Meet Georgia Varjas – Playwright, Author, Spoken Word Artist and Book Writing Coach

Meet the fabulous Georgia Varjas, who has taken her years in showbiz as a saxophonist, playwright, spoken word artist and author of many books and poems, and become a book writing coach, teaching others to do the same.

In our recent interview, you will learn how Georgia’s 3 C’s can help you step up and stand out in your own life.

You’ll also find out how to join Georgia’s Writer’s Circle and write your own book in as little as 8 weeks.

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Fempreneur Interview with Georgia Varjas

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How to Step Up and Stand Out with Confidence, Courage and Creativity

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[00:00:00] Lauren Kinghorn: Hi, it’s Lauren Kinghorn Fempreneurs Unite. And I’m here with the beautiful Georgia Varjas. Before we start with any of the background of Georgia, she is now a book writing coach, which is very exciting, but Georgia you’ve also had an amazing past. Talk to me about all the other things that you’ve done leading up to becoming a book writing coach.

Georgia Varjas the Musician, Playwright and Author

[00:00:23] Georgia Varjas: So, I think I’ve always been writing ever since I was allowed to hold a pencil in my hand. And I loved dialogue. I loved hearing people talk to each other. So it got me into playwriting and I did lots of playwriting. I produced plays, put them on. I actually made my money back, which was sensational. And then I wrote prose and poetry.

[00:00:46] I went on to perform it as a spoken word artist. I did MC work. I did scripts for other people for myself. I loved, I love the stage because I was a musician for many years, a saxophone player for many years, [00:01:00] professional touring and recording. And showbiz world was my world, you know, and anything that I could do on stage in a creative way, I loved it. So I’ve always been involved with writing and music and being creative and doing it publicly and getting paid for it too.

[00:01:18] Lauren Kinghorn: That is amazing. Absolutely wonderful. And I want to talk about being a professional saxophone player because that really interests me. I have a friend who’s also a professional saxophone player and absolutely amazing at her craft.

[00:01:35] I used to love going and listening to her. So that’s why I want to pick up on that and you even look quite similar. Yeah. So talk to me about how that’s woven into your life. How has that played out in your books and is it part of your everyday life now in any way?

[00:01:54] Georgia Varjas: Well, I think my experiences in showbiz, but particularly in the music business gave [00:02:00] me these three very powerful words, which I write about and speak about. And they’re in my books, which is confidence, courage, and creativity. I call them the three big C’s. Being in the music business, you had to be confident. You’re going to go up on stage and you’re going to play from your heart sometimes from memory, but mostly improvised.

[00:02:20] So you had to have confidence. You had to have courage and you had to be creative with it. And so there were very big lessons in life, not just doing my art, my music, but also communicating with people in show business in the music business. Cause it was tough as a woman. So, yeah, it was very much part of my life to develop these wonderful three big C’s as my skills.

Georgia Varjas on Becoming an Author

[00:02:45] Lauren Kinghorn: Absolutely wonderful. And so how did you segway into becoming an author? When did you first become an author?

[00:02:56] Georgia Varjas: Well, as I said, I’ve always been writing, so plays was my main [00:03:00] introduction.

And then I did a poetry book this one here called “Words on the wild side”, which is a combination of stories and poems and rebellious stuff and get up and let’s go, that kind of thing. And it got me into performing it because I really enjoyed the stage. And then scriptwriting.

And I think that it was especially my life here living by the sea and having being out of the city. I had more time. So writing a book was a very natural process for me.

A Day in the Life of Georgia Varjas

[00:03:33] Lauren Kinghorn: Yes. To those in the audience who don’t know, Georgia does not live in England, she lives in Spain, so it’s really warm there, I believe at the moment. So what does a day in the life of Georgia look like?

[00:03:50] Georgia Varjas: Well I get up and I post my content, my social media content quickly because I’ve prepared it the night before.

[00:03:59] It’s very [00:04:00] much ping ping ping onto LinkedIn mostly. And then I go for a swim. I have a beautiful beach, very close by and it is magic in the morning because the sea is still, it’s the Mediterranean so it’s pretty calm. It’s still, it’s quiet. The sun is just up. I’m not an early, early bird and it’s magic.

[00:04:20] It’s cooling and refreshing. And it helps to set my mind for the day because my day is very much filled with book plan calls, people for me to plan out their book in this kind of method.

