Thank you to Old Stopfordian, Alison Jones (OS 1987), for running a Spotlight On Creative Writing session with pupils.

Alison is the host of The Extraordinary Business Book Club podcast, Judge with the Business Book Awards, and author of the #1 Amazon bestseller, This Book Means Business: Clever ways to plan and write a book that works harder for your business (2018).

Through the Creative Writing session Alison championed the value of explorative writing to help solve problems and shape your future.

Alison is set to launch her latest book 'Exploratory Writing: Everyday magic for life' on 13th December, which explores the power of writing to solve problems, change ourselves and the world

Alison is Founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing, a pioneering publishing partner for businesses, and host of The Extraordinary Business Book Club, a podcast and community for writers and readers of extraordinary business books.

A veteran of the publishing industry, Alison worked for 25 years with leading companies such as Chambers, Oxford University Press and Macmillan, as Publisher and then Director of Innovation Strategy at Palgrave Macmillan. She regularly speaks and blogs on the publishing industry, and has served on the board of the Independent Publishers Guild and as Head Judge of the Business Book Awards in the UK.

Alison has written and edited several books, most recently 'This Book Means Business: Clever ways to plan and write a book that works harder for your business', and contributes articles on books and writing to national press and industry publications.

About Exploratory writing: Every day magic for life and work'

‘Exploratory writing: Everyday magic for life and work’ takes a deep dive into the kind of writing we do just for ourselves, not for other people, as is a powerful, lightweight tool for wellbeing, creativity, empathy and clarity. All you need is 6 minutes, a pen or pencil, a blank sheet of paper... and a little inspiration.

Discussing the premise of the book, Alison writes:

‘Exploratory writing is one of the most flexible and lightweight tools at our disposal for sense-making, creativity, collaboration, managing stress and overwhelm, and communicating more effectively… I hope that you too will discover the freedom and possibilities of the blank page, the excitement of starting a sentence when you have no idea how it’s going to end, and the subversive creative joy of being able to write anything because nobody’s watching.’

Discussing the inspiration for her latest book Alison told us:

“I loved writing while I was at SGS (1980-1987 - one of the original cohort of girls!) and I’ve gone on to write several books and to have a career as a publisher, now running my own business, but I’m very aware that not all my fellow pupils felt the same way about the blank page. 

Over the many years that I’ve been helping business people write their books, I’ve discovered consistently that the act of writing is a powerful tool in its own right for sense-making, creativity and problem-solving.”

Bruce Daisley describes it as ‘A really powerful book’.

The book is now available for pre-order and will be released on 13th December 2022 with all leading stockists (link).

Alongside her writing Alison also delivers business and TEDx talks on the subject of writing.  You can watch Alison's latest talk here https://youtu.be/59sjUm0EAcM.

Alison is also developing a talk for schools to accompany the new book, aiming to get children – particularly older children, who have become more self-conscious about whether they’re ‘good’ at writing or not - thinking about the page as a safe space, where they can write just for themselves as a way of exploring ideas and finding their own solutions. This is particularly freeing for those who are often disadvantaged in traditional discussion, such as those with English as a second language, reflectors and introverts, and it’s therefore a useful tool for teachers to use in classes to improve inclusion.

Pupils at Stockport Grammar School will have the opportunity to explore Alison's techniques during a visit by Alison in December 2022.

To discuss the opportunity of a school talk further you can contact Alison here.

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