There, I said it.
It’s percolating.
I’ve wanted to write and publish a book for some time now and I need to take the steps to make it happen because no one is going to come knocking on my door to ask me to write one, unless I first put something out there.
If you’re a first time visitor to my blog, you may not know that I am a Canadian who has spent some time living and working abroad.
Long story short (and mini book teaser), I’ve been in Australia, Ireland, England and recently returned home with my family. My Irish husband and I met in Ottawa, Canada and then moved to Brisbane, Australia four months later. We were married in Galway and spent time living in Ireland. Relocated to the UK for a couple of years and had a baby in London. Flew back to Ottawa this spring and started all over again – only this time with our Irish Canadian baby boy to keep life interesting.
I’ve been remote working from Europe for the past few years and travelling around, blogging and posting photos to Instagram as I went. Mostly for my friends, family and to fulfill my need to write and be creative. But while I was pregnant, I had one of those idea-in-the-shower moments and a concept for my book.
I registered domains, created social media accounts, told my husband and started writing. At six months pregnant when I could have been ‘nesting’ and doing baby prep, I spent time working on my creative project. Then I paused to give birth, look after our baby and learn how to be a mother. For real, those things take time.
A week after we had our baby in July 2016, I sat up at midnight before going to sleep for a few hours and finally applied to the next round of Google’s Campus London Campus for Mums Startup School, to pitch my idea and develop the concept.
I had looked into the program when I was pregnant but didn’t know when the next cohort started. That month I saw a post on social media – they were calling for applications and the next round would start a few weeks later in August! I told my husband about the baby-friendly program for founders who also happen to be parents and he said to go for it.
So I applied and was one of 35 founders accepted to the program from across the UK.
I pitched my idea: a financial literacy media brand for millennial women – to a room full of strangers – while holding my seven-week-old son.
I listened to guest speakers while breastfeeding, participated in focus groups wearing my postpartum clothes, complete with fresh baby spit up.
I finished the program with great contacts, positive feedback, launched a landing page and a few social media channels.
Slowly, very slowly, I’ve been putting the pieces together.
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Notes From Another Land 