[00:04:32] And then there will be coaching calls and there’ll be some preparation for the webinars that I do and posts, media posts. Sometimes conversations like this with people all over the world meeting and greeting, which I absolutely love.

[00:04:46] And with the heat, we often have a little siesta, you know, we have different hours here, so do some more work in the evening.

[00:04:56] Lauren Kinghorn: And do you like cooking or do you go out to eat? Cause I [00:05:00] see that as the Spanish lifestyle going out to eat.

[00:05:03] Yes there is a lot of you know, living outdoors, it is the outdoor life I enjoy very much. Most definitely. So you take advantage of these beautiful, warm evenings.

[00:05:17] And are there lots of lovely restaurants on the beach?

[00:05:20] Georgia Varjas: Oh yeah, there’s plenty, there’s a lot of choice and a lot of variety. Yeah, it’s great to do that.

[00:05:28] Lauren Kinghorn: It sounds idyllic. I have to say it sounds absolutely amazing. It sounds as good as living in Cape town where I live.

[00:05:34] Georgia Varjas: There you go.

Georgia Varjas Love Story

[00:05:38] Lauren Kinghorn: I know you weren’t always in Spain. I believe you’re Hungarian born in Budapest and then grew up in London. So what made you move to Spain?

[00:05:51] Georgia Varjas: Aah, it’s a romantic story. It was a love affair.

[00:05:53] So I met my partner in London and he was working days and I was working nights and we knew that [00:06:00] it just wasn’t going to work like that. And we made a decision that we both wanted to live by the sea and it had been our dream. And so we explored Portugal and then we came to Spain and we thought, well, with all the connections and it’s only a two-hour flight, it would be much easier to come to Spain.

[00:06:18] And I like languages. So I was already playing around with the language, having worked in the music business, you know, and we just packed up his van and we drove down and we started a new life and it was full of risk and adventure. And it was wonderful.

[00:06:33] Lauren Kinghorn: Amazing. And did you settle in the town that you’re in right now or did you move around a little bit?

[00:06:38] So that was it. You just, you moved, you knew the town and you just went there.

[00:06:42] Georgia Varjas: Absolutely loved it. We said we’re going to make this work and yeah, there was plenty of ups and downs, in new relationships, the usual thing, the give and take. But we realized it was a much better life for us to be out of the city as well.

[00:06:58] Lauren Kinghorn: Oh, that’s [00:07:00] amazing what an awesome story, a love story, I love it. And are you both British?

[00:07:08] Georgia Varjas: No, no. I mean, we have British passports, but he’s also Hungarian. Yeah. So now we have three languages going around and we get into such a mess, lots of misunderstandings.

[00:07:23] Lauren Kinghorn: Yes. Are most of your friends Spanish living there or is there is quite a big…

[00:07:28] Georgia Varjas: It’s a nice international crowd.

[00:07:31] Lauren Kinghorn: Oh, fantastic, that’s wonderful. And is it also kind of a holiday town where you get the holidaymakers all coming over and all your friends from England coming over as well?

[00:07:40] Georgia Varjas: No, you’d be surprised. It’s mostly people from Madrid, the big city people that come down, they have their second homes along this coast.

[00:07:49] So we get a lot of Madrillenos, the people from Madrid and people also from other big towns that have their second family home. Okay.

[00:07:59] Lauren Kinghorn: Okay, [00:08:00] wonderful. I’m just getting a picture of this whole Spanish lifestyle. Sounds amazing.

Georgia Varjas on How to Step Up and Stand Out

But let’s get back into your work because that’s, what’s so fascinating as well.

Writing and producing plays, professional saxophone player, spoken word artist and then author of four books of which two are best sellers.

I know that it’s “Step Up and Stand Out” and “How to Step Up and Stand Out” those are your two best sellers.

[00:08:26] So talking about how to step up and stand out, would you like to give us three tips that you would give a young fempreneur, woman entrepreneur, who is just starting out, how to step up and really shine.

[00:08:45] Georgia Varjas: Okay. Well, I think one of the most important things is to recognize that we have two fabulous communication tools available our voice and our pen, and they are, you know, [00:09:00] ever since I was able to hold one, I’ve been writing and speaking.

