. I’ve commissioned Aimée to come back as I’m so impressed with her storytelling and copywriting work.
More details here (£5 per ticket), free to Sparkle on Substack Diamond Members. Replay available and bespoke feedback from Aimée for 10 of my Diamond Members (by lottery).
Happy Saturday to you all!
Claire
✨ 📖 ✨
PS - My co-authored book ‘How to Build a World Class Substack’ with
is fully funded. Pledge here to back the book on kickstarter (you’ll need a free account) and you will receive your copy in September. NB - You won’t be charged until the campaign finishes at the end of Aug.
A party; you're at a beautiful party where the music is gentle and everyone here is some one you want to know. Gold glitter falls from the ceiling as you walk through the large entrance hall to arrive. A sign reads 'Sparkle ON!' A white rabbit in a hat passes you a cool tall pink drink and a green cookie. You put them down to open your notebook to make some observations. As you sip the drink through a straw, a tall person comes to sit with you; they smile, your heart already recognises they will be your forever friend. "Are you ready?" they ask...
YES you say, I think so.
"Let's dance!"
And you do, time passes but no time passes at all; you have time, there is so much time.
When you start to feel tired and your notebook is full, a big brown bear in a bonnet comes and hands you a vibrant tree green crystal. He looks you dead in the eyes and says; "this is yours if you want it." ✨
Sober Soulful is an alcohol-free coffee shop with spaces for making new, kindred connections or engaging in quiet parallel play/writing/creating. The sofas and chairs are cushioned and comfy. The lighting is soft but not dark. The music is upbeat but mellow. The coffee, tea, and mocktails are the best around. There are no loud talkers dominating the room, and anyone watching videos, playing games, or using audio on their devices must have them on mute or use headphones ;). Please stop by and say hello! https://danaleighlyons.substack.com/
Dana - Your Substack space is an inspiring place to be! I sold my former coffee shop to a non-profit specializing in addiction recovery! Most everyone who works there is on the path to sobriety and there are pictures of recent program graduates on the walls. I love the connection you describe … And YES to headphone requirements!!!
Hi Dana! It's Mika here👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I just love the cozy atmosphere you described! It sounds incredibly relaxing and inviting—like a perfect spot where old friends catch up and new ones are warmly welcomed.☺️☕️✨
Loving the Dark Parts is a cozy corner on the floor of a library. We gather on bean bags and wrap ourselves in warm, fuzzy blankets while the fire roars in the background, taking off the chill of the outside air. The lighting is warm, only fire and candlelight as we dive into our inner worlds and cuddle up next to each other as we explore and hold space for one another to share what's on our hearts. A space where eye contact is comforting and we feel safe and held as we bare the parts of our souls that were once left behind. Little doors are spread throughout the library, and when we're ready we can open the doors to see what's behind them, finding parts of us that we didn't know were there. Spending time behind the doors until we're ready to walk out, hand in hand with our shadows after making friends with those parts of us we're now ready to bring out into the world with confidence.
Everyone leaves a little more whole than when they walked in.
What a great thought exercise! My Substack, The Lost & Found Story Box, is one of those bookstores we all dream about - books everywhere, comfy chairs, the perfume of leather, fresh flowers and friends. Folks gather organically, small groups are formed around ideas, and every conversation is engaging and animated and open to all. Occasionally people run off to grab a book that’s come to mind. Others pull out notebooks either to write in or locate something they’ve come across, but the conversations keep going, quietly, loudly, curiously. Old friends bring new friends bring strangers who become friends, and no one is ever quite sure where the conversation will lead. But we all want to be around to find out.
Ah this is so beautiful. I am so excited to explore everyone’s Substack places.
You are all welcome to step inside Story & Thread, a gathering within the walls of a lived-in, storied home…
Sash windows allow light to flood in and dance on the walls in rooms adorned with colour, pattern and texture, telling the stories of everyone who spends time there. Textiles provide a cocoon and tapestry of comfort and a sense of enveloping softness.
There is space to gather, write, make, create and talk together around the fabled kitchen table where also simple, seasonal soul food is shared and savoured. Vases are filled with fresh flowers grown and cut in the walled cottage garden.
Outside, a bench provides stillness under an arch of climbing roses that tumble and grow toward the sun, the scent of sweet peas delight as they weave their way up trellises, and pink wisteria trails abundantly over an ironwork balcony. A glasshouse at the bottom of the garden houses seedlings and a potting table for crafting seasonal flower essences and medicinal potions, weaving in the ancient knowledge that surrounds us.
Life here is simple but not minimal — we honour the beauty and wisdom of the earth’s rhythms as we unearth the stories of the seasons that live around us and within.
Hi Lyndsay! It's Mika here 👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies.✨
🌿🏡 Oh, this is absolutely magical! Your description of Story & Thread makes me want to step inside right away. The blend of nature, creativity, and cozy comfort sounds like a dream. Thank you for inviting us into such a beautiful and nurturing space! ❤️✨
Hi Mika 💜 thank you so much for your reply, it’s wonderful you are helping Claire out. And thank you so much for your warm and encouraging thoughts. I am so glad you are drawn to step inside Story & Thread., you are always very welcome here ☕️🌸📔✨
What a fascinating invitation. The example you shared is gorgeous. When I started my substack less than three months ago, I named it Writing Playground because I saw it as a place where I play with ideas and writing and hope others will find joy in joining me. Lately I feel as if Substack is time for tea, sitting down with lovely people, drink many cups of tea and chat about life. And on some days Substack feels like a writing club, everyone enjoying the writing first and then merrily sharing and talking about what surfaced on the page. I wish to think more and deeper about all this and then go play with it.
Hi Terje! It's Mika here 👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies.✨
Welcome to Substack! I hope you're enjoying your journey so far.
It sounds like you have a wonderful vision for your Writing Playground. I love your description of mix between a cozy tea time with engaging conversations to a vibrant writing club.☺️✨
Wild Quiet Folk is a forest in the early morning. The sun is still soft and it filters down through the leaves to paint ever shifting shadows beneath your feet. It smells dark and green and fresh, as if rain passed through recently. Birds are calling and you listen, trying to separate them out, but however great your knowledge there is always one you can’t identify. Ahead, a small deer weaves between the trees. It stops, aware of you, and you watch each other for a moment before, suddenly, it turns and bounds into the brush. The light ahead is different, luminous, and you follow it until the woods fall away and the ocean is spread before you. Soft blue fading to silver fading to pewter at the horizon. You walk out, toward the tide line. You are sheltered by tall chalk cliffs either side of this long bay and there is no one here but you. The waves shush on the shingle and you notice a hag stone beneath your feet, a slipper limpet still hinged and pink, a crab missing it’s claw, a twist of driftwood that looks as though it has been whittled. You start to collect these things, feeling their shapes against your salty palm as you begin to imagine their stories.
My substack is a lush garden, where the air is still and filled with hope. A small stream trickles past as I open the pages of a book. Animals and friends gather as I begin to read. I tell the story of our stars, how they are writing our stories with us. How we get to choose how we want to live. How we want to lead. How we want to love. When I finish, I close the book, and we all lean back and look up at the stars. How beautiful, I think, to be in community together. To come home to each other in this way 💫🌳
My Notes of a Wildflower can be found between the sea and the forest. Where there is plenty of room for the Wilderness and the Wildflowers, where there is plenty of room to feel the sun on our skin, the wind tangling our hair, the earth and the rain inspiring us, and where there is plenty of room to wander, sometimes pause, reflect and wonder...
Thank you Claire to make me think of my Substack this way!
Hi Hilda! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. (I see that she has liked your message, so no doubt she appreciated your sweet, sweet note at the end.)✨
🌿🌊✨ I love your description! Especially where you say there's "plenty of room to wander, sometimes pause, reflect and wonder..." Beautiful!
Rehabitus is a dojo on the second floor of an old converted factory mill in northern England. You’ve heard about it, but never been inside. From the outside, it’s almost unnoticeable. You make the decision to enter. The creaky, old, dust laden stairs make you question if you’ve come to the right place. At the top, you find a door. As you open it, the unmistakable scent of hard work hits you, accompanied by the sharp sounds of punchbags being hit. You walk in, and fighters spar intensely, but with camaraderie and mutual respect. You see white belts learning the basics and the higher belts honing their techniques with relentless repetition. A thick-set man with cauliflower ears notices you, but turns away to adjust his belt to show respect for your presence. He turns to you and approaches, and firmly shakes your hand. “Put this on”, he says, handing you a gi. The other fighters notice you too and give you a welcoming nod. You know the journey is going to be hard, but you know it’s going to be worth it.
If DARE TO BE DRY were a place, it would be a trusty traveled path through the forest. It’s a path where all are welcome to walk to feel the sun filtering in through the canopy of trees overhead, revealing light in places you may not expect.
