Today I Am Excited About Everything

Do you remember this post from a few weeks ago? I had just come back from Blogtacular and was positively fizzing with excitement after a day of unbridled love for creativity, writing and sharing.

During that post I mentioned my very brief conversation with Allison Sadler who was on the Creative Genius Bar during the day. I just sort of rambled at her for five minutes about the fact that while I know for certain I want my next move to be a creative one, I have so many possible outlets that I'm not sure which one to focus on, I want to do them all, and none of them really work together (or so I thought, but more on that in a bit...)

I felt sure after this conversation that Allison would be able to help me unpick what my plan for the future is, so I booked a Creative Business Mentoring Session with her, and last Friday I drove the 180ish miles from Norfolk to Birmingham and met with her in her truly wonderful shop.

I had the best two hours! Everything Allison does is beautiful, from the massive hug I got as soon as I walked through the door to the way the desk was laid out ready for me, with some motivational cards and a perfectly co-ordinated notebook and pencil (not to mention the de-blooming-licious lemon tart and tea!)

Allison's reason for all of this prettiness - because it makes her happy! I love that! It was amazing to spend time with someone who truly gets that something being aesthetically pleasing is a perfectly good reason to own or do it, and that if we surround our selves with things that don't make us happy we will, of course, make ourselves feel sad!

We talked for a while about what I'd done previously, and how I'd ended up rather recklessly quitting my job to pursue an as yet unknown creative adventure. Allison then said, "Imagine waking up tomorrow to your absolute dream life - what do you do?" and without missing a beat I said:

"I write a magazine"

"Yeah," I continued "That's what I really want to do, I want to write and publish a magazine."

You know how sometimes you don't really know what you're about to say then your subconscious blurts it our for you and you realise after you've said it that it is in fact quite true? I'm sure it's not just me that this phenomenon happens to. Sometimes I'll be mid conversation with someone and say something that I hadn't planned to say at all but it will make perfect sense. The subconscious mind is a wonderful thing it seems!

The more we talked the more I began to realise that this would be the perfect outlet for everything I love. One of my favourite things about blogging is sharing the things I've found, or places we've been. I love putting together the wishlist or roundup type posts, and sometimes it just feels really good to write about the way I feel about something - and wouldn't it be great to learn more and write about the way other people feel about things too? Also, I adore making - it's in my blood. However, I don't think I want to make things to sell them - for one things I'm slow at making, and for another I feel very strongly that I don't want to 'sell-out' so to speak by making things that sell when I don't truly love them - I've made lots and lots of super brightly coloured baby things, but would I make them for my own children? Probably not. Add to that that my interest in things is usually quite fleeting - right now I have a burning need to make a lavender eye pillow for yoga, but give me a week and I doubt I'm going to be wanting to stock a shop with them!

So, we mused, how about I just make what I love? Why not do what I've always done and try to figure out how I can make something rather than buy it, and write about it along the way. By the end of it I'll have a finished product I love, and my lovely readers will have the tutorial for how to make their own.

Then maybe, just maybe, all these things - the adventures, the wish lists, the discoveries, the musings,  and the tutorials will gather together to become exactly the magazine I would buy, and hopefully that someone else like me would buy too.

Of course, I can't expect to just start printing a magazine next weekend and find it in Smith's by Monday morning (and in any case I'm not sure I'd want that to happen!) What I can do is begin to see my little slice of the internet as place that's less for ad-hoc posting, and more like a properly curated online lifestyle journal!  Exciting or what?!

Now, this is going to require a certain amount of bravery on my part, and plenty of hard work. I have lots of plans for how The Salted Tail might pan out in the near future, there are several alterations afoot, and I will keep you updated as things change.

First off, stay tuned in the next couple of days for a proper explanation of how the name "The Salted Tail" came about, and what you can expect to find over here from now on!

 I'm so excited to take you all on the journey with me - I do hope you'll come along for the ride!