[00:09:04] And I think I encourage young women to develop that confidence, the courage and the creativity to use their voice and their pen to spread their message, their point of view, that expertise, their experience, their wisdom, their knowledge, use these powerful tools and learn to redefine confidence for yourself.

[00:09:26] Because for women, it is quite different, especially courage.

[00:09:30] Courage is not about Spider-Man and firemen. It’s about how we as women define our own type of bravery. It’s not about saving lives. Yeah, it’s a very special thing. And I think women need to really redefine that.

[00:09:43] Creativity, yes, we are very creative but we can also think creatively and that is a powerful message for young women.

[00:09:52] I think the second tip I would offer is about decision-making. We’re not really taught or encouraged to make big decisions in our life. [00:10:00] We make little ones like what we should wear and what we should drink and which road and bus to take.

[00:10:05] But the big decisions in life, we often hesitate and turn to other people for expert advice. When we know if we tuned into ourselves and learned to make good decisions for ourselves, had more self confidence, courage, and creativity. We would make better decisions and stronger decisions and recognize that we have the abilities to do that.

[00:10:28] And the third thing, well, they’re all interrelated, but the third thing is very much about self-belief and self-love and bigging yourself up. Some cultures really frown upon boasting and showing off when you’re talking about yourself, but self love and self-belief is crucial. I mean, nature does it all the time, she shows her most beautiful colours. Why shouldn’t we?

[00:10:56] And you know, when you’re selling something, you’re going to sell something [00:11:00] in it’s most beautiful and perfect condition. So why shouldn’t we be showing and sharing our talents and skills in the most positive way? So confidence, courage, creativity.

[00:11:13] Decision-making, really get sharpening up your decision-making skills and love yourself every day.

Georgia Varjas – On Being a Book Writing Coach

[00:11:19] Lauren Kinghorn: Aah, I love that. That is absolutely beautiful. and, as a book writing coach, you’ve been doing this for how long? Is it two years since your bestsellers took off like that?

It’s the most wonderful occupation to have, coaching other people to do the same. And you mentioned that your proudest achievement since you became a book writing coach is seeing the first person you coached, her book on your shelf eight months after you worked with her.

[00:11:50] So tell me about her. How did that all come about?

[00:11:53] Georgia Varjas: Well, it was, it was very exciting because she was so keen to write. And, when your client [00:12:00] is eager and keen and full of energy and ready to go, go go, then you’re on a win-win situation. But, we had a lot of struggle in the beginning because the idea for her book wasn’t clear, and so we had to work quite a lot in bringing in other elements and diving deeper and digging deeper to see what else could make the book very complete.

[00:12:23] But once we did that, she just wanted to write and writing she did. And it was interesting because she, first of all, wrote in English, the book now is in French, she’s from Quebec. So she had those choice of languages, but she decided to publish in French. But she wrote in English.

[00:12:41] And then the second obstacle that we had was that she wanted a traditional publisher to publish her book. Well, Canada is not my experience, so I didn’t want to suggest publishers to her, but I did want to encourage her to use an independent hybrid or self publishing company. And at first she [00:13:00] wasn’t very keen on that idea. She wanted to go down the traditional road.

[00:13:04] So I said, well, we need to explore this because it’s going to be very tough. And she said, well, I’m going to put together a proposal. And she put together a most glorious professional book proposal. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it was full of photographs because she’s a photographer as well. So it was filled with beautiful photographs and the text was amazing. But then she got no, no, no, no, no. The big companies only take on celebrities, well-known people, if you’re infamous for something. So she was quite disappointed.

[00:13:35] And I said, well, we’re going to explore other avenues. So we talked about crowdfunding, we talked about sponsorship, and then I asked her, well, what did you do with your photographs? Were they exhibited somewhere? And she said, well, it was actually a museum locally.

[00:13:51] So we got down to brainstorming this idea. And I said, you’ve just got to go there and tell them about your book. Tell them that you want to [00:14:00] write a book and ask, ask, ask, you’ve got to explore that. And you’ve got to big up your confidence and go down there and be courageous and ask them and think creatively outside of the box.

[00:14:12] And she did that and because they knew her, they accepted that appointment and they published her book. And they did an exhibition. So they published a book. They did another exhibition all through brainstorming and asking and building on her confidence, courage and feeling creative about it all. So that’s how she got it done.

