the work and share my own process, to encourage others.

I set up this membership patronage thingy to create a more formal relationship with people who support my work. As a member, I hope you feel that you have a small stake in what I produce.

I do the work and set the direction – obviously – but your ideas and encouragement are gratefully received.

Through sharing my process, and what I have learned myself, I hope it might encourage others – perhaps including you – to create and put out work.

In 2023, I’ll be making that encouragement more explicit – see below for details.

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Purpose | Highlights | Book Launch | What Next?

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Highlights by month

I went through my notebooks and was generally pleased to see what I have managed to do in 2022, despite the many things I didn’t manage.

July
WRITING Lunch with Psalms publisher. Completed a lengthy questionnaire to help with marketing.

SPEAKING Ran a session on impro for writers at The Idler Festival. Gave a talk about How To Change The World in Venice.
ART Created a series of online materials to help a young man called Noah make books by hand. Started drawing pictures on a wall series.
ENCOURAGING Co-led first-ever five-week online Arvon course for writers.

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August
WRITING Switched to ConvertKit for emails, after the fiasco of Alt Text Challenge (No 2).
SPEAKING Filmed Psalm promos with fellow SPCK author.
ART Ran a beginners drawing class in Hampstead, assisted by beloved schnauzer Peanut.

ENCOURAGING Finished five-week Arvon course. Also managed not to work too much in August, for a change.

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September
WRITING Started a month of accountability to myself by posting daily to a private Fb group I belong to. Spent several weeks creating posts and videos to help promote Psalms for the City. New book idea: An Alphabet of Feelings.
ART Drew a lot to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

ENCOURAGING I drew pictures of the book launch of my friend Charlotte, and helped plan two upcoming Arvon courses.

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October
WRITING Articles for The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, and an email series, to promote Psalms for the City.

SPEAKING Also nine or ten radio interviews. Ran my first “Audio Event” live on LinkedIn (about journalism).
ART Continued drawing “pictures on a wall” for newsletter subscribers, and offered discounted prints of pics in Psalms book.
ENCOURAGING Started offering free 15 minute coaching to people who want to write a book.

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November
WRITING New email list reaches 100 subscribers, with startlingly high (167%) open rate. Hurrah. Doing something right, finally.

SPEAKING Radio 2 interview re Psalms. Livestream book launch with virtual pilgrimage and art collaboration online.
ART More “pictures on a wall”, and pics of Childs Hill, where I live.
ENCOURAGING Co-led second Arvon course of the year: a week’s residential at The Hurst, Shropshire. Started mentoring another first-time author.

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December
WRITING Short email series for Arvon participants on “Starting To Write”.
SPEAKING Guested on The Spectator Table Talk podcast. Started a series of livestreams on YouTube about books that deserve five-star reviews on Amazon.
ART Produced A6 booklet of pictures showing Childs Hill and Hampstead, to give to friends and neighbours.

ENCOURAGING Ran a two-day course in journalism at Central St Martins in London.

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Purpose | Highlights | Book Launch | What Next?

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Book Launch (But Not Mine)

I drew these at Charlotte Fox Weber’s book launch.

Click to see full-screen; go left or right; or jump to whichever thumbnail you grabs you.

Note: This is an example of the “image slider” that Julian R. designed for me to display pics on this site in a way that was simply impossible before 2022. I can’t tell you how happy I am.

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Purpose | Highlights | Book Launch | What Next?

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What Next?

In the coming months I aim to:

Write

• A book about journalism
• An Alphabet of Emotions (a book, illustrated?)
• Fuller text to accompany family photos I’ve sketched recently
• Short stories (fiction)

Speak

• Teach impro for storytelling in real life (ie, not just online)
• Continue to run occasional public speaking courses on- and offline
• Regularly livestream on YouTube, and sometimes elsewhere
• Record interviews about illustrated reportage for my Adequate Podcast

Make Art

• Illustrate somebody else’s book(s). I have in mind various works that are out of copyright
• Illustrate a regular slot in a newspaper or magazine
• Continue to create illustrated reportage (at rate of at least one project every three months)
• Sell a small selection of signed art prints, changing what’s available every two months

Share, Encourage

In 2023, AP will become a rolling series of group workshops and courses. These will be open to anybody, but AP members get a 30% discount. Sessions will initially be live and interactive. I’ll save the recordings for people who may come along later.

You can see some of the courses I have planned on this page.

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Thank you for reading.
Please tell me if there’s anything that stands out, or just say hello.
jp at this domain name

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