On the walk, you can bathe in the forest feeling your feet dig deep into the earth, a reminder of deep grounding connection. You might notice the dark shadows while there but you are able to turn and see how light can beam in reminding us how they both belong.
You’ll see different trees, some stand taller than others, some have bigger roots. You’ll hear birdsong, different melodies that all blend together reminding you that we are all one great symphony. That all our voices and birdsongs belong.
While walking through the forest, you hear familiar voices, friends you’ve met along the way and you all decide to walk together on the path. And the best part of all, the path is continuous. No final destination. So you can take your time.
The invitation is always there. Will you come walk with us?
I loved this Allison, it speaks very much to the medicine I find in the ancient woodland near my home. The light and the shadow, the shelter of the trees, the sounds and the winding pathways xx
Thanks, Lyndsay. I have a special spot near my home, too. I meander through it with my dog. And sometimes we’ll see folks jogging or running through and I think, oh I could never do that. Look at all they are missing. It’s like you HAVE to go slow to feel it’s power. At less for me.
This is SO true! I am not a runner and always think this, how can it be possible to take it all in? I agree, you do have to go slow and to orient yourself into a deeper way of being to appreciate its beauty and wisdom xx
Welcome to The Therapy Room. This is a space for authentic connection and deep conversation. You get to leave your social mask at the door. It's warm inside with soft lighting, big fat armchairs that feel like a hug, soft cushions and a throw in case you're chilly. It's a space to get real and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, messy and imperfect. This is the place where you don't have to have the answers or have it all together. Where we will figure it out together. Where whatever you bring will be met without judgement and with a bucket-load of compassion. And I have plenty of tissues. But it's not all dark. We have a lot of fun, laughter, warmth and connection here. I think you're going to love it 😊
Hi Vicki! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
🌟🛋️ This sounds like such a comforting and inviting space! I love the idea of leaving our social masks at the door and embracing authenticity in a cozy, supportive environment. ✨
And The Illustrated Plant Kitchen is a big farmhouse kitchen with a lovely big kitchen table to sit around and drink tea while joining in and chopping some vegetables. There are shelves filled with bright and colourful cookbooks of all kinds and cuisines, though with a definite leaning towards vegetarian, vegan and Mediterranean cooking. The walls are filled with beautiful illustrations of food, especially vegetables and fruit. There are dressers filled with beautifully decorated ceramics. There are fruit bowls filled with citrus fruit and others with apples and pears and peaches. There are pots filled with herbs growing on the window sill, through which you can see a little vegetable patch in the background. There's a large stove where a pot of casserole simmers and the smell of baking bread wafts from the oven. The door to the larder is ajar and you can see jars of nuts and seeds and rice and pasta and baskets of vegetables. The big ceramic sink has one side filled with soapy water and the three-storey dish rack is ready to be filled with clean and sparkling dishes, rinsed in the other half of the sink. There's a notebook on the worksurface with scribbled notes on recipes and on the dining table is a sketchbook with colourful pencil sketches of slices of courgette. This is a space to sit and talk about food (particularly plant-based food), to enjoy trying new recipes and experimenting, and to wonder and marvel at the beauty of all the edible plants available to us. It's a space to be inspired and to learn and teach and, most of all, a place to share food and to break bread together.
Writing Wrongs is a small rural convenience store with two gas pumps but one is out of order. The place is open 24/7 and attracts a wide spectrum of customers; the well to do, the getting by, and the sinking fast. Travelers that pull in off the interstate come in hungry, tired and either running away from somewhere or running back there. Locals that live in the nearby small town of Stackville come in too, and they pick up this or that, that one thing they're craving, the one thing that will hit the spot. The place stocks all the basic food and nonfood essentials as well as some items that you never think of buying until you absolutely need them. There is almost always a car or two parked out front in the gravel lot, no matter what time of day or night, but it’s never really that busy.
You can’t be in a hurry though because the owner is the only employee and doesn’t - can’t, take a day off. He loves to tell short stories to each customer as he is literally checking them out. Sometimes he tells a story off the cuff, right out of the blue, while he’s standing there. He just makes them up as he goes. He’s a people observer, a history buff, a writer of all types of stories and a lover of books - especially their authors.
In a back corner of the store is a small spinning rack of books that squeaks as it turns, letting the owner know that someone is taking a look see. The rack stands a little crooked and it's old but it's still back there, next to that display of family size Cheetos. It’s an eclectic collection of discounted paperback books and story collections about everything under the sun. Characters that are good and bad, happy or sad, in the past and the future or both. Some of those stories are even his. Odds are, you’ll find something on that rack that interests you. He tries to sell them and marks them down even more from time to time, but sometimes he just gives them away.
In the other back corner is a round table that has a scarred but mostly smooth white linoleum top, with that old style silver edged trimming running around it. There are four padded folding chairs, one with a rip in the vinyl. If it is just him and one other customer, he’s been known to invite them to sit down and have a chat about this, that and everything. The owner will just flat talk your ear off if you let him or you want him to. So, whether you live in Stackville or just passing through the area and you’re in the need of something to consume, or you have an itch that needs scratching, you might just find what you need at Writing Wrongs. When you go in though, relax, slow your pace and don’t be in too big of a hurry. Look around a little.
Hi Jim! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
The eclectic book rack and inviting table for chats make it feel like a cozy corner of the world where stories and connections come alive. Thank you for sharing this wonderful and inviting space! 📚❤️🚗
Thanks CB! You have a standing invitation from the owner to stop by anytime. Even if the only thing you buy is a bag of those Cheetos. I can still tell you a short story as I'm ringing you up. - Jim
My Substack Single Mum Speaks is a gathering around the fire. A circle, an invitation to step in and join and listen and share. Sitting on the Earthy floor or sprawled out on large velveteen cushions, dusk falls, the fire crackles and sparks sending out heat and light into the centre of the room. An invitation of connectedness. A coming home. Eyes shine deep in the listening of other people's stories. Their loves, hurts, lives and dreams. Their minitutiae moments and deepest secrets and desires. There may be tears, laughter, recognition, there is a fierce sense of reverential support for these stories, the witnessing, the holding, the internal cheering on. Words weave pictures, memories and sensations. Light turns to dark, blankets are drawn closer, mugs of hot sweet tea steam as we listen and we listen and we listen and we come home to ourselves and our truth released drifting spinning in the smoke of the fire. Remembering who we are, remembering we are human, remembering we are all connected, remembering to speak our truth, release our shame, step into our power and be truly seen deep in the cauldron of the earth.
The cauldron of the earth - wow such earthy potency. I felt held by every word of this and the circle medicine, so so beautiful. The remembering, releasing and stepping into power feels so needed xx
Hi Chloë! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Wow, this description sounds so magical! I love how it captures the essence of coming home to oneself and holding space for others to do the same. Thank you for sharing this beautiful and intimate space🌟❤️🫶
Poetic Therapeutics welcomes you to a place half library half garden. It is probably deep midnight - or is it dappled afternoon? You decide. We have comfy chairs and sofas, we have foot stools. We do therapy and therapy supervision here so on the bookshelves you will find not just poets and more poets, but countless maps. Maps from the front of every fiction book that ever had a map. Earthsea, Middle Earth, Hundred Acre Wood. Some of the maps are on wonderful scrolls and we can unroll them on this table to see if we can get an idea of where you are and where you might be going. Oh, and we have ginger cake.
Where would I describe substack if it were a place?
It would be a beach with soft white sand, a gentle bue ocean and a slight breeze. There is a chaise lounge in the shade under a palm tree.
I am smelling the air and watching the sun glisten on the waves.
Beside me is a small table with a glass of wine.
I scribble thoughts, feelings while I observe passersby on the beach.
A friend arrives at my corner of paradise and we discuss details of our upcoming adventure.
We jot down the details while laughing over another glass of wine.
This is my happy place. It exists in my imagination. Some places I have traveled have come close but 100%.
Is this why I travel? Perhaps. But more importantly, this vision creates a relaxing mindset to allow my imagination blend with reality and get it out of my head and onto paper.
Hi Laura! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I love the image of a peaceful spot with soft sand, a gentle breeze, and the joy of writing and connecting with friends. It sounds like the perfect blend of relaxation and inspiration! 🌊✨
Oh my goodness. Some truly beautiful descriptions here.
