Ffoice

I just uploaded a new class to Find Your Food Writing Voice on writing headlines that actually get opened. 👩🏻‍💻

I mean the kind of clickbait that doesn’t make you wince, the kind that’s actually just good writing, dressed sharp. 😎

Making someone want to read you is, after finding your voice in the first place, the single most important thing I teach.

And here’s the thing nobody tells you: you can write a gorgeous piece and still have almost nobody read it. And that’ll be because the headline didn’t do its job. 😬

👉 That’s not a verdict on your talent. It’s a craft gap. A fixable one.

Anyway, it’s in the course hub now if you’re already with me, and if you’re not, summer’s a weirdly good time to dip into Find Your Food Writing Voice. 🏝️

There’s no live calls to juggle, you work through it at your own pace, and you get proper one-to-one time with me on your actual writing (not a fifteen-minute chat and a “good luck with it”). 💪

⏩ If September’s the time you actually want the plan in motion instead of in your head, let’s talk before summer slips past. Link in bio for a free consult call.

Where will you be in five years? It’s actually a decision you make. 🥂🍾💪

Announcing the rest of Story Club’s year today, and I’m genuinely excited about this lineup. 🥳💃🍸

Three memoirs. Three completely different approaches to writing from your own life. 📚

Aitken is tender and wry (also: Aquarius ♒); Bourdain comes in swaggering 🍖; Goh weaves personal history around a single fruit and somehow tells you everything about culture, identity, and desire. 🧡

💭 If you’ve been wondering how to bring yourself onto the page without oversharing, without making it all about you, without losing the reader, these books will show you how it’s done.✨

👩🏻‍💻 Our next class is The Marmalade Diaries on 24 June. We meet on Zoom. Link in bio to book your spot. 🎫

There’s one book I recommend more than any other, and it’s by : Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t.

That title says it all. 👑

Literally nobody is sitting at home hoping you’ll finally publish that essay about your grandmother’s kitchen.

People are busy, distracted, and owe you nothing, so every line you write/publish has to earn the next one.

🎁 That’s not bad news! It’s the best lesson a writer ever gets. It means good writing is a CRAFT, not a gift God may or may not have left you without. It’s something you can learn.

And you 🫵 prove the lesson to yourself every day.

Think about how YOU read: you delete newsletters without opening them, you abandon articles after two paragraphs, you bail on books you were once keen to buy. 🤔

👉 For exactly the reasons your own readers will.

Watch yourself as you do it and you’ll soon learn what holds a reader. 👀

Self-expression is fine as a reason to start writing. But it’s not the point.

The writers who find real satisfaction are the ones who take their scribblings and CRAFT them into something a reader can’t put down. ✨

Need help with that? Maybe an expert eye on the work you’ve been doing? Let’s arrange a consult call – link in bio.

The Guild of Food Writers Awards are on Wednesday evening. I’ve judged my share of them (even organised the whole shebang back in the day) and here’s the thing nobody says about it:

When you judge at this level, you’re not separating the good from the bad. Everyone in front of you can write. You’re separating the best from the best.

And it’s a panel. So what comes out can be something of a compromise, not one person’s verdict.

This year one of my favourites didn’t even make our longlist, because I was the only one in the room who really loved it. That’s how it goes.

And once we have a longlist, we’ve no choice but to get finicky. This is the part you want to be aware of if you’re writing a book right now:

An indifferent recipe gets marked down. Catering quantities in a book meant for the home kitchen get marked down. Writing and editing mistakes get marked down. Too many clichés – same.

None of it is about talent. At the top, talent is a given. It’s the details that decide it.

So sweat them.

PS: If you want an expert eye on your own work, the kind that catches potential pitfalls, that’s what I do. Why not book a consult call, link in bio.

I read this line last night. Haven’t stopped thinking about it. 👀

was talking about business, but she could have been describing food writing — the noise, the certainty, the dominance we mistake for authority. None of it is leadership.

But good food writing is leadership. ⏩

It’s having a clear vision of what good food, good eating, good living looks like – whatever that means for you – and taking your readers toward it. 💪

It has nothing to do with being the loudest in the room.

Don’t believe me? Think of .birtwhistle. I’ve saved more of her posts than any other food writer’s.

You’d never call her shouty or braggy. She doesn’t need to be. We love her for all the work she does in service of her vision for a better world. 🌍

The platform, the audience, the visibility follow the vision. Not the other way around.

Who do you save more than anyone else? A lot of my clients are Nancy fans.

PS: If you can’t yet see your own vision clearly, that’s exactly what Find Your Food Writing Voice helps you do. Let’s set up a consult call.

A novel set in a restaurant kitchen. With ghosts. That somehow gets the industry more right than any chef memoir you’ve read.

That’s Aftertaste by .lavelle.author, and it’s the book we’re reading for the next ffoice Story Club. 🍽️

On 20 May, on Zoom, we’re unpicking what makes this book work so well: its narrative drive, its razor-sharp sensory writing, and why Lavelle’s portrayal of kitchen life cuts deeper than most food writing despite (or because of?) the supernatural twist. 👻

We’ll explore:
🌶️ How she describes taste, smell, and texture on the page
🌽 Why the story moves (and what most food writing gets wrong about this)
🍑 The craft behind writing that’s insightful without being earnest

You don’t have to finish the book to come. But if you do read the whole thing, you’ll be able to go fully spoiler-deep with us (and trust me, you’ll want to.)

Tickets: £18 via link in bio.

This one’s for food writers, writers who eat (so, all of you), and anyone who wants their prose to have a bit more flavour. Hope to see you there! 👩🏻‍💻

Very excited to be hosting this workshop next Tuesday on Rochelle’s novel, Lush, a finalist in the prestigious Debut category of this year’s Nero Book Awards. 🥂🍾📚

If you love literary fiction, grab yourself a copy or download the ebook sample and join us on Zoom, 24 March 8pm GMT. Tickets at ffoice.com/store

Tremendous feedback on our in-depth interview with Anna this morning. She’s an inspiration to so many of you.

If you haven’t got a copy of Silk Roads yet, what’s keeping you?! The proposal for it was so good it prompted an auction - at a time when Anna had fewer than 500 followers.

DM for a link to the article.

Valentine’s vibes at Story Club this Wednesday 💖💕

Talking about the massive popularity of cosy food romances, and what makes them so delicious 🥐☕️🧁

Tickets at ffoice.com/store or via the link in bio 😻😽