[00:14:34] That comes about from brainstorming with somebody who knows what they’re doing.

[00:14:41] Lauren Kinghorn: You’ve been down this road a few times. Are you at the point now where you can approach publishers or are you still an indie author? Do you publish your own books?

[00:14:53] Georgia Varjas: Well because the big companies now are big conglomerates. There’s only five of them and they’ve all joined up together, [00:15:00] but there is a mass, a plethora of independent and hybrid and self-publishing companies, many of them run by women because they were in PR or they were journalists, or they were editors for big companies. They lost their jobs and they just teamed up or working individually.

[00:15:16] I spoke to a fantastic woman yesterday who does publishing and very reasonable and very professional and teaches you how to do it yourself. If that’s the road you want to go down. So creative, lots of creativity, lots of courage to start a business of your own and the confidence to do it. So my big three C’s are very popular.

[00:15:42] Lauren Kinghorn: Is going to an independent self-publishing company different to Amazon Kindle publishing?

[00:15:49] Georgia Varjas: It’s an option. So Amazon will provide you with a service to self publish, but it has its limits. It has the Kindle offer, but if you want [00:16:00] to have more say over the matter, more control then there are other options.

[00:16:06] Absolutely.

[00:16:07] Lauren Kinghorn: So if you do an Amazon Kindle option, can you actually get published books or is it all online books?

[00:16:13] Georgia Varjas: No, you can get print on demand. Yeah. But you could also work through independent publishers and hybrid publishers who will offer you better deals as royalties, more control of your work, more control over the distribution.

[00:16:30] Yeah. I mean, it’s a big topic now. There are lots of different options, Lauren and it’s all about marketing..

[00:16:38] Lauren Kinghorn: And that’s not the side you work on at all. You don’t work on the actual publishing side. You’re helping them write their book, put the book together in a way that it’s going to sell.

[00:16:53] Georgia Varjas: Right. Exactly. So my job is to get you to write the book, to deal with you on that journey, [00:17:00] but also to keep your eye on marketing, because whoever you choose for the self-publishing route, whether it’s Amazon, whether it’s independent or you have got a connection with a big publisher, you have to do all your own marketing.

[00:17:14] You’re talking about the marketing. So if, for example, in a situation like this, you asked me a question and I would say, well, in my book, “The Rule Breaker’s Guide to Step Up and Stand Out”, which I have behind me, I talk about this.

[00:17:27] So you’re always marketing your book every time you speak to anybody online. That’s part of what I teach.

[00:17:36] Lauren Kinghorn: Yes. Okay. So the marketing does come into it, but the actual publishing you go to someone else and you figure out how to do that.

[00:17:43] Right. And then do you help them with the editing as well?

[00:17:46] Georgia Varjas: I have professional people who would do that.

[00:17:49] I think you need to choose your editors very carefully and you need to remember you are employing them to do a job for you., I’ll give you a very good example. I had a proofreader editor because you need [00:18:00] proofreaders and editors. You don’t do it yourself, you might read through your manuscript check, but you don’t do that job yourself, you always outsource, always.

[00:18:09] And I had a proofreader and she added it was my, on my mistake. I take responsibility. She added 1,200 Oxford commas, and I was horrified. I know I made that face too. I said, why did you do that? I hate them. So take them all out. And so I have spent hours taking them all out.

[00:18:31] So now I say, by the way, editor person, don’t put any Oxford commas in my work. So you need to remember that you are employing an editor and you need to say to them, this is a colloquial phrase that I use, and I want that in. And I don’t like this type of punctuation, I prefer this type. I like double, whatever it is.[00:19:00]

[00:19:00] Lauren Kinghorn: So you’ve got to be quite specific when you hand over the work to the editor, I can imagine

[00:19:04] Georgia Varjas: Make decisions, you’ve got to make decisions, and you’ve got to have the courage to say it.

[00:19:09] Lauren Kinghorn: Yes. And it’s got to be your book at the end of the day. It’s still got to feel like your book and not like it was completely re-written.

[00:19:18] Georgia Varjas: Well, you know what they say, Lauren, that punctuation in the spoken word, we have pauses. In the written word, we have punctuation. Yes.

[00:19:29] So I don’t want to tell you where to breathe when you’re reading my book. You can breathe wherever you like, but I still need to have a comma here and there.

Georgia Varjas – On Being a Spoken Word Artist

[00:19:44] Lauren Kinghorn: Okay. I got it. Yes. Let’s get back to the spoken word artist thing, how did you get into it and how did it go for you, did you enjoy it?

[00:19:54] Georgia Varjas: Well, I had lots of fun because I was still doing music. And when I first did the spoken [00:20:00] word thing, I had a bass player work with me, so he would play a rhythm and then I would do a few lines and he would play a rhythm and I would do a few lines and it was very artistic, you know, and it was great fun, but it wasn’t really a moneymaking effort. And my bass player got a bit fed up you know it gets a bit tiresome, but I just went around loads of different pubs and tried out my material.

[00:20:27] And then I met people who were working in teams and that’s how I got into entering slam competitions in the USA on the East Coast. They had these massive slam competitions where people from Austin and Texas and people from Connecticut would all meet in one of the big towns. And it would be a big slam competition and they had rules.

[00:20:46] You know, you had to be up on stage and do your piece for three minutes. You couldn’t do more than three. The clock would, bang and you would be disqualified if you went over and the people in [00:21:00] the audience had these cards, they were random audience members, public members who would hold up a card, 9.8, 8.6, 7.9, you know, a score.

[00:21:10] And I got very poor scores and I got fours and fives and terrible, I was so embarrassed, but the thing was that afterwards they would come around to the back of the stage and they would say to me, have you got a pamphlet? Have you got a book, I’d love to read your work? Cause they were a bit embarrassed, I think by my forwardness and my rebellious nature.

[00:21:30] Lauren Kinghorn: Okay. Wow. And what were you rebelling against?

[00:21:35] Georgia Varjas: Oh, well, you know, injustices and things I didn’t like, and you know, why can’t I, and that kind of thing, you know, why is good for you, but not good for me.

[00:21:48] Lauren Kinghorn: Okay. Okay. Great. I love it. So real fempreneur stuff, right? Awesome.

[00:21:57] And, the glass ceiling. [00:22:00] You mentioned that you hit the glass ceiling, what was that for you? And how did that play out in your life?

[00:22:08] Georgia Varjas: Well, I think it’s still there, there were cracks, but it was very noticeable in the music business. And one of the little stories, I think, which will illustrate it really well is that I used to go out with a female horn section, a woman on trumpet, a woman on trombone and I was the saxophone player.

[00:22:25] Very often we would be rejected because we were not aggressive enough or too aggressive or not sexy or too sexy. And it just was mind blowing you couldn’t understand it. It was confusing. And one time we got a really good gig offered to us to play on a television show for a pop star.

[00:22:45] And so we went round to do the rehearsal. And the first thing he told us was we had to wear something like this, which was basically a piece of langerie and high heel shoes. And we went what? The high heel shoes will put [00:23:00] our balance out. We can’t breathe properly, you know, wearing a little tiny little thing is, you know, (uncomfortable), and awkward and it might even come off.

[00:23:11] Lauren Kinghorn: At least you’ve got the saxophone, it covers the most.

[00:23:15] Georgia Varjas: Yes, so, we said, no, ridiculous, what do you mean? Don’t we look good enough. Anyway, he refused to work with us and we refused to work with him. And he was very insulting and said, you’re too fat, you’re too old and you’re too ugly and don’t ask me which one he said I was.

[00:23:31] And so we left, we walked out, but we were very curious to know who he would hire for the job. Cause he was going to be televised a couple of weeks later. So the three of us got round to my house one evening to watch the show. We were sitting there like this, who did he replace us with, you know, and, cause very often what they do is they bring in female models who can’t play the instrument, but just hold it [00:24:00] and pretend, they mime it.

[00:24:02] Yeah. How many times have you seen a woman on a saxophone and she’s wearing a tiny bikini.

[00:24:09] Lauren Kinghorn: “Love Actually” comes to mind.

[00:24:18] Georgia Varjas: So, we watched the show and who were the people who replaced us, but three men with beards and big pot bellies. And not one of them was wearing lingerie.

[00:24:33] So it was like, aha!

[00:24:37] Lauren Kinghorn: Yeah. Crazy.

[00:24:41] So that’s what happened in the music industry, I get it.

[00:24:44] Georgia Varjas: There were a lot of refusals, and oh, a girl saxophone player… aah, uh… that kind of thing. Very disheartening, very disappointing. And if you don’t learn to stick your elbows out [00:25:00] and be confident, courageous, and a little bit creative about things, then you’re just not going to get the job.

[00:25:06] Lauren Kinghorn: And obviously there’s less of that as an author and as a coach, you’re not really having that, you get to choose who you work with. I’m sure it’s not the same. Wonderful.

Women’s Writer’s Circle

Find out more about Georgia’s Writers Circle

How to Work with Georgia Varjas

[00:25:21] I know that you have a women’s writer’s circle coming up in September. Tell me about that. That sounds wonderful. I know you work with private clients, right, doing the coaching, but your women’s writers circle works a little differently. Tell me how it works.

[00:25:38] Georgia Varjas: Well, it started last October after a big speaking gig that I did online, of course. And I had several women come to me and they said, we’d really like to work with you. And I said, well, how about working in a group?

[00:25:52] How about creating a circle of women writers? And as it turned out, we were in five different time zones. [00:26:00] It was crazy. Wow. But we got it together.

[00:26:04] Lauren Kinghorn: What time did you do it? That is so hard.

[00:26:07] Georgia Varjas: I know it’s tough, but it somehow worked, you know, it was early morning over there and late in the evening over there, you know how it goes, Lauren, but the best thing about it was how we were able to give each other so much accountability.

[00:26:24] And the support and the brainstorming. And this is the funny thing with women as you, I’m sure. You know, and your listeners will know that we’re very good at giving advice to another person when they say, well, I’ve got a difficulty or my problem, or my hurdle, my obstacle, my mindset monster is this. And so the women were like, Ooh, Ooh, I’ve got an answer for that. I’ve got solution for that. And they would give the very solution that they would need themselves.

[00:26:53] Lauren Kinghorn: Amazing. Aah, that is wonderful.

[00:26:57] Georgia Varjas: We’re so good at giving advice to others, [00:27:00] but we don’t take our own advice, that was the point. And so that really made it very exciting for the women.

[00:27:08] Once they realized how good they were giving their advice, but they also needed to give it to themselves. So the support, the collaborations, the friendships, because some of them still now talk to each other about their books and have formed really great partnerships too.

[00:27:26] So the writing circle is about that coming together, the female mind, how it works, brainstorming with each other. And the accountability that’s very important because some people like deadlines, some people don’t, but when you’ve got accountability, it spurs you on. And that’s the idea is, you know, I don’t write, you’re going to write. I’m going to tell you and give you all my professional experience and my advice, the many genres and my life experiences but you’re going to write that book. And we’re going to encourage you and [00:28:00] spur you on and cheerlead you to the last full stop.

[00:28:05] Lauren Kinghorn: Wonderful. So are you saying by the end of the eight weeks they actually have the book written or does it take longer that? Usually?

[00:28:13] Georgia Varjas: Well, if you work with me, I make sure that you really work and do the work because, you can put this into any search engine you like, but if you ask, how long does it take to write a thousand words?

[00:28:26] The answer will come up at 25 minutes. Wow. So just imagine Lauren, 30 minutes a day you’re writing, you do that for five days a week and the weekends off. You will have, you can do the maths. You will have a 40,000 word book in eight weeks.

[00:28:50] Imagine you did a weekend that you did an hour, maybe one day you only do 20 minutes and another day you do an hour and a half

[00:28:58] Lauren Kinghorn: But of course it’s about getting [00:29:00] that first… being very clear on what your title is going to be, what you’re going to deliver in that book.

[00:29:06] Are they mostly writing self-helpy type of books or are they writing novels? Or, is it a real total mix? Everybody’s writing what they want to write.

[00:29:19] Georgia Varjas: Generally speaking the business book self-help book, the my experiences, my expertise, type of book, there was one woman, highly qualified academic woman who wanted to turn her dissertation into a novel.

[00:29:34] Lauren Kinghorn: Oh, wow. How interesting. Wow. That’s amazing.

[00:29:38] Georgia Varjas: She had the biggest problem of all.

[00:29:41] Lauren Kinghorn: Wow. And what was that dissertation about?

[00:29:44] Georgia Varjas: Well, she was an African woman, it was about how to encourage girls to succeed through education. But it was very difficult for her to put it into a kind of colloquial accessible language.

