"Writing and walking are good ways to live your life."

JOANNA PENN also known as J F PENN is a British author of both fiction and non-fiction. Jo runs a successful podcast called THE CREATIVE PENN, has another podcast called the BOOKS AND TRAVEL podcast - currently on hold but with loads of great episodes - and on top of all this, Jo is an international professional speaker. These collective skills earn her a six figure salary as a creative entrepreneur.

I met up with Jo in Bath for a walk alongside the Kennet & Avon Canal to Bathampton. And as we walk, we talk about writing, pilgrimage, the darker side of life, and Jo reflects on the choices she took to earn herself the freedom to travel and have a career where she would no longer be tied to the office, commuting, and the stress which comes from working in the corporate world. Although Jo's six figure author's income did not happen overnight, Jo refutes "the myth of the starving artist, that’s what some people want it to be, but that doesn’t have to be how it is ..."

Jo talks about writing for therapy and how it can help one process whatever it is that's going on in your head. She loves thrillers and the horror genres. In her words they are "actually about hope and the triumph over difficult circumstances which is what we all face at different points in our life."

Jo's most recent publications are Pilgrimage (a non-fiction memoir taking you on a personal journey across Portugal to Santiago de Compostella in Spain), and Catacomb (an action adventure horror novel set under the streets of Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh).

We hope you enjoy our podcast chat, get inspired, and reflect on how you value your creativity!

"If you value yourself then other people will value you."

To find out more about Joanna Penn, listen to her podcasts and BUY HER BOOKS in whatever format you read or listen, do visit:

Jo's websites: https://jfpenn.com/ AND https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

Instagram: @jfpennauthor

Twