Hi, I’m Claire Holden.

I’m a writer and reader. Lover of words.

I’m sure many of you have kindly come over from Instagram to say hi and show support for my new writing venture. Thank you—seriously, it means a lot.

If you’ve stumbled upon It’s All About the Words without prior knowledge, then an extra warm welcome and I hope the following paragraphs about what to expect here will tempt you enough to stick around.

I’m hoping that here on Substack I’ll have the space to spread my wordy wings a little more. To talk about books without the restriction of pesky caption word limits (the bane of my bookstagram life), to dive in more deeply and explore my thoughts more fully.

If you’re already an Instagram friend, you will probably also know that I love to chat film and TV, and to make connections, drawing together the creativity we consume and noticing the overlap and the opposition.

With It’s All About the Words on Substack, I plan to share more of my thoughts and recommendations with you. To notice and highlight interesting interconnectedness. I hope this space will also give me an opportunity to write a little more broadly from time to time, about life and motherhood (I have a nine-year-old daughter—also a big reader), and about my writing too (novel underway behind the scenes).

I like the idea that Substack can offer more than a one-way newsletter from me to you and that I can start some community conversations through threads. I intend to spark up a weekly ‘What This Week’ chat, where we can share our latest finds with each other.

Beyond that, I hope to bring you some engaging podcast discussions. To talk to bookstagrammer friends and writer friends and those that wear both hats (there is a very healthy cross-over group). To discuss reading, writing, and that fascinating junction of the two.

So if that all sounds remotely enticing then please subscribe. A weekly newsletter and a weekly opportunity to chat, either delivered directly to your email inbox or you can access the Substack website or app and have It’s All About the Words right there waiting for you.

A friend wisely pointed out that Substack benefits you the reader, as it puts you back in control of what you read and when. It means you can sit down with a cup of tea and catch up when you have the time. There is no feed or algorithm and accompanying fear of posts being missed as you don’t get to read them before they disappear.

You can join as a free subscriber, I will keep all my writing freely available for now. There is also a paid subscriber option, for those super-kind humans who would like to support my writing journey and help me share as much as I can for free. Over time I plan to introduce some paid-subscriber benefits, including some special giveaways (insert excited face here!) and smaller community discussion spaces.

Thank you for reading, always.