Little lists of lovely things curated by me to make your heart sing.

Hello and welcome to my teeny tiny island on the internet.

If you’re up for an adventure you’ve landed on the right beach! All brave souls are welcome here. If you aspire to live your life in technicolour, and are inspired by things to bring you joy, then tie up your reading shoes and let’s go exploring. Or better still, take them off, bury your toes in the sand, and grab a glass of something ice cold with a salty snack (because every sundowner needs a canapé right?).

I’m Jessica Hepburn – a list-loving author, arts producer and adventure activist. There are a few more details about me below but for the full low down check out my website – www.jessicahepburn.com. Or otherwise, just subscribe, and we’ll stroll through it slowly.

I hope you will subscribe (and stay subscribed) but I try not to look or care who comes and goes to this island - so do whatever feels right for you. I hated social media for a long time. It generated all sorts of anxiety. So for years I didn’t really do it. But I love writing and, like most writers, I also love to be read. Plus, I’m trying to learn to love tech like a teenager so here I am giving Substack a go – to be honest it’s for me, as much as it’s for you.

I hope you’ll stick around and if you do then this is the plan!

Love not Shit

My Substack is all about love, not shit! Even though I’ve been through a lot of it (shit). You can read about that in my three books if you like. My new book Save Me from the Waves came out in March 2024 with Quarto Books. It’s an adventure story – with a difference. From sea to summit - fully soundtracked. You can order it from your preferred bookseller here.

Little and Listicle

The posts I send you are going to be little and often listicle in nature – because I’m a card-carrying list-lover. They will be full of things that bring me joy in the hope they’ll make your heart happy too. Maybe they’ll even inspire you to go on your own adventure.

They’ll often be lists of three - which is my favourite number. But there will never be more than a list of eight (fyi another number I rate). Yes, I like writing books and reading them too, but personally I don’t really get on with long form content on the internet. It overwhelms me. And do as you would be done by – right? So expect petite posts under a 1000 words with lovely pictures - that’s my aim!

To pay or not to pay – that is the question!

I deliberated long and hard about the paid vs. non paid thing. I’ve never been motivated by money – even though we all need to eat. But I do agree with many of the creators here on Substack who have built much bigger internet islands than me that writers should get paid for their words. I also think that it gives you a choice about how much you want to hear from me.

So, this is what I’ve decided.

Paid subscribers will hear from me weekly – in your inbox or the app. It’s £5 a month (£50 annually) – the cost of buying me a weekly coffee and a doughnut (well maybe a bite of a doughnut given the price of them where I live). For free subscribers, I’ll write circa monthly with a round up of news including my most liked lists. And there’s also a Founder Membership for the flush and fabulous amongst you. But please feel zero obligation to sign up as a paid subscriber – even if you like me a lot. Cash is short / lives are busy. I get it!

Some More About Me

So before I sign off (if you’re still reading) (and by the way I’m not intending for my posts to be as long as this one)), here are a few headlines about me…

I spent most of my career working in the theatre (that’s the arts producing part of my job). For a decade in my thirties I was CEO of the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith in London. But all the time I was doing that I also had a secret life –  on a desperate mission to become a mother going through multiple miscarriages and round after round of unsuccessful IVF. Then, in my early forties, I broke up with my partner which heaped loss upon loss.

But…

I needed to do something completely different. I’ve always been the most unlikely athlete (I was the arty, not the sporty one in school) but I started undertaking massive physical and mental endurance challenges to heal my heartbreak. I swam the English Channel. I ran the London Marathon. And in 2022 (in my early fifties which frankly made it extra tough) I summitted Mount Everest. In fact, I have become the first woman in the world to do all three of these things - ‘The Sea Street Summit Challenge’. (Although if you read my new book you’ll see there was a lot of shit involved in that too as I broke my leg in the Death Zone…). Nevertheless, these challenges changed my life for the better, along with another adventure I’ve undertaken which I felt much more suited to and adored – listening to every episode of my favourite radio programme turned podcast – Desert Island Discs. It’s one of the UK’s longest running and most loved BBC programmes and at over 3000 episodes was an Everest of listening. Anyway, the point is, all this has made me into an activist for the transformational power of adventure. And has inspired my personal hashtags: #livebigandbrave #yourshitisyoursuperpower

Explore and Enjoy

But at the moment, I’m not feeling like being big and brave, or shitty and superpowery. I’ve healed the heartbreak. I’ve got the T-shirt. So I’m going to be sharing with you little lists of joyous things that make my heart sing in the hope they’ll do the same for you. The colours will be bright, the words will be merry. There will be art and adventure, music and mountains, sea and sunshine and there will most definitely be lists of my favourite food and booze – my unadulterated joy!

Welcome to my island. Explore and enjoy.

And ps. I love a message in a bottle – so do email me or contact me on ‘Chat’. I’ll always respond – even if it takes me a little time.