Tasha Goddard Ponderings and Pictures (yes, I really, really need to change the name and this exercise is giving me some ideas for that, actually) is a large garden studio. There's a desk with a computer and Cintiq tablet in one corner, in front of a vision board wall filled with illustrations of rooms and people and everyday objects. There are shelves filled with inspiration - books on pattern design, on picture book illustration, academic tomes on illustration in design, books about plants and animals, exhibition books, books about particular art movements and artists... There's a large table, covered in paint marks and scratches and stains and scattered with sketchbooks and tubes of paint and pencils and crayons. There's an art trolley, that moves around the studio, filled with pots of art materials, sorted by colour, rather than material - there are two pink pots and two blue pots. There's a big cosy sofa and an armchair in another corner and a coffee table where an iPad is sitting, showing a symmetrical pattern motif in Adobe Fresco with an Apple Pencil sitting beside it. There's a passport sitting on the coffee table and the shelves in this corner are filled with nick nacks from all over Europe and the wall is adorned with illustrated postcards of different cities. In another corner there's a yoga mat and some candles and incense, for peaceful and calm moments. It's a space to be inspired and to inspire, to create art, to talk about art, to maybe learn or teach a few new illustration or pattern tricks, to just sit and chat about travels and everyday life, to find some peace and calm.
My Substack is a cozy coffee shop. With big plush chairs, plenty of outlets and free refills. It’s filled with all your favorite professional friends where we share tips about being awesome and how to make life better. We also occasionally share our favorite reads. There’s a great patio overlooking the ocean in case you need some chill outdoor time.
Double English is a Hogwarts of sorts, a welcoming, inclusive space that sings to the tune of the mystical English language as played by its creator, a humble builder of sentences.
The only requirement for entry is curiosity, and a love of the written word either as a reader or storyteller. No subject is off limits--there is a door for every preference. You will meet words, sentences, and stories of all shapes and sizes that will invite you through a personal portal to dance with imagination. You can interact and partake as much (read, comment, like, share) or as little (a clickety click flyby) as you like.
Double English is a timeless, ageless place that will stir your emotions and open your mind to magic, for real magic is only created by two: the one who ignites the flame, and the one who fans the flame into a fire.
In the west the sun hovers above the horizon, creating a pathway of light across the still waters of the lake. In the east the full moon rises, emerging slowly from behind an ancient oak tree. A murmuration of starlings spirals and swirls above the forest, a heron stand, still as stone, on the shoreline. Colours ripple across the sky. Your heart is full, your mind is still. You are at peace.
Hi Josie! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
You are so good at painting such a beautiful and calming scene! It sounds like your space is the perfect place to go to if we want a bit of zen in our lives. ✨
A nourishing, creative hub for reviewing and making lifestyle edits through discussion, prompts and poems. Using the connection with eastern philosophies and nature to soothe, simplify, inspire, and navigate personal and mini transformations in the Tech Age.
Thanks Claire for this as l always find consolidating what you do to interest people difficult!
I'd say either a cafe or a park where we can have more casual yet insightful, deep conversations and discussions on various topics and issues that we're passionate about.
It's under such circumstances that we can have exchanges of ideas and go back and forth on our views on important, meaningful topics in a civil manner. It's also an opportunity for us to expand our views and beliefs, and consider different perspectives!
It's essentially a place where we can share our passionate opinions and musings while being respectful towards one another.
Studio Diaries is a large, airy art studio. Large French windows line one wall, letting in beautiful natural light. There’s a huge working desk in the middle of the room, with tubs filled with tubes of paint, pots of brushes and pencils. A vintage printer’s drawer is filled with collage papers, stencils, stamps, and watercolor & mixed media papers. Off to one corner is a little sewing station. There’s a journaling nook with a selection of fountain pens, inks, washi tape and stickers. You’re welcome to come in, sit at the table, and get your hands messy as you play with papers and paints, stamps and stencils; or to sit at one of the other tables or comfy chairs strewn around the studio, writing, knitting, crocheting. There’s space for all creatives here, all are welcome!
Take a deep breath to stop hurrying and to un-rush — and enjoy entering the online publication Un-Rush—The Power of Slow. You are in a remote place, an old Italian villa in the countryside with a gathering room that opens up to the outside, to an open space with new views and perspectives, nooks and corners. The natural colors of the interior and exterior make you calm down. White, crème, beige, brown – all the earth colors give you a sense of how much nature and quiet outdoor space help you to breathe, to slow down, and to reflect.
You have the permission to un-rush, not only here, but wherever you go again, because you can create the lifestyle of this place anywhere else. You reflect on stuff you read in that corner of the terrace in a comfy wicker chair surrounded by green, or you move over to that area in the field, sitting on blankets and exchange thoughts and ideas with others. This space lets you gather ideas, gain new insights, make friends, and reconnect with yourself.
Why spend time in that place? It gives you the Power of Slow.
The power comes from an understanding of why rushing is absurd, makes you miserable, and makes things worse. It comes from a clear picture of why slowing down elevates your long-term relationship with yourself and others. The power comes from seeing the astonishing effect slowing down has on others. You wander around the villa, the garden, and the field, and you wonder about the hurry sickness and finally discover the symphony in slowing down.
Ohhh, there are some good ones here. I’ve got quite a few new stacks I want read through now. Thanks for this great idea. My turn:
My Substack is a vintage spaceship, with a ballsy captain and kooky crew. No uniforms, nothing uniform exists in my universe. It’s a fun ride and after a recent overhaul it’s ready to be launched into outer space.
Thank you. Sorry for the delayed response I avoided social media for a few days. Like any vintage machine, even when renovated, I had some kinks getting my next episode up. Still writing it. So, not socializing much til I get it done. Good luck with the book launch.
Hello, Adversity is a park bench in the Boston Public Garden. It's a beautiful park in the middle of the city where there's a pond, willow trees, and various plants and flowers of all kinds. I remember exactly where I sat when I realized the magnitude of the challenges ahead of me, and it was where I resolved to keep going. (Fun fact: the bench I sat in, without realizing it at the time, is near where Robin Williams and Matt Damon had their famous scene in Good Will Hunting.)
A park bench is where two people can have a casual chat, as you people watch and taken in the beautiful scenery. These chats have a way of getting philosophical, due to the relaxed setting. I like to think my site is like a friend giving advice to someone who needs to hear it, from someone who's "been there".
Whew, that’s a good question and I’m the Queen of Good Questions?
The forest. In this forest there are hundreds and hundreds of different types of trees producing nuts, needles, and fruits. A lush food forest hiding from those who are nature blind. Animals living in all the nooks and crannies, high where the winds whips through and low where the earth’s stillness is slowly alive, being a lush circuitry weaving through it’s stratospheres and connecting all the plants and flowers blooming.
The elements whipping up conversations that spark a flame, as well as soft rains quench the soul because this place recognizes the interconnectedness of all whom, slither, walk, crawl, or fly amongst its sacred boundaries.
At first you resist, nothing has felt like this before, is this what it feels like to truly be free to be your full self? No judgement, no conditioning, all generational patterns and traumas healed. Is this where our minds rest in our heart’s knowing and our gut’s sensing guide us as we walk in and out if the magical ecosystems all coexisting and thriving with one another?
Ohh good question… my Substack is an outdoor indoor space in a woodland. A wooden jetty over part of a large pond. We don’t have walls but we do have a canvas roof to stay dry and in the middle, a wood burning stove to gather around and festoon and fairy lights. There are sofa chairs and cushions and blankets, all the tea and coffee you could want. It’s a circle of creativity, curiosity and a gentle holding of ourselves and others. We are safe, we are reflective, we are playful. Some of the trees have swings, hammocks. You can swim if you want to.
Elephant in the Mirror is a huge marble hall, carved and crafted intricately up to its dark ceiling and yellowing with age. Like ivory. In the centre is a giant mirror with golden clawed feet, topped with gargoyles, and draped in red velvet that shows viewers their inner selves at peace with having met them at last. The soundtrack to their life echoing within its walls. It has tall windows with no panes that the wilderness outside grows into it and the sun shines through from the East and the West.
When in Doubt, Walk in a Circle gathers around a campfire where the embers float up the dark blanket of the night sky—like fireflies flickering their call in the forest. Come listen to the shared stories of hopes, fears, and dreams as unique as the character speaking. Laughs and tears, both of joy and heartache, reveal unexpected origins both from the camp director and each of her campers.
As your camp director, I’m starting the storytelling, but stick around to hear from my campers. Watch from the shadows or step up and enjoys the warmth of the reflected heat. Maybe even share a story of your own!
My substack does not fit a particularly convenient description, but perhaps some word-play might help. With the addition of a play on words, I can describe it as a boxing arena (or perhaps a UFC arena). My substack is in some ways "a bout with reality." Enjoy!
This is an awesome "challenge" because my newsletter was built with a place in mind 😆
You're entering the headquarters of Supercharged Learning. The main hall is divided into different sections (that map to the sections you can find in the weekly newsletters).
After visiting them, you can find one last place that's a small room with different personal items. It's a cozier place that contrasts with all the action from previous sections.
And after it there's sort of a shuttle that takes you of the HQ and back to the outside world.
