April wordy round-up
☕️ The stuff I think you'll love
A taste of what’s caught my eye lately. Full post has all the juicy details, including -
A free way to enjoy more books and magazines without subsidising rocket trips
Could 2025 be the year of the sweet pea?
Writing stuff down in beautiful notebooks
(Reading time 8 mins)
📺 Watching
As our tolerance for nonsense diminishes with each passing birthday, finding shows that don't trigger remote-hurling impatience feels like discovering gold dust. My habits have shifted gradually toward documentaries and non-fiction, where at least you might learn something while lounging in your yoga pants at 8.45 on a week night.
Gardeners' World has become a bit of a sanctuary. Never thought I’d say that. The most groundbreaking thing about it? The silence. Actual, genuine silence. No hysterical musical overlay telling you how to feel about a tulip. No manufactured drama about whether Monty's bulbs will survive the frost. No repeated recaps every 15 minutes. Just adults, quietly getting on with making the garden lovely. Revolutionary.
My genealogy enthusiasm diverted me across the Atlantic to Who Do You Think You Are? USA. At 30 mins, it's snappier than the British version, and features a satisfying number of midlife women excavating their family histories (maybe the influence of Executive Producer Lisa Kudrow?). Sarah Jessica Parker, Courtney Cox, Rashida Jones, Jennifer Grey and more all feature. And yes, Baby from Dirty Dancing could now travel to collect her pension using her free bus pass. I'll pause while you process that existential gut-punch. Carry that knowledge round like a watermelon from now on.
I did my best with Interior Design Masters, but wanted to watch it at double speed. It labours all the dithering about the design process when what I really want is more dramatic reveal.
Currently trialling the new version of All Creatures Great and Small, while holding all the nostalgia for the original show decades ago. It gives off strong Durrells vibes (which makes sense, as hapless rascal Leslie Durrell is played by the same actor as hapless rascal Tristan Farnon). I'm only halfway through episode two and the arm-inserted-up-to-elbow count already stands at three. Nothing says prestige television quite like a Brylcreemed vet shoulder-deep in a cow. Elsewhere the Yorkshire Dales look lovely.
Race Across the World continues to satisfy my vicarious travel needs without the actual inconvenience of long-distance. Is anyone not watching it? And Last One Laughing proved surprisingly addictive – comedians trapped in a room, trying not to laugh, while the others do everything to break them. Like everyone else who remembers Shooting Stars, I’d probably watch anything with Bob Mortimer in it (exhibit A: Gone Fishing).
What are you watching? Drop your recommendations in the comments. But please, nothing with manufactured timelines or mansplaining. My remote-throwing arm isn't what it used to be, but I can still manage a decent trajectory when provoked.
✍🏻 Reading, listening, learning & loving
Reading/listening
How did I not know about the Libby app until now? Free ebooks, audiobooks and magazines via your library card. The user experience is slightly clunky, but Libby could easily save you the expense of an app like Audible. And surely none of us want to contribute towards any more Bezos rocket trips, so that’s all good.
I started on Libby with Pat Barker’s The Voyage Home. Toddlers get it absolutely right - it’s fun to have stories read to you. Haven’t quite got used to the reader doing “voices” for each character though. Why does the captain of the Greek ship bringing Agamemnon back from Troy sound like he’s from the Welsh valleys, for example? I also need to choose carefully when I press play, so I don’t fall asleep and lose track of where I am - the digital equivalent of waking up with a book open on your face. But it’s great for listening over breakfast, with a sneaky coffee, in the car, as I cook (not all at once). Try it.
I love Pat Barker and have cued up another next - The Women of Troy. Yeah I know I’m reading them in the wrong order. And then Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (her memoir about working for Meta). Need to time this right, as I know I’ll probably be deleting my accounts shortly after.
If you’re ready for a short, thoughtful read right now, try this post by
, where she reconsiders the concept of the midlife crisis.
