Hello Reader

Can you guess which film inspired these two drawings:

Some years after the Watergate scandal pictured here (oops, did I give away the answer?) I would spend many hours in my mum’s office after school and during half-term etc.

Mum worked as a lawyer, and dictated letters into a dictaphone. The tapes were taken away to be typed by her secretary, Debbie.

Other typing was done in a typing pool, where three women (yep, all women) typed and typed and typed all day. I have no idea whose words they were typing: people without personal secretaries, I suppose.

As a bored child I found it both restful and stimulating to sit in that typing pool.

Clatter clatter clatter clatter ding!
Clatter ding!
Clatter clatter clatter ding!

The women were called Maureen, Shirley and Veronica. They didn’t seem to mind being interrupted occasionally with stories and questions. Occasionally they would send me on exciting errands, such as fetching coffee or tea from a machine.

I wonder where they are now, what they’re doing – do they even remember each other, let alone young visitors?

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While drawing the pictures above, I realised that the machines in the office at the Washington Post (at least, in the film) were bigger and heavier than the one the reporters might keep at home (top picture) - like having a desktop computer for work and a laptop.

Back then, neither machine was connected to the cloud - not unless you took it into the garden during a storm.

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Royal Academy Summer Exhibition preview party.

Yesterday, with zero notice (I mean, the party had already started), I was told I could have a spare ticket to the RA Summer Exhibition party. I moved like a bolt of lightning, sneaked past the paparazzi at the entrance and dived into the show.

I love that place. I love the summer exhibition. I have never dared to submit my own work, but maybe next year. . .

Afterwards, after everybody had glugged the Fortnum and Mason champagne and scoffed the high-end canapes, there was a concert of some kind in the courtyard at the front. I took some photos, and made a collage from which I intend to draw something later:

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Book proposal contd.

Last month, I told you about a book proposal I was writing - a book about interviews, and how they have shaped the world we live in. About Graham Norton’s chat shows, therapeutic conversations and the half-life of fame, among other things. (Here’s a link to last month’s email.)

I had some terrific responses, thank you. And I carried on with the proposal, and sent it in to agent Jaime last weekend. He’s quite excited about the idea - he thinks it was his idea!

(It probably was, tbh).

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If you have an idea for a book, write a proposal first. It gives you something to aim for - and makes the whole thing feel a bit more real. It’s no longer just a dream - it's a project.
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Before telling you how marvellous it is to write a book proposal, and going into what’s involved, I want to be perfectly clear that I hate writing my own book proposals.
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It’s excruciating. Feels like being told to dig a hole 20 feet deep, with a teaspoon. But I do it, and when I’ve finished I feel good.
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Helping other people write book proposals is another thing entirely. I enjoy helping others to find what really matters, and how to make the idea compelling.
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I’ve just finished writing a proposal for someone. Yes, I actually wrote it for him (10,000 words). I’m writing another, for someone else. Last week, I was asked out of the blue if I could help someone else with a book proposal.

I replied, saying I’d be glad to help if I can find the time, and if the fee works. Then I wondered about opening up the process to a smallish group instead.
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Might this appeal to someone you know?
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As with anything else, there’s no lack of information about how to do this. What’s lacking, for most people, is a sense of being held accountable.
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If you’re even slightly interested to hear about the group, please send me a message. There’s no commitment, obviously.
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Do you really need Substack?

(Yes or No are both acceptable answers.)

Matt told me he’s started a Substack newsletter, and wondered how to make best use of it. I’m not sure I’m the right person to answer that, in the sense that I haven’t managed yet.

But I do have some questions that might be helpful, and not only to Matt.

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More importantly, Matt wrote this:

I can’t believe I didn’t know about Slightly Foxed. I’m going to see if I can add them to the list of independent publishers whose offices I’m drawing as a kind of artist in residence (next up: Galley Beggar).

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In somewhat related news, Charmian graciously contacted me this week, to let me know she’d signed up for weekly emails from me, or so she thought. Had there been some kind of technical problem?

I replied, acknowledging that I’ve simply failed to send emails as frequently as intended, adding:

To which Charmian replied again, no less graciously:

I’ll try.

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In that spirit

Here’s a drawing from a week-long secret garden tour I did last month, for the Daily Telegraph.

My story hasn’t been published yet but someone who was there with me, the author / journalist / photographer Sophy Roberts has published her account in the FT.

I drew a picture of that, too:

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Upcoming Events

DRAW with me in London. The Idler Festival takes place in Hampstead, norf London.
On Saturday 6 July I’m running a drawing workshop. Day tickets are available.

WORD GAMES with me in… Italy. The Idler Renaissance Retreat takes place in Umbria.
See great Renaissance art, and learn from Renaissance writers. 14 Sept to 21 Sept. See this for details.​

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Till next time.

JPF

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