[00:29:58] So academically [00:30:00] qualified, you know, so that was hard. And what was great was that the other women in the group. I don’t really understand what you’re saying. Can you put it simpler so I didn’t have to say it.

[00:30:10] Lauren Kinghorn: That’s fantastic. Yes. Cause that’s exactly how it is with websites as well. You have to write, I think they say you must write as if you’re talking to a third grader, so anyone can understand you because otherwise it’s lost. Yeah. So it’s quite hard actually to turn academic writing into something that’s readable.

[00:30:31] Georgia Varjas: You said it, Lauren, that’s why I think she’s still writing the book because it is difficult for her.

[00:30:39] But generally speaking once we got that book plan idea, and I’m making it look like a dough, because it is a bit like that, getting all your own ingredients together, Lauren.

[00:30:51] Then you’ve just got to write. And there are some very simple ways to break it down and make it accessible. And using a very [00:31:00] simple strategy that I have, simple steps. Cause I like things that go – here it is. Go for it.

[00:31:07] Aah, that sounds wonderful! Oh my goodness. I can’t wait till one day that I can afford your course. I have to get my bookout – very soon. Let’s say about a year, your one next year, I want to be on it.

[00:31:23] Oh, I look forward to that. You can always book in, you can arrange a call with me and we can put the idea together, we just talk about the idea.

[00:31:29] Lauren Kinghorn: Oh, that’s exciting.

[00:31:30] Georgia Varjas: Start moulding it. And you see, once you do that, Lauren. The book, your book idea goes from the bottom of your to-do list to the top because now you’ve got an incentive. You’re excited about it because it makes sense.

[00:31:46] You want to write about walking your dog on the beach and what an amazing pleasure it gives you, or whatever it is, your experiences in the corporate world as a woman, what it’s like to be at the top, what it’s like to be, how you climbed from being the [00:32:00] Janitor to the CEO, whatever it is.

[00:32:04] Then once you’ve got that nicely formed and you’ve even got a working title, then you’re like, woo, a rocket.

[00:32:15] Lauren Kinghorn: It all just happens. Oh, I could imagine how exciting it must be. Oh. And then the first book comes and the second book comes. I can just see how one can easily become a serial author, especially if you have some success in that first book that goes out.

[00:32:33] Yeah. So it’s eight weeks and it’s probably going to be evenings I think you mentioned.

[00:32:41] Georgia Varjas: You know, it depends if you’re in Australia we have to work things out, but generally speaking, it tends to be similar time zones or one or two hour difference. So working evenings seems to be the best thing.

[00:32:53] The sessions are an hour-long, and there will be eight group sessions. And then as a bonus, I’ve got a [00:33:00] special one-to-one session with me and me only.

[00:33:06] And so that’s the, that’s the kind of bonus that I’m offering .

[00:33:09] Lauren Kinghorn: Absolutely wonderful. And the price is 899 pounds, pounds sterling, is that right?

[00:33:14] Georgia Varjas: Yes.

[00:33:15] Lauren Kinghorn: Wonderful. We’re going to put all those details and where to join and I know you take a maximum of six people.

[00:33:22] Right.

[00:33:23] Georgia Varjas: Yes, including me.

[00:33:25] Lauren Kinghorn: You and five others. Is that right? Yeah. So, so it’s not a crowd?

[00:33:31] Georgia Varjas: No. Because I want people to be able to talk about their journey, where they are, what they’re going through, the good, the bad, the ugly, and for everybody to be able to share and give their opinion too, because speaking up and giving your point of view, giving feedback is part of that whole writing process because it develops confidence, courage and creativity.

[00:33:51] Lauren Kinghorn: There we go. Absolutely. Wonderful. I love your message. So your message is obviously step up and stand up with [00:34:00] confidence courage and creativity. I love that. Thank you so much for your time, Georgia. And especially because I made the mistake of not recording for the first half and hour, 45 minutes,

[00:34:16] Georgia Varjas: It’s going to be a good story one day.

[00:34:18] Lauren Kinghorn: It’s going to be a wonderful story. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. It was lovely to spend time with you. And I look forward to hearing how your next course goes.

[00:34:29] Georgia Varjas: Thank you so much, Lauren.

[00:34:30] Lauren Kinghorn: Okay, keep well. bye.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgia-varjas/

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