Learning
True to my newly middle-aged viewing habits, I’ve got a Gardeners’ World-adjacent project underway. Three in fact.
First, raising sweet pea from seedlings. Never managed it. 2025 is the year.
Next, dahlias from scratch. Pots, compost and grit are ready and waiting for my order from Farmer Gracy.
And to complete the Monty-Trinity, I’m going to try The Basil Trick from
. I will post photographic evidence of progress with all three projects to keep me honest and accountable. Anyone want to join me?
I’ve also enjoyed a daily photo challenge this month with some writer friends, organised by the talented
. So much fun thinking about the prompts and selecting your pic of the day. Highly recommend.
Workwise, I absorbed Canvas8’s webinar about brands and midlife, The Power Xers. The level of marketing chatter about the purchasing power of midlifers is steadily rising. Hopefully it means that messaging aimed at us will start to ditch the stereotypes. Nothing changes minds (and messaging) like the prospect of increased revenue.
I also took furious notes at B2B Positioning Jujitsu with April Dunford. April’s thoughts and frameworks have helped me countless times on positioning and messaging projects for clients. Apparently she’s on a marketing break right now, so if you can’t hear her speak, I recommend her books - Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. If you work in marketing, your clients will thank you.
Loving right now
Speaking of brands and obviously awesome midlife women, Purdy & Figg was founded by two entrepreneurial midlifers, according to their brand story. Their non-toxic cleaning products do the job and smell amazing. Try them.
And then speaking of entrepreneurial women, I’ve been a member of Synne Linden’s She Sells community since last year. Synne provides the empathetic antidote for any woman who finds that selling gives them the ick. She’s got a free trial, which I also recommend.
Now a side-note on packaging, because I spotted this beauty in Budapest - tablets of chocolate that look like mini pieces of art. They also sell orange and bergamot sailors’ moustaches, which can’t be wrong. I can’t find much of an origin story on the website. Intrigued. This was (nearly) too good to eat. A great present.
For me 😂
More art, this time from Lis Watkins, who shared her thoughts on showing up on YouTube - “I always say that I have sketched my way through the menopause. Half jokingly, half true. I suppose I want to show other people what adding drawing into their lives can do. It can help to slow you down, have peaceful moments, travel, connect with others with the same interest, look at the world and really see it.”
Flip through Lis’s beautiful sketchbooks here. It’s a treat.
Seamlessly onto notebooks. I can only imagine the stories we could all tell in one of these composition ledgers. Spoilt for choice. Imagine a shelf stacked with a series of those. What would you write in them?
And now I want a thinking chair surrounded like this one below, in which I write stuff in one of those books above. Perfect.
Now that I mention it, I’m also making a notebook for my midlife business-building clients to record their messaging gems in. Here’s the cover. I’ve got thoughts about what prompts I’ll put inside for you, but please tell me what you need help with.
Client-wise, I’m working on a brand positioning and messaging project for a very interesting SaaS platform. I just put together their “say it like this” brand voice recommendations, so it’s all coming together beautifully. I’ve also just started prep for the research and discovery phase of a website project for an AI startup.
Otherwise it’s exam season in our house, but I’ve got Atomicon to look forward to in June. Who will I see there? And tomorrow, yes tomorrow (Thursday 1st May),
and I host our party to celebrate all the midlife women nominated for The Plot Twist Awards. Sparkling times.Want us to work together?
🐦⬛ As well as tackling B2B messaging projects, I help midlife women talk about their businesses and position their skills so that other people want to pay for them. I work with midlife women because I'm convinced we should take over the world and all would be well. Not even half-joking 😂
If you want to talk about positioning your work, messaging strategy, web copy or email marketing, we can have a zero-pressure chat. You can reach me (Sue Moore) at inktank@substack.com
I’m Sue Moore, The Midlife Messaging Strategist & Copywriter. I share smart stuff for writers, plus musings on midlife marketing and copy psychology.