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Published by jolake, 2019-07-25 07:33:19

The Little Book of me

The Little Book of
Me


Some of the best stories start at the beginning, others work better with linear deviation. Mine is perhaps one of those.


Jo the writer
I was in Venice several years ago, having dinner in a tiny back street restaurant, where they served the best Vongole I’ve ever tasted. There was an art exhibition on in the city and my now husband had taken me there for a special treat, knowing how I love to spend hours looking at things, which he considers to be no better than recyclable salvage. We were seated in close proximity to a couple from Switzerland, and as we shared a bottle of wine together it transpired that she was exhibiting her pottery in Venice for the first time. She had been creating sculptures and making pots all her life, but had never had the time to do anything with them. Now at 75, retired, children grown and married, she was proudly exhibiting, ‘by invitation’, firstly in Venice, and then at a number of loca- tions throughout Europe. When she asked what I did, my husband said proudly, “she’s a writer!” I often think about that evening, we are still in touch with Monika and Nino and she still emails to ask me if my book is finished yet. It isn’t, but she reminds me that anything is possible.
I’m not sure that my husband’s definition of a writer, would match with that found in the Oxford dictionary, but it’s true that I write. A lot. Not always for publication or for general consumption; in fact, I think if I published half the things I write about the people in the village we would be out of business, but I write because I love writing. The sensation of a pen between my fingers, the smell of a fresh hardback notebook, the outpouring of words, that accompanies the one sided dialogue you create as you tell a story. I love everything about writing, and I think that’s his definition is based on.
It’s not a coincidence, or if it is, it’s one of great brilliance, because being a story teller is in my blood. My family, working with the assumption that we were the only Penno’s in Cornwall, had the first bookshop in Cornwall, and started the first newspaper, and I come from generations of Cornish families who loved to tell stories. Mainly in the later years to each other about the size of their lambs or length of their corn, but stories none the less, and I like to think that my career to date, has been built on an ability to listen, regurgitate and convey stories. Like the time I ended up working with Panorama on the closure of Woolworths stores, or found myself wondering around the Cornish Pirates changing rooms with a microphone on Boxing Day. Then there was the time I managed to get the vice chancellor of Plymouth University to share a stage with an elephant, blindly illustrate an ENT book for a young doctor, oh and raise £22,623.50 in two and a half hours for Children’s Hospice South West. Each of those things only came about because I can tell stories.
I’m sure that one day the book will be finished, but for now I’m ready to take a leaf out of Monika’s book, and do something I’ve always wanted to do, tell stories for a living. Striving to make some more memories, work with some more amazing people and do what I do best, which is create, tell and make stories.


Jo the writer who loves...


Chickens
Cooking
My Family
Music
Gardening


and is most proud of...
https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2016/mar/04/remind-me-mr-cameron-what-am-i-trying-to-prevent?CMP=share_btn_tw
writing for the guardian.


Who is totally brilliant at...


playing the saxaphone
(As well as marketing, creative thinking, talking, listening, managing stuff, brand development, learning, business, pitching, social media, ideas, client management, completing a VAT return and growing green tomatoes)


and would really like to work for Indenna.


Jo - the other bits
You can see more of my writing on my website www.jolake.co.uk
Or you could check out the Landlady’s Blog https://www.rodandlinetideford.co.uk/blog/
You might also like to know that:
While I was at the university of Marjon Plymouth I won the vice chancellors award for innovation twice, as well as the award for collaborative research.
I also went to America and brokered a relationship with Camp America, so that the programme became part of the university degree curriculum
I put a garden shed on campus, and collected people’s stories about their experiences in higher education, and I guest lectured weekly on the journalism, marketing and music management degree pathways.
I started an events company in 2011 for £50... and sold my shares for a lot more.
I once put a Bentley in the restaurant at Lanhydrock Golf club, and set up a 1950’s picnic inside the boot...
I project managed Cornwall Retail Skills, and we worked with hundreds of retail businesses and individuals all over Cornwall. We even gave away £10,000 once in a merchandising competition.


and


I would really like to work for Indenna.




©Jo Lake-Jones 2019


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