Love, Poetry And Time Management

+ life advice I live by

When I was a child, my Russian mother used to take me with her everywhere. That included to ladies’ lunches and afternoon teas with her friends. They were magical occasions where I got to enjoy the company of exotic women from Russia, China, Poland and Hungary. I would listen with wide-eyed fascination to stories of their childhoods in towns and cities that, from their vivid descriptions, conjured up images of fairy tale locations.

On one of those occasions, a Polish doctor by the name of Maja, took a particular interest in me. I was equally fascinated by her. With platinum blonde hair swept into a becoming updo and delicate amber earrings dangling from her ears, she exuded both elegance and intellect. Although my seven-year-old’s legs barely reached the floor from the chair on which I sat, Maja and I had an adult conversation that has remained with me all these years.

‘Belinda, you must be like a sponge and absorb everything in life,’ she said, ‘Look around you: Be fascinated by it all. Learn absolutely everything you can. Never stop studying.’

Her advice seems to have stuck with me because I have always loved the learning process to the point where I was reluctant to leave university life (I have qualifications from four) for ‘the real world’. I am also nearly always taking a class of some sort. And with the advent of online learning, I would say I’ve gone so far as to have become addicted.

During the pandemic, when the advent of online masterclasses became a thing, I took courses in screenwriting and yoga. Then when the online platform Masterclass.com was launched, I was one of the first to sign up. Although the classes are recorded and therefore aren’t interactive in the traditional sense, I found listening to people who were at the top of their game in a variety of fields fascinating.

Where else would you get to hear lectures from luminaries like Margaret Atwood, David Baldacci, Shonda Rhimes and Aaron Sorkin? I not only watched the lectures on writing but also on fields different to my own such as fashion (Anna Wintour), politics (Bill Clinton and George Bush) and Helen Mirren (acting) because their larger-than-life personalities gave me inspiration for characters in my novels.

Listening to their reflections and life experiences in many ways recreated the sense of elevation I used to feel as a child listening to the conversations of my mother’s friends.

When recently I discovered that the BBC had come up with an online masterclass platform of its own – BBC Maestro – I couldn’t resist joining up. I instantly noticed a fascinating cultural difference between the American and British platforms. The teachers of Masterclass.com are dazzling – almost mythical - and highly motivating. Perhaps even a little egotistical. The British version, while also engaging luminaries and masters in their fields, is quieter, more considered, and perhaps more practical.

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of Emboldened are available from Booktopia for Christmas

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Christmas Reading & Gift Giving

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In my next two newsletters, I’m going to share my impressions of some of the courses I’ve studied on BBC Maestro on writing about love, time management, and poetry – and what I’ve taken from them and been able to apply to my own life.

So stay tuned!

Until then be kind to yourself,

Love Belinda XX