Christmas Gifts Bonanza Discount + Dance to School Day + Walking Home for Christmas
Welcome to my Christmas bonanza!
As you know, I’m publishing my book You Are What You Don’t with Unbound, the publisher where you decide what gets written. We’re in the crowdfunding stage at the moment, trying to raise ~£10,000 so that this book can see the light of day. Many of you have already pledged and together we’ve already raised 16% of the target - thank you! - but there is a long way yet to go.
So I’m entering into the Christmas spirit and turning You Are What You Don’t into this season’s must have gift. (Well, it sure beats a Tickle Me Elmo and a botox...)
If you gift the book to your friends, family, binmen or newsagent, I will:
Write them a handwritten, personalised Christmas card.
Give them a highly sought after You Are What You Don’t badge.
Give you £5 off your generous Christmas pledge.
Furthermore, if you pledge for a very special signed first edition hardback (only £30 with the discount), then I will also send you a signed copy of one of my already published books. And, most excitingly, in Spring 2017, your friend will receive a surprise parcel in the mail – their very own beautiful edition of You Are What You Don’t, with their name in the credits.
Anyway, you can read more about what a great idea this is on my website.
Dance to School Day!
Some of you have heard me talking about No Walking - the 24 hours I spent dancing, skipping, running and on crutches, using any form of locomotion except walking. Some of you will also remember that it resulted in one of the most euphoric days of my life (until I ended up in A&E).
Well, one of the inspirations for that experiment, Dr Tal Shafir (watch her TED talk here), has been in touch and wants to support my idea for Dance to School Day! Oh, okay - Dance to Work Day!
I reckon there's no better day to start than today, but let's see if we can get something big going for "Blue Monday", the supposedly most miserable day of the year: 18th January 2016.
So how about it? You and me, dancing, skipping - doing anything but walking - to work. Dr Shafir says that just two minutes of positive emotional movement can change your mood for the better. So instead of walking to the bus stop, dance!
Need some inspiration? Check this guy out.
Finally: Walking Home for Christmas
Yes, it's almost that time of year again - the time of year when all our thoughts turn to walking miles and miles in the snow.
Ever since reading about Alastair Humphrey's excellent idea of walking home for Christmas, I have enjoyed regular foot-breaking winter walks. In 2010, I walked from Heathrow to my parental home in Oxfordshire (inspirational photos here). When I recovered, in 2013, I and a friend and another friend's dog walked from London to Canterbury. Last year, I walked alone from London to Winchester.
They have become a regular highlight of my year and I've been looking forward to this year's walk for months already.
Why am I telling you all this? I would like to invite you to walk as well. Christmas is a few weeks away yet, so you've got plenty of time to plan. You don't have to turn this into a multi-day hike; it could just be walking the ten miles from work home on the last day before Christmas.
I find these walks to be the perfect opportunity to take stock of the year's trials and triumphs and it sets me up perfectly to spend Christmas firmly connected with the ground beneath my feet.
So let me know if you're thinking of going on a Christmas walk and we'll walk together in spirit. Either reply to this email or @dcisbusy on Twitter.
Have a great Christmas!
d
