#annaselby

[matildasbooks]

hibernation months

Lockdown #3 feels interminable. Today, I explained to my mother the meaning of ‘pathetic fallacy’ as the rain drummed around us. Storm Christoph is on its way and the river is fit to burst its banks again, the waters so ice-cold the dogs won’t swim. In the bluebell woods which are only russet and bronze right now, no hint of cobalt yet, I slid like a silverfish over the water-logged ground, blinked fat raindrops from my eyes. The dog’s red coat frosted with rain freckles. I’ve read a lot as always, but have enjoyed it less than usual. I put novels down for a few days and forget where the story’s going. Non-fiction is gentler; I can read a chapter as a snapshot stand-alone essay. 

A friend recommended ‘The Year of Living Danishly’ by Helen Russell to me years ago when I was in Edinburgh for the book festival and it’s only now I’ve got around to it. Reading a travel memoir might sound an odd choice when it’s unlikely anyone will be travelling for a while yet, but moving to a new place, as Russell does, can be extremely isolating. She and her partner, who works for Lego and is therefore referred to in the book as ‘Lego Man’, move to Denmark during the winter months. Spring, they are told, officially starts in March, but doesn’t normally appear before May. The streets are so deserted Russell proleptically wonders if there’s been some kind of viral outbreak (the book was written long before the word ‘corona’ - sadly not the beer - became a part of our daily lexicon). Denmark was meant to be an escape for Russell from the rat race back home and the constant questioning from strangers as to when she’d be having a baby; their arrival in the midst of winter appears, at first, to ensure the opposite. Russell feels trapped in a new town that greets her like an ice box. Through windows, she sees little movement, only glittering candlelight. A neighbour explains that the Danes “hibernate” over winter, staving off the darkling hours with glimmers of flame and hygge (Danes burn more candles per head than any other country in the world (Russell 2015, p. 10)). Although in the UK, hygge is a word most people will recognise, sold as a concept in self-care magazines and scrawled across the “perfect-Christmas-gift”-books such as ‘The Little Book of Hygge’, when I asked my French university students what it might mean, they had no idea. Apparently in the UK it’s a more attractive and marketable idea than in France, at least for now. In Russell’s book, however, it’s clear that hygge is not just a lifestyle one strives towards to achieve a better version of themselves or a fleeting fashion, its a means of survival. The Danes fight Seasonal Affective Disorder by, as one local puts it, ‘holing up for winter’ (p. 12). 

Despite my reluctance to buy into (quite literally) the hype around hygge, reading Helen Russell’s witty account of a year in the “happiest nation in the world” has been comforting in these dark and dreary months. The only candlelight in my room is the blue glow of my computer screen as it whirrs like a plane taking off to keep up with the amount of work I’m using it for - it was on its last legs before lockdown #1. I haven’t changed much about my routine - I’m still halfway through the book - but perhaps there’s something to be said for some elements of hygge in this Covid world. I’ve rediscovered a childish joy in stickers (literary ones, of course) which I’m affixing to every notebook I own and I’m trying to journal - there’s a good video by @TheOxfordPsych on how to use journalling as a tool to improve your mental health, rather than just a performative exercise, which I found useful. I’m beating myself up less about getting through my growing pile of books and reading slowly, as if I’m a university student again, annotating my books with a pink pen. 

My favourite read so far this month has to be ‘Field Notes’ by Anna Selby, published by Hazel Press and sold by The London Review of Books Bookshop. Written under water on transparent notebooks, her poems are electric. With an epigraph from Joan Didion - ‘what it is like to be a woman, the irreconcilable difference of it, the sense of living one’s deepest life underwater, that dark involvement with blood and birth and death’ - Selby dives deep into waters where she can become a creature apart from the murky subterranean existence of a woman, catcalled and pregnant and un-pregnant, something more like a fish that’s soldered its wounds with kintsugi, with the golden threads of a lit wick. Her blog (on her website http://annamariaselby.co.uk/) also serves as a wonderful introduction to her work as a poet, PhD student and naturalist, with descriptions of night gardens crowded with Japanese wisteria and moonflower vines. 

