Industry Insider – The Stories We Tell Ourselves

When you are introducing yourself to others as a writer, do you ‘big yourself up’ or play yourself down? Do you fear being seen as immodest or boastful if you talk about your achievements? Or do you feel you haven’t achieved much at all, compared to others?

The stories we tell ourselves have a profound effect on our writing careers. From deciding to write something to pitching the finished work to agents, our inner voice is with us every step of the way. It can encourage and energise us or undermine and drain us.

Inevitably, this voice also shapes the story we share publicly, and we can be totally unaware how poorly it portrays us. It’s time for help!

 

Programme

• Welcome, introductions and housekeeping from Cat Weatherill (2 mins)
• Cat Weatherill chairs a panel discussion with Olivia Chapman & Katrice Horsley (40mins)
• Q&A with audience (15 mins)
• Summary and closing comments (3 mins)
• This session will be moderated by Lilly Brend-Fish – Events & Outreach Assistant, SoA

 

What will this session cover? 

What stories should we be telling ourselves, privately and professionally? How can we turn negative stories into positive ones that will truly work for us? Is it self-aggrandising to talk of achievements or does it encourage others to shine?

 

Who is this session for? 

This session is for anyone who feels unsure or uncomfortable talking about themselves.

 

 

Send us your questions in advance 

If you would like to send questions in advance, email with [email protected] with ‘The Stories We Tell’ in the subject header. We will prioritise questions sent in advance and answer as many as we can from the audience on the day.

 

SoA @ Home fundraising bookshop

Browse our virtual Bookshop.org store featuring books by authors and speakers taking part in the SoA @ Home Festival. When you make a purchase using our affiliate links, a percentage will go to the Authors’ Contingency Fund, providing hardship grants to authors in financial difficulty.

 

The Line-up 

Cat Weatherill

Cat Weatherill is a best-selling author and performance storyteller, working with both adults and children. She specialises in telling the stories held with objects and places, working most recently with the Royal Shakespeare Company’s costume department. She is also the storyteller in residence at Blenheim Palace. Her latest book is Motorcycle Confidence for Women.

Website: www.catweatherill.co.uk

 

Olivia Chapman

Olivia (Liv) Chapman previously worked at New Writing North, Blake Friedmann Literary Agency and Puffin Children’s Books. She is from London, where she did a BSc in International Relations at LSE before moving to North East England to do post-graduate studies in marketing and PR. Olivia is currently a Governor at an Infant school in Solihull, and was part of the 2015 AMEX Leadership Academy. As PR & Communications Manager at Writing West Midlands, Liv specialises in teaching writers how to pitch their work.

 

Katrice Horsley

Katrice Horsley is an award-winning storyteller, narrative consultant and speaker. Her international work makes use of traditional stories to enable individuals, communities and organisations identify the impact of personal and cultural narratives on identity and behaviour. As such she has worked in over 20 different countries on four different continents and for clients that range from Nordea Bank to UNICEF and CILIP to prison services.

As a previous selective mute, she is passionate about communication in all its forms and often works in the area of language development for children. Her background is in Child Play and Community Development . She is from the UK, lived in Ghana for 6 years and currently resides in Sweden. Her bereavement resource, The Small Creature, written by Katrice for The British Heart Foundation, won the Not for Profit category at the DesignWeek Benchmark Awards, as well as taking the Best in Show for Hat-trick Design.

Website: www.narrative4change.com/

 

Need to know 

Accessibility

• Attendees will have the option to turn on the live transcript option
• If you require BSL interpretation for this event, please email [email protected]

Before the event

• Once registered, you will be sent a confirmation email with the Zoom link
• If the confirmation email doesn’t arrive in your inbox, please check your junk /spam email folder.
• Please add [email protected] to your Safe Senders list so you receive our confirmation, and reminder emails

During the event

• This online event will take place on Zoom Webinar; you will not be visible on screen but will be able ask questions via the Q&A function or interact via the chat box
• This event will be recorded but you won’t be on screen
• This event is 60 minutes.

After the event

• Hashtag for this event: #SoAatHome
• You’ll be able to catch the recording on our Vimeo channel

 

Booking

Book your place using the registration form below.

All #SoAatHome events are free but if you can afford to, please consider donating to our Authors’ Contingency Fund and we suggest a minimum donation of £5. The fund is to help professional authors experiencing financial hardship. DONATE HERE