(If you want to have a guided tour of the whole place, take a look at the post titled "Welcome aboard" 😉)
Thanks, Claire, for this perspective on how to look at our publication! This was not only fun, but also very helpful. And interesting to find others through this kind of description.
Rediscover • Reconnect • Re-Emerge is a cosy, country cottage kitchen, where you can pull up a well-worn old wooden chair, and sit by the burning range where the kettle is always simmering away; a place where you can enjoy slow and simple moments, a gentler pace of life, and a warming chat with an old friend.
Ooh, I like this idea. It would be a 'being built' sort-of a place. We've got a roof, there's coffee being made in a mokka on a decent camping burner, we've got marble slabs for tables and would love for people to come say hi and share their stories about baked goods and memories and join in on a workshop.
Find Your Awesome is a big colorful bounce house where everyone is welcome. We bounce and flip and giggle all day long. Sometimes we just flop on the bouncy floor and start up at the sky (because this bounce house doesn’t have a roof). There’s a zip line nearby which is SO MYCH FUN and a lazy river where we relax and enjoy the flow.
The Granny Who Stands on her Head, despite its name, takes place in an old cobbled inner-city area, where everything is simple and old-fashioned but inordinately interesting. No large monuments nor many private houses, but lots of fascinating little shops selling books, or antiques or old musical instruments. There is an old church and cloister, with an atmosphere of calm and introspection, but also the occasional restaurant that is amusing or, indeed, statue that is sensual. Nothing modern or trendy. For those seeking contemplation but also the odd thought that is out of the ordinary.
This was such an inspiring exercise. I’ve been soaking up all the descriptions and jotting down my own wandering thoughts about my Substack space. A fun exercise. Will share once I have more clarity!
My Substack Zingy Zen is an unexplored garden in an old city, filled with towering trees that whisper the tales of time. Amidst them, there lies the crumbling ruins of bygone eras with their weathered stone adorned with patches of graffiti, speaking the stories of misfits, rebels and seekers. Let's sit together on one of these stones near the ruins, hear the rustling of the leaves as we feel the raw earth beneath our feet and talk about the deeper stuff in life.
P.S. What I have described here is inspired from an actual place--An ashram in Rishikesh, India--one of the most serene and peaceful places I have visited in my life.
If Winning Sex Ed were a place, it would be the safest sleepover or sleepunder ever to grace a Google Calendar. Everyone is invited. Bring your coziest security snuggle and cozy up for supportive chats and words of encouragement. The basement has a plush carpet and a giant sofa, and you feel yourself exhale as you plop down to claim a space all your own. A big squishy pillow reads, "shame-free space." Two pillows silkscreened with hip fonts, one reading "respect" and the other "boundaries," soar through the air.
What is your favorite snack? Whatever you want, we have it, and it will never run out. Gummy bears? Chips and salsa? Ginger Ale? Go to the kitchenette; you'll find it there - in abundance.
You come as you are and feel safe being here. You don't have to call your parents if you want to leave because you are completely empowered to come or go - no peer pressure, judgment, or consequences. We are just a group of remarkably relaxed grown-ups opening up, sharing, growing, and ultimately weaving profound connections.
(thank you for this exercise, it was quite helpful)
Hi Mika! Thanks for your response. The place is popularly called Beatles Ashram (Members of The Beatles have spent sometime in that Ashram) and it's certainly a magical place. I was fortunate enough to visit it once. 🙂
A party; you're at a beautiful party where the music is gentle and everyone here is some one you want to know. Gold glitter falls from the ceiling as you walk through the large entrance hall to arrive. A sign reads 'Sparkle ON!' A white rabbit in a hat passes you a cool tall pink drink and a green cookie. You put them down to open your notebook to make some observations. As you sip the drink through a straw, a tall person comes to sit with you; they smile, your heart already recognises they will be your forever friend. "Are you ready?" they ask...
YES you say, I think so.
"Let's dance!"
And you do, time passes but no time passes at all; you have time, there is so much time.
When you start to feel tired and your notebook is full, a big brown bear in a bonnet comes and hands you a vibrant tree green crystal. He looks you dead in the eyes and says; "this is yours if you want it." ✨
Oooo I love this magical wonderland Claire, so much fun, it feels whimsical and meaningful all at once xx
Yes that’s what I feel - that and anything can happen! ✨✨💕
Yesss! Anything (with sparkles!) xx
“time passes but no time passes at all; you have time, there is so much time. “ That’s the best kind of party! I love this. Sparkle on! ❇️✨💖
Love the details. The dance. I feel I am peeking in from the door, a bit timid to join but the music is in the body and my hips start swaying.
I wanted to leave some gaps - I feel that’s where we REALLY get the invite? ✨🍄✨
Love this exercise, Claire!
Thank you Dana!! 🐻✨👒🙌🏻
I absolutely love this 😭❤️ so fun!!!
So fun!! ✨🙌🏻🪡 💃🏽 🐻 👒
I LOVE THIS 🐻🐰🍸🎩💃✨😭
Thanks Gwen - it's how I see Sparkle on Substack - what a wonderful wonderland we all have. ✨
Sober Soulful is an alcohol-free coffee shop with spaces for making new, kindred connections or engaging in quiet parallel play/writing/creating. The sofas and chairs are cushioned and comfy. The lighting is soft but not dark. The music is upbeat but mellow. The coffee, tea, and mocktails are the best around. There are no loud talkers dominating the room, and anyone watching videos, playing games, or using audio on their devices must have them on mute or use headphones ;). Please stop by and say hello! https://danaleighlyons.substack.com/
Sounds like exactly the place I'd love to be!
I do hope we meet in a coffee shop one day, Kaitlyn - whether in Pai or Chiang Mai!
Love the sound of the coffee shop (and both Pai & Chiang Mai have a special place in my heart!) xx
They’re both so special! xo
I'm counting on it! I just know it will happen.
I love that you two are both in Thailand!
It's pretty cool. And Dana also just came from near where my mom lives (which is where I stay when I'm home)! It's a small world.
So small! With so many magical connections.
Dana - Your Substack space is an inspiring place to be! I sold my former coffee shop to a non-profit specializing in addiction recovery! Most everyone who works there is on the path to sobriety and there are pictures of recent program graduates on the walls. I love the connection you describe … And YES to headphone requirements!!!
Thank you, and so cool about your former coffee shop, Stacy! And headphones - YES!
A nice setting, Dana. I found your article 'Victim or Villain' interesting!
Thanks, Raveen!
Using headphones is the best way for others to not ruin the overall vibe of the place 😁
Yes!
“anyone watching videos, playing games, or using audio on their devices must have them on mute or use headphones ;)”
Hehehehe. Love it!
All of it -the coffee shop I frequent daily to be filled up 🫶
Yes, please! Coffee meet-up in Thailand! 🫶
Hi Dana! It's Mika here👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I just love the cozy atmosphere you described! It sounds incredibly relaxing and inviting—like a perfect spot where old friends catch up and new ones are warmly welcomed.☺️☕️✨
Loving the Dark Parts is a cozy corner on the floor of a library. We gather on bean bags and wrap ourselves in warm, fuzzy blankets while the fire roars in the background, taking off the chill of the outside air. The lighting is warm, only fire and candlelight as we dive into our inner worlds and cuddle up next to each other as we explore and hold space for one another to share what's on our hearts. A space where eye contact is comforting and we feel safe and held as we bare the parts of our souls that were once left behind. Little doors are spread throughout the library, and when we're ready we can open the doors to see what's behind them, finding parts of us that we didn't know were there. Spending time behind the doors until we're ready to walk out, hand in hand with our shadows after making friends with those parts of us we're now ready to bring out into the world with confidence.
Everyone leaves a little more whole than when they walked in.
I love the sound of a warm and cosy library, the magic doors also sound so intriguing. I love that they help to reveal more about ourselves xx
Hi Kaitlyn! 👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ☺️✨
I love the idea of discovering and embracing hidden parts of ourselves in such a cozy, safe space. Your description is beautiful! ✨📚🕯️
Pretty freaking good description not only of the place but also of the situation itself.
Thank you, Juan!
You're most welcome.
Very nice, I’m going to check out your library corner later.
Yay! I would love to have you stop by 🥰
So beautiful, Kaitlyn!
This is so lovely
Fantastic! I love the description!
What a great thought exercise! My Substack, The Lost & Found Story Box, is one of those bookstores we all dream about - books everywhere, comfy chairs, the perfume of leather, fresh flowers and friends. Folks gather organically, small groups are formed around ideas, and every conversation is engaging and animated and open to all. Occasionally people run off to grab a book that’s come to mind. Others pull out notebooks either to write in or locate something they’ve come across, but the conversations keep going, quietly, loudly, curiously. Old friends bring new friends bring strangers who become friends, and no one is ever quite sure where the conversation will lead. But we all want to be around to find out.
Hi Lori! It's Mika here 👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ☺️✨
You had me at "one of those bookstores we all dream about"! 📚 I need this in my life now! ✨
Mika - thanks and you're welcome to drop by anytime and join a story or two!
love your description. That's the place you want to have around the corner and go to regularly.
Thanks - you’re welcome anytime you’re in the “neighborhood”!
Mmmm I can smell it from here. This sounds lovely, Lori!!
Thanks - I’d love to have you join me anytime!
Love this.
Your description places me in old London with cobblestone streets and the constant drizzle of a fall day.
Thanks! I’ve never really located it in a city, but you’re right, London is a great choice! Join me anytime you like.
Definitely the bookshop dream, I love the description of the place and how it is a place to gather and talk xx
Thanks and feel free to drop in anytime!
Love it! Such an inviting place!
Thanks - there’s an open invitation with your name on it!
Ah this is so beautiful. I am so excited to explore everyone’s Substack places.
You are all welcome to step inside Story & Thread, a gathering within the walls of a lived-in, storied home…
Sash windows allow light to flood in and dance on the walls in rooms adorned with colour, pattern and texture, telling the stories of everyone who spends time there. Textiles provide a cocoon and tapestry of comfort and a sense of enveloping softness.
There is space to gather, write, make, create and talk together around the fabled kitchen table where also simple, seasonal soul food is shared and savoured. Vases are filled with fresh flowers grown and cut in the walled cottage garden.
Outside, a bench provides stillness under an arch of climbing roses that tumble and grow toward the sun, the scent of sweet peas delight as they weave their way up trellises, and pink wisteria trails abundantly over an ironwork balcony. A glasshouse at the bottom of the garden houses seedlings and a potting table for crafting seasonal flower essences and medicinal potions, weaving in the ancient knowledge that surrounds us.
Life here is simple but not minimal — we honour the beauty and wisdom of the earth’s rhythms as we unearth the stories of the seasons that live around us and within.
I hope you will join me here…? 🌿🏡💜 xx
Hi Lyndsay! It's Mika here 👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies.✨
🌿🏡 Oh, this is absolutely magical! Your description of Story & Thread makes me want to step inside right away. The blend of nature, creativity, and cozy comfort sounds like a dream. Thank you for inviting us into such a beautiful and nurturing space! ❤️✨
Hi Mika 💜 thank you so much for your reply, it’s wonderful you are helping Claire out. And thank you so much for your warm and encouraging thoughts. I am so glad you are drawn to step inside Story & Thread., you are always very welcome here ☕️🌸📔✨
Thank you so much! You’re so kind 🥰
That's a pretty great description of a place I've read.
Thanks so much Juan, so glad you enjoyed reading it xx
Ooh, I love this Lyndsay! 🤗💗
Thank you Mackenzie! 🩷🏡🌿
Simple but not minimal. Oh, I love that!!!!
I’m glad that combination speaks to you! xx
Kitchen table and seasonal food create comfort. And then mentioning ancient knowledge brings some magic. 💖
Oh I am so happy you felt comfort with a touch of magic! xx
What a fascinating invitation. The example you shared is gorgeous. When I started my substack less than three months ago, I named it Writing Playground because I saw it as a place where I play with ideas and writing and hope others will find joy in joining me. Lately I feel as if Substack is time for tea, sitting down with lovely people, drink many cups of tea and chat about life. And on some days Substack feels like a writing club, everyone enjoying the writing first and then merrily sharing and talking about what surfaced on the page. I wish to think more and deeper about all this and then go play with it.
Hi Terje! It's Mika here 👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies.✨
Welcome to Substack! I hope you're enjoying your journey so far.
It sounds like you have a wonderful vision for your Writing Playground. I love your description of mix between a cozy tea time with engaging conversations to a vibrant writing club.☺️✨
Your description resonates with me, Terje and it sounds like a nice, chill place.
I enjoyed reading your 'Writing and reading are solitary acts' article.
I love the each of these aspects, all very appealing! xx
I would love to meet you there!
Wild Quiet Folk is a forest in the early morning. The sun is still soft and it filters down through the leaves to paint ever shifting shadows beneath your feet. It smells dark and green and fresh, as if rain passed through recently. Birds are calling and you listen, trying to separate them out, but however great your knowledge there is always one you can’t identify. Ahead, a small deer weaves between the trees. It stops, aware of you, and you watch each other for a moment before, suddenly, it turns and bounds into the brush. The light ahead is different, luminous, and you follow it until the woods fall away and the ocean is spread before you. Soft blue fading to silver fading to pewter at the horizon. You walk out, toward the tide line. You are sheltered by tall chalk cliffs either side of this long bay and there is no one here but you. The waves shush on the shingle and you notice a hag stone beneath your feet, a slipper limpet still hinged and pink, a crab missing it’s claw, a twist of driftwood that looks as though it has been whittled. You start to collect these things, feeling their shapes against your salty palm as you begin to imagine their stories.
Hi Bonnie! It's Mika here 👋. Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies.✨
This is so enchanting! The way you describe the forest and the ocean is so vivid and serene. Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful scene! ✨🌳🌊
Oh this is so beautiful. I can feel myself there, I love being in the woods and then for the trees to part to give way to the sea was magical xx
My substack is a lush garden, where the air is still and filled with hope. A small stream trickles past as I open the pages of a book. Animals and friends gather as I begin to read. I tell the story of our stars, how they are writing our stories with us. How we get to choose how we want to live. How we want to lead. How we want to love. When I finish, I close the book, and we all lean back and look up at the stars. How beautiful, I think, to be in community together. To come home to each other in this way 💫🌳
✨🐇 🥹 🌳 📖 ❤️ Thank you for sharing Gwen - this is SO so beautiful.
Love being in your garden, Gwen!! 🌿📖🥹
This is so gorgeous, I love the sound of the garden as a place to gather under the stars, it feels like a beautiful way to unite earth and sky xx
Thank you so much Lyndsay 🥹 you’re always welcome here! ✨💫🌳💞
Beautiful writing! “How we get to choose how we want to live” - oh, this line jumped out for me.
Thank you Terje 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
My Notes of a Wildflower can be found between the sea and the forest. Where there is plenty of room for the Wilderness and the Wildflowers, where there is plenty of room to feel the sun on our skin, the wind tangling our hair, the earth and the rain inspiring us, and where there is plenty of room to wander, sometimes pause, reflect and wonder...
Thank you Claire to make me think of my Substack this way!
Hi Hilda! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. (I see that she has liked your message, so no doubt she appreciated your sweet, sweet note at the end.)✨
🌿🌊✨ I love your description! Especially where you say there's "plenty of room to wander, sometimes pause, reflect and wonder..." Beautiful!
I absolutely love the combination of wildflower woods and the sea, both so nourishing in different ways xx
Thank you Lyndsay! 🙏🏼
So lovely, Hilda!
Thank you Dana! ❤️
Rehabitus is a dojo on the second floor of an old converted factory mill in northern England. You’ve heard about it, but never been inside. From the outside, it’s almost unnoticeable. You make the decision to enter. The creaky, old, dust laden stairs make you question if you’ve come to the right place. At the top, you find a door. As you open it, the unmistakable scent of hard work hits you, accompanied by the sharp sounds of punchbags being hit. You walk in, and fighters spar intensely, but with camaraderie and mutual respect. You see white belts learning the basics and the higher belts honing their techniques with relentless repetition. A thick-set man with cauliflower ears notices you, but turns away to adjust his belt to show respect for your presence. He turns to you and approaches, and firmly shakes your hand. “Put this on”, he says, handing you a gi. The other fighters notice you too and give you a welcoming nod. You know the journey is going to be hard, but you know it’s going to be worth it.
Hi Adam! It's Mika here. 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies.
Wow! You transported me! I felt like I was there. All I need to do now is to put on my gi from the sensei and step onto the mat. 🥋✨
This was so fun! Thanks for this prompt, Claire!
If DARE TO BE DRY were a place, it would be a trusty traveled path through the forest. It’s a path where all are welcome to walk to feel the sun filtering in through the canopy of trees overhead, revealing light in places you may not expect.
On the walk, you can bathe in the forest feeling your feet dig deep into the earth, a reminder of deep grounding connection. You might notice the dark shadows while there but you are able to turn and see how light can beam in reminding us how they both belong.
You’ll see different trees, some stand taller than others, some have bigger roots. You’ll hear birdsong, different melodies that all blend together reminding you that we are all one great symphony. That all our voices and birdsongs belong.
While walking through the forest, you hear familiar voices, friends you’ve met along the way and you all decide to walk together on the path. And the best part of all, the path is continuous. No final destination. So you can take your time.