For now, the hibernation months continue. I wonder how we’ll look back at these years, as we begin to reckon with the effects it has wrought on countries and individuals, but I may as well in the meantime take Selby’s advice, via Thomas Merton, to listen to the rain: ‘nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants this rain. As long as it talks, I am going to listen’. 

More non-fiction perfect for lockdown in the vein of Russell’s The Year of Living Danishly;

Bleaker House by Nell Stevens 

Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss

Fiction books I might read next:

A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Childhood by Tove Ditlevsen

[captainfaulkyou]

Speakers on Panel:1. @AnnaSelby- Director of Marketing for Venture REI AZ - Founder of Pretty Witty- Lead Strategists for brands and businesses using Conversational Commerce/Discover better learning on behavioral triggers using AI/triggers inside FB bots 2. Travis Phipps BattleBridge Labs- Advanced Ad buying Agency- Using AI to create micro-targeted markets within FB and call out the customers that you do not want 3. Benjamin Running- Jet.com Leader of Innovation Lab- AI AR and interest of things 4. Mike Rhodes- Web Savvy.com.au Australia Co-Work Ad Words with Perry Marshall One of the most knowledgable Google Ad platform people in the world. Currently working with Google on using AI I SPOKE ABOUT: A case study from working with brands such as Mindful Health (Danette May) and Real Dose Nutrition. Health and Wellness/Influencer Marketing My mission is to infuse digital strategies within conversational commerce using CHATBOTS, artificial intelligence and learning machines in an effort to into embed sustainability. Specifically develop affiliate marketing strategies, strategic partnerships, and an overall automated social media strategy. #affiliate #marketing #strategy Convo supports users and attracts them into our world transition into a customer and then PR arm Marry Persona marketing to organic posts. All of our chatbots have personas such as BETTY BOT. We use an 8-part survey sequence within our conversations. Thank you Ryan Levesque! Per FACEBOOK the TOP three demographics share traits such as loneliness, major depression, and weight loss. 20% loneliness 13% major depression 13% weight loss I only share as I invite you to keep these at the top of mind in consideration of mindset and marketing. Chatbots are here to support and aid in the user experience. The result of the TING TANG WALLA WALLA BING BANG strategy? 22,000 subscriber list 1,700 clients Just shy of $50,000 in revenue ORGANICALLY Anna Selby🧠𝔸𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕥 of 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚊𝚛𝚝, 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗, 𝚙𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚗𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚢, 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝕀𝕟𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕤𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕤𝕥 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚞𝚛, 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟹 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚜, 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚜, 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚜, 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚜𝚢𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢. 𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚝. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞/𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐌𝐲 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬, 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞. Having been a marketer with a heavy focus on data and research, I lean to be a creative, strategic planner, account and producer. All this together allows me to apply lateral thinking to problem-solving. I tend to be BOTH, a thinker and a doer, and being able to not only properly identify real opportunity at the unclear front end of the innovation process but also, design, develop, and help implement the converting consumer offers and overall business model. Digital publishing startups. Live event specialist. Radio presenter. Sports and lifestyle television presenter. A natural flair for content production and delivery involving customer acquisition, journey, and conversion. Focus on delivering audience satisfaction. Instinctively creative. Well read and well informed. Trendspotter and trendsetter. Business culture and change expert. 😎𝕁𝕠𝕚𝕟 𝕞𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕓𝕠𝕠𝕜: https://ift.tt/2FLOWm9 👩🏼‍💻𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕞𝕖 𝕠𝕟 𝕃𝕀ℕ𝕂𝕖𝕕 𝕀ℕ: https://ift.tt/2OD3ebB 📸Instagram @prettywittyAF TWITTER💙@sellbuyselby 🥰𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚂𝚄𝙱𝚂𝙲𝚁𝙱𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚕 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHr_aLWLtLjVtssVAIkluw?view_as=subscriber by Anna Selby