The invitation is always there. Will you come walk with us?
https://open.substack.com/pub/allisonderaney
Sounds lovely, calming, and perfect, Allison. No rushing...no needing to find the end of the path.
I loved this Allison, it speaks very much to the medicine I find in the ancient woodland near my home. The light and the shadow, the shelter of the trees, the sounds and the winding pathways xx
Thanks, Lyndsay. I have a special spot near my home, too. I meander through it with my dog. And sometimes we’ll see folks jogging or running through and I think, oh I could never do that. Look at all they are missing. It’s like you HAVE to go slow to feel it’s power. At less for me.
This is SO true! I am not a runner and always think this, how can it be possible to take it all in? I agree, you do have to go slow and to orient yourself into a deeper way of being to appreciate its beauty and wisdom xx
Hi Allison! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I love this visualisation! There's something so healing about nature and being with people who can walk the path with you. ✨
That's a wonderful description of a place! And it's even better because I like doing those nature trips more often now than in previous years.
There's something so invigorating of being around nature with no worries and just enjoying the passing of time.
Forest bathing! It’s so healing.
I can only say... YES.
Welcome to The Therapy Room. This is a space for authentic connection and deep conversation. You get to leave your social mask at the door. It's warm inside with soft lighting, big fat armchairs that feel like a hug, soft cushions and a throw in case you're chilly. It's a space to get real and allow ourselves to be vulnerable, messy and imperfect. This is the place where you don't have to have the answers or have it all together. Where we will figure it out together. Where whatever you bring will be met without judgement and with a bucket-load of compassion. And I have plenty of tissues. But it's not all dark. We have a lot of fun, laughter, warmth and connection here. I think you're going to love it 😊
Hi Vicki! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
🌟🛋️ This sounds like such a comforting and inviting space! I love the idea of leaving our social masks at the door and embracing authenticity in a cozy, supportive environment. ✨
Love this, Vicki!
And The Illustrated Plant Kitchen is a big farmhouse kitchen with a lovely big kitchen table to sit around and drink tea while joining in and chopping some vegetables. There are shelves filled with bright and colourful cookbooks of all kinds and cuisines, though with a definite leaning towards vegetarian, vegan and Mediterranean cooking. The walls are filled with beautiful illustrations of food, especially vegetables and fruit. There are dressers filled with beautifully decorated ceramics. There are fruit bowls filled with citrus fruit and others with apples and pears and peaches. There are pots filled with herbs growing on the window sill, through which you can see a little vegetable patch in the background. There's a large stove where a pot of casserole simmers and the smell of baking bread wafts from the oven. The door to the larder is ajar and you can see jars of nuts and seeds and rice and pasta and baskets of vegetables. The big ceramic sink has one side filled with soapy water and the three-storey dish rack is ready to be filled with clean and sparkling dishes, rinsed in the other half of the sink. There's a notebook on the worksurface with scribbled notes on recipes and on the dining table is a sketchbook with colourful pencil sketches of slices of courgette. This is a space to sit and talk about food (particularly plant-based food), to enjoy trying new recipes and experimenting, and to wonder and marvel at the beauty of all the edible plants available to us. It's a space to be inspired and to learn and teach and, most of all, a place to share food and to break bread together.
Oh my goodness, this sounds like my dream kitchen scenario, so gorgeous and nourishing! xx
Hi Tasha! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
It sounds like the perfect place to gather—I can almost smell the cooking. 🌟🥕📖
Writing Wrongs is a small rural convenience store with two gas pumps but one is out of order. The place is open 24/7 and attracts a wide spectrum of customers; the well to do, the getting by, and the sinking fast. Travelers that pull in off the interstate come in hungry, tired and either running away from somewhere or running back there. Locals that live in the nearby small town of Stackville come in too, and they pick up this or that, that one thing they're craving, the one thing that will hit the spot. The place stocks all the basic food and nonfood essentials as well as some items that you never think of buying until you absolutely need them. There is almost always a car or two parked out front in the gravel lot, no matter what time of day or night, but it’s never really that busy.
You can’t be in a hurry though because the owner is the only employee and doesn’t - can’t, take a day off. He loves to tell short stories to each customer as he is literally checking them out. Sometimes he tells a story off the cuff, right out of the blue, while he’s standing there. He just makes them up as he goes. He’s a people observer, a history buff, a writer of all types of stories and a lover of books - especially their authors.
In a back corner of the store is a small spinning rack of books that squeaks as it turns, letting the owner know that someone is taking a look see. The rack stands a little crooked and it's old but it's still back there, next to that display of family size Cheetos. It’s an eclectic collection of discounted paperback books and story collections about everything under the sun. Characters that are good and bad, happy or sad, in the past and the future or both. Some of those stories are even his. Odds are, you’ll find something on that rack that interests you. He tries to sell them and marks them down even more from time to time, but sometimes he just gives them away.
In the other back corner is a round table that has a scarred but mostly smooth white linoleum top, with that old style silver edged trimming running around it. There are four padded folding chairs, one with a rip in the vinyl. If it is just him and one other customer, he’s been known to invite them to sit down and have a chat about this, that and everything. The owner will just flat talk your ear off if you let him or you want him to. So, whether you live in Stackville or just passing through the area and you’re in the need of something to consume, or you have an itch that needs scratching, you might just find what you need at Writing Wrongs. When you go in though, relax, slow your pace and don’t be in too big of a hurry. Look around a little.
Hi Jim! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
The eclectic book rack and inviting table for chats make it feel like a cozy corner of the world where stories and connections come alive. Thank you for sharing this wonderful and inviting space! 📚❤️🚗
Sounds intriguing!
Thanks CB! You have a standing invitation from the owner to stop by anytime. Even if the only thing you buy is a bag of those Cheetos. I can still tell you a short story as I'm ringing you up. - Jim
How’d you know I’ve a weakness for Cheetos?!? Your observation skills are the mast! Looking forward to the stories!
Haha, crunchy or regular? Hot or old school?…these things matter. You’ll be judged duly.
Crunchy, Old school flavor for sure!
Perfect score.
My Substack Single Mum Speaks is a gathering around the fire. A circle, an invitation to step in and join and listen and share. Sitting on the Earthy floor or sprawled out on large velveteen cushions, dusk falls, the fire crackles and sparks sending out heat and light into the centre of the room. An invitation of connectedness. A coming home. Eyes shine deep in the listening of other people's stories. Their loves, hurts, lives and dreams. Their minitutiae moments and deepest secrets and desires. There may be tears, laughter, recognition, there is a fierce sense of reverential support for these stories, the witnessing, the holding, the internal cheering on. Words weave pictures, memories and sensations. Light turns to dark, blankets are drawn closer, mugs of hot sweet tea steam as we listen and we listen and we listen and we come home to ourselves and our truth released drifting spinning in the smoke of the fire. Remembering who we are, remembering we are human, remembering we are all connected, remembering to speak our truth, release our shame, step into our power and be truly seen deep in the cauldron of the earth.
The cauldron of the earth - wow such earthy potency. I felt held by every word of this and the circle medicine, so so beautiful. The remembering, releasing and stepping into power feels so needed xx
Thank you. Yes it feels like circle medicine and the deep dark ground of earth is what is going to get us through these potent times xx
Hi Chloë! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Wow, this description sounds so magical! I love how it captures the essence of coming home to oneself and holding space for others to do the same. Thank you for sharing this beautiful and intimate space🌟❤️🫶
Poetic Therapeutics welcomes you to a place half library half garden. It is probably deep midnight - or is it dappled afternoon? You decide. We have comfy chairs and sofas, we have foot stools. We do therapy and therapy supervision here so on the bookshelves you will find not just poets and more poets, but countless maps. Maps from the front of every fiction book that ever had a map. Earthsea, Middle Earth, Hundred Acre Wood. Some of the maps are on wonderful scrolls and we can unroll them on this table to see if we can get an idea of where you are and where you might be going. Oh, and we have ginger cake.
Hi Katy! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
📚🌿 The blend of a cozy library and lush garden sounds absolutely enchanting! ✨
Where would I describe substack if it were a place?
It would be a beach with soft white sand, a gentle bue ocean and a slight breeze. There is a chaise lounge in the shade under a palm tree.
I am smelling the air and watching the sun glisten on the waves.
Beside me is a small table with a glass of wine.
I scribble thoughts, feelings while I observe passersby on the beach.
A friend arrives at my corner of paradise and we discuss details of our upcoming adventure.
We jot down the details while laughing over another glass of wine.
This is my happy place. It exists in my imagination. Some places I have traveled have come close but 100%.
Is this why I travel? Perhaps. But more importantly, this vision creates a relaxing mindset to allow my imagination blend with reality and get it out of my head and onto paper.
Hi Laura! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I love the image of a peaceful spot with soft sand, a gentle breeze, and the joy of writing and connecting with friends. It sounds like the perfect blend of relaxation and inspiration! 🌊✨
Oh my goodness. Some truly beautiful descriptions here.
Tasha Goddard Ponderings and Pictures (yes, I really, really need to change the name and this exercise is giving me some ideas for that, actually) is a large garden studio. There's a desk with a computer and Cintiq tablet in one corner, in front of a vision board wall filled with illustrations of rooms and people and everyday objects. There are shelves filled with inspiration - books on pattern design, on picture book illustration, academic tomes on illustration in design, books about plants and animals, exhibition books, books about particular art movements and artists... There's a large table, covered in paint marks and scratches and stains and scattered with sketchbooks and tubes of paint and pencils and crayons. There's an art trolley, that moves around the studio, filled with pots of art materials, sorted by colour, rather than material - there are two pink pots and two blue pots. There's a big cosy sofa and an armchair in another corner and a coffee table where an iPad is sitting, showing a symmetrical pattern motif in Adobe Fresco with an Apple Pencil sitting beside it. There's a passport sitting on the coffee table and the shelves in this corner are filled with nick nacks from all over Europe and the wall is adorned with illustrated postcards of different cities. In another corner there's a yoga mat and some candles and incense, for peaceful and calm moments. It's a space to be inspired and to inspire, to create art, to talk about art, to maybe learn or teach a few new illustration or pattern tricks, to just sit and chat about travels and everyday life, to find some peace and calm.
🎨🌿 Tasha, the description for your other publication sounds absolutely magical! The blend of creative chaos and serene comfort is so inspiring. 🌟🖼️📚
(I mentioned in the other comment to you, that I'm supporting Claire with the comments while she's busy with her book launch☺️✨)
This sounds so creatively inspiring, most definitely a place I am drawn to deeply, I love the idea of a working studio space xx
My Substack is a cozy coffee shop. With big plush chairs, plenty of outlets and free refills. It’s filled with all your favorite professional friends where we share tips about being awesome and how to make life better. We also occasionally share our favorite reads. There’s a great patio overlooking the ocean in case you need some chill outdoor time.
Hi Teri! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I love the image of plush chairs, endless refills, and the vibrant community! Sounds like such a friendly and enriching space! 🌟📚💬
Double English is a Hogwarts of sorts, a welcoming, inclusive space that sings to the tune of the mystical English language as played by its creator, a humble builder of sentences.
The only requirement for entry is curiosity, and a love of the written word either as a reader or storyteller. No subject is off limits--there is a door for every preference. You will meet words, sentences, and stories of all shapes and sizes that will invite you through a personal portal to dance with imagination. You can interact and partake as much (read, comment, like, share) or as little (a clickety click flyby) as you like.
Double English is a timeless, ageless place that will stir your emotions and open your mind to magic, for real magic is only created by two: the one who ignites the flame, and the one who fans the flame into a fire.
Hi Petra! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Your description sounds absolutely enchanting! 🪄💫 I love that the only entry requirement is our curiosity. ✨
In the west the sun hovers above the horizon, creating a pathway of light across the still waters of the lake. In the east the full moon rises, emerging slowly from behind an ancient oak tree. A murmuration of starlings spirals and swirls above the forest, a heron stand, still as stone, on the shoreline. Colours ripple across the sky. Your heart is full, your mind is still. You are at peace.
Hi Josie! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
You are so good at painting such a beautiful and calming scene! It sounds like your space is the perfect place to go to if we want a bit of zen in our lives. ✨
Cheers Mica, thanks for taking the time to respond. Have a creative and fun weekend.
You’re so welcome! I hope you have a wonderful weekend too! ✨
Oooo the light on the water and the colours in the sky sound magical and so peaceful xx
A nourishing, creative hub for reviewing and making lifestyle edits through discussion, prompts and poems. Using the connection with eastern philosophies and nature to soothe, simplify, inspire, and navigate personal and mini transformations in the Tech Age.
Thanks Claire for this as l always find consolidating what you do to interest people difficult!
Hi Salema! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
This sounds so interesting and captivating! You’ve done a beautiful job at consolidating your description.
No doubt Claire appreciated your lovely note at the end too! (I see she’s liked it 😊)
I'd say either a cafe or a park where we can have more casual yet insightful, deep conversations and discussions on various topics and issues that we're passionate about.
It's under such circumstances that we can have exchanges of ideas and go back and forth on our views on important, meaningful topics in a civil manner. It's also an opportunity for us to expand our views and beliefs, and consider different perspectives!
It's essentially a place where we can share our passionate opinions and musings while being respectful towards one another.
Hi Raveen! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
You describe a beautiful space where ideas a heard and respected. Where people can be themselves and learn from others. I love it! ✨
Thanks, Mika.
I imagine two older Italian gentlemen sitting on a table on the street just outside a cafe in New York.
Just talking, laughing and watching the world go by.
They have lived their live and niw just enjoy companionship..
Studio Diaries is a large, airy art studio. Large French windows line one wall, letting in beautiful natural light. There’s a huge working desk in the middle of the room, with tubs filled with tubes of paint, pots of brushes and pencils. A vintage printer’s drawer is filled with collage papers, stencils, stamps, and watercolor & mixed media papers. Off to one corner is a little sewing station. There’s a journaling nook with a selection of fountain pens, inks, washi tape and stickers. You’re welcome to come in, sit at the table, and get your hands messy as you play with papers and paints, stamps and stencils; or to sit at one of the other tables or comfy chairs strewn around the studio, writing, knitting, crocheting. There’s space for all creatives here, all are welcome!
Hi Shinjini! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Oh wow! Can you transport me there now?! Sounds absolutely amazing!!!!! 🎨📔🪡
Take a deep breath to stop hurrying and to un-rush — and enjoy entering the online publication Un-Rush—The Power of Slow. You are in a remote place, an old Italian villa in the countryside with a gathering room that opens up to the outside, to an open space with new views and perspectives, nooks and corners. The natural colors of the interior and exterior make you calm down. White, crème, beige, brown – all the earth colors give you a sense of how much nature and quiet outdoor space help you to breathe, to slow down, and to reflect.
You have the permission to un-rush, not only here, but wherever you go again, because you can create the lifestyle of this place anywhere else. You reflect on stuff you read in that corner of the terrace in a comfy wicker chair surrounded by green, or you move over to that area in the field, sitting on blankets and exchange thoughts and ideas with others. This space lets you gather ideas, gain new insights, make friends, and reconnect with yourself.
Why spend time in that place? It gives you the Power of Slow.
The power comes from an understanding of why rushing is absurd, makes you miserable, and makes things worse. It comes from a clear picture of why slowing down elevates your long-term relationship with yourself and others. The power comes from seeing the astonishing effect slowing down has on others. You wander around the villa, the garden, and the field, and you wonder about the hurry sickness and finally discover the symphony in slowing down.
Hi Claudia!👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
What a great reminder and a beautiful invitation to un-rush. Sounds like a beautiful retreat from the busy world. ✨
thanks, Mika!!!!
Ohhh, there are some good ones here. I’ve got quite a few new stacks I want read through now. Thanks for this great idea. My turn:
My Substack is a vintage spaceship, with a ballsy captain and kooky crew. No uniforms, nothing uniform exists in my universe. It’s a fun ride and after a recent overhaul it’s ready to be launched into outer space.
Hi Bonnie! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
What a super fun, unique description! I love it!! 🚀💫
Thank you. Sorry for the delayed response I avoided social media for a few days. Like any vintage machine, even when renovated, I had some kinks getting my next episode up. Still writing it. So, not socializing much til I get it done. Good luck with the book launch.
Love that you had some social media free days. I think we need a bit of a reset every now and then. Hope you are feeling more balanced and aligned. ✨
What a fun exercise! I love reading everyone’s responses and in six weeks I will probably have an idea of what to share! 😂
There’s never any rush. ✨🪡✨
Hello, Adversity is a park bench in the Boston Public Garden. It's a beautiful park in the middle of the city where there's a pond, willow trees, and various plants and flowers of all kinds. I remember exactly where I sat when I realized the magnitude of the challenges ahead of me, and it was where I resolved to keep going. (Fun fact: the bench I sat in, without realizing it at the time, is near where Robin Williams and Matt Damon had their famous scene in Good Will Hunting.)
A park bench is where two people can have a casual chat, as you people watch and taken in the beautiful scenery. These chats have a way of getting philosophical, due to the relaxed setting. I like to think my site is like a friend giving advice to someone who needs to hear it, from someone who's "been there".
Hi Chris! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
You have painted such a calming and welcoming scene. Just beautiful Chris!
That's so kind of you Mika! 😀
My pleasure Chris! I loved the visual. You have a lovely way with words and getting the sentiment across. 😊
Whew, that’s a good question and I’m the Queen of Good Questions?
The forest. In this forest there are hundreds and hundreds of different types of trees producing nuts, needles, and fruits. A lush food forest hiding from those who are nature blind. Animals living in all the nooks and crannies, high where the winds whips through and low where the earth’s stillness is slowly alive, being a lush circuitry weaving through it’s stratospheres and connecting all the plants and flowers blooming.
The elements whipping up conversations that spark a flame, as well as soft rains quench the soul because this place recognizes the interconnectedness of all whom, slither, walk, crawl, or fly amongst its sacred boundaries.
At first you resist, nothing has felt like this before, is this what it feels like to truly be free to be your full self? No judgement, no conditioning, all generational patterns and traumas healed. Is this where our minds rest in our heart’s knowing and our gut’s sensing guide us as we walk in and out if the magical ecosystems all coexisting and thriving with one another?
Is this the meaning of leading?
Hi Michele! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
You have a beautiful way with words Michele. I certainly felt transported! 💫
Appreciate the acknowledgement and feedback.
It’s been so lovely to read all the creative responses. Such a great prompt by Claire!
Ohh good question… my Substack is an outdoor indoor space in a woodland. A wooden jetty over part of a large pond. We don’t have walls but we do have a canvas roof to stay dry and in the middle, a wood burning stove to gather around and festoon and fairy lights. There are sofa chairs and cushions and blankets, all the tea and coffee you could want. It’s a circle of creativity, curiosity and a gentle holding of ourselves and others. We are safe, we are reflective, we are playful. Some of the trees have swings, hammocks. You can swim if you want to.
I love the image of some swings, hammocks and I can swim if I want to... Gather & Grow is an amazing name!
Hi Sarah! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Sounds absolutely divine. Somewhere we can get lost in nature and take a break from the cares of the world. I love that! 💫✨
Elephant in the Mirror is a huge marble hall, carved and crafted intricately up to its dark ceiling and yellowing with age. Like ivory. In the centre is a giant mirror with golden clawed feet, topped with gargoyles, and draped in red velvet that shows viewers their inner selves at peace with having met them at last. The soundtrack to their life echoing within its walls. It has tall windows with no panes that the wilderness outside grows into it and the sun shines through from the East and the West.
Hi Aun! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Wow. A place where we can see our inner selves at peace. What an absolute gift!! ✨
When in Doubt, Walk in a Circle gathers around a campfire where the embers float up the dark blanket of the night sky—like fireflies flickering their call in the forest. Come listen to the shared stories of hopes, fears, and dreams as unique as the character speaking. Laughs and tears, both of joy and heartache, reveal unexpected origins both from the camp director and each of her campers.
As your camp director, I’m starting the storytelling, but stick around to hear from my campers. Watch from the shadows or step up and enjoys the warmth of the reflected heat. Maybe even share a story of your own!
Hi CB! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Sounds like a beautiful space where we can feel safe and understood. That’s really special. ✨
Hi Mika! (And Claire!) Isn’t that what we all want? Both a safe space AND a book launch 😊
Absolutely! 😊📗✨
My substack does not fit a particularly convenient description, but perhaps some word-play might help. With the addition of a play on words, I can describe it as a boxing arena (or perhaps a UFC arena). My substack is in some ways "a bout with reality." Enjoy!
Hi Lenny! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
“A bout with reality” - love that! I don’t know about you, but sometimes reality can really kick our butt sometimes. 🥊✨
<< reality can really kick our butt sometimes. >>
True! The way life is going for me these days, I have my butt in sling! Please wish Claire the best for me.
This is an awesome "challenge" because my newsletter was built with a place in mind 😆
You're entering the headquarters of Supercharged Learning. The main hall is divided into different sections (that map to the sections you can find in the weekly newsletters).
After visiting them, you can find one last place that's a small room with different personal items. It's a cozier place that contrasts with all the action from previous sections.
And after it there's sort of a shuttle that takes you of the HQ and back to the outside world.
(If you want to have a guided tour of the whole place, take a look at the post titled "Welcome aboard" 😉)
Hi Juan! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I love that you’ve already thought about it!! I love that there’s a mix of learning and personal. ✨
Hey Mika. Thanks for the reply.
It was a fun exercise to "flesh out" the different sections as if in a space
Also, thanks for the mentioning the mix. I'm still working on making it a good one
Cheers and have lovely weekend.
I’m a visual person, so I could really imagine it! I hope you have a lovely weekend too!
Thanks, Claire, for this perspective on how to look at our publication! This was not only fun, but also very helpful. And interesting to find others through this kind of description.
Rediscover • Reconnect • Re-Emerge is a cosy, country cottage kitchen, where you can pull up a well-worn old wooden chair, and sit by the burning range where the kettle is always simmering away; a place where you can enjoy slow and simple moments, a gentler pace of life, and a warming chat with an old friend.
Hi David!👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Sounds like a very comforting and welcoming space. Can’t wait to pull up with a nice cuppa. ✨
Ooh, I like this idea. It would be a 'being built' sort-of a place. We've got a roof, there's coffee being made in a mokka on a decent camping burner, we've got marble slabs for tables and would love for people to come say hi and share their stories about baked goods and memories and join in on a workshop.
Hi Sarah! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I love the idea that it is still coming together, but it is still very welcoming and informative. ✨
Aww, thank you Mika! I like welcoming and informative 💃.
This prompt really got me in the best of ways Claire 🥰 thank you for it!! Tagging you in my ahas on notes since I can’t drop a picture here 💕
Find Your Awesome is a big colorful bounce house where everyone is welcome. We bounce and flip and giggle all day long. Sometimes we just flop on the bouncy floor and start up at the sky (because this bounce house doesn’t have a roof). There’s a zip line nearby which is SO MYCH FUN and a lazy river where we relax and enjoy the flow.
Hi Kelsey! 👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
I also imagine lovely dog licks as we play around on the floor with your lovely dogs. 😊🐾
The Granny Who Stands on her Head, despite its name, takes place in an old cobbled inner-city area, where everything is simple and old-fashioned but inordinately interesting. No large monuments nor many private houses, but lots of fascinating little shops selling books, or antiques or old musical instruments. There is an old church and cloister, with an atmosphere of calm and introspection, but also the occasional restaurant that is amusing or, indeed, statue that is sensual. Nothing modern or trendy. For those seeking contemplation but also the odd thought that is out of the ordinary.
Hi Ann! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Sounds like a lovely street that I would love to get lost down. 😍✨
This was such an inspiring exercise. I’ve been soaking up all the descriptions and jotting down my own wandering thoughts about my Substack space. A fun exercise. Will share once I have more clarity!
My Substack Zingy Zen is an unexplored garden in an old city, filled with towering trees that whisper the tales of time. Amidst them, there lies the crumbling ruins of bygone eras with their weathered stone adorned with patches of graffiti, speaking the stories of misfits, rebels and seekers. Let's sit together on one of these stones near the ruins, hear the rustling of the leaves as we feel the raw earth beneath our feet and talk about the deeper stuff in life.
P.S. What I have described here is inspired from an actual place--An ashram in Rishikesh, India--one of the most serene and peaceful places I have visited in my life.
Hi Sonnakshi! It's Mika here.👋 Claire is busy with her book launch, so I’m helping out with replies. ✨
Oh wow, you’re describing an actual place! Sounds magical. How lucky that you’ve been able to visit it and absorb it’s peace and tranquility. ✨
If Winning Sex Ed were a place, it would be the safest sleepover or sleepunder ever to grace a Google Calendar. Everyone is invited. Bring your coziest security snuggle and cozy up for supportive chats and words of encouragement. The basement has a plush carpet and a giant sofa, and you feel yourself exhale as you plop down to claim a space all your own. A big squishy pillow reads, "shame-free space." Two pillows silkscreened with hip fonts, one reading "respect" and the other "boundaries," soar through the air.
What is your favorite snack? Whatever you want, we have it, and it will never run out. Gummy bears? Chips and salsa? Ginger Ale? Go to the kitchenette; you'll find it there - in abundance.
You come as you are and feel safe being here. You don't have to call your parents if you want to leave because you are completely empowered to come or go - no peer pressure, judgment, or consequences. We are just a group of remarkably relaxed grown-ups opening up, sharing, growing, and ultimately weaving profound connections.
(thank you for this exercise, it was quite helpful)
Hi Mika! Thanks for your response. The place is popularly called Beatles Ashram (Members of The Beatles have spent sometime in that Ashram) and it's certainly a magical place. I was fortunate enough to visit it once. 🙂
Just added my answer to this prompt to my about page 💃 https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahfrison/p/about?r=1ywt9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true . I'm adding to my about page bit by bit and this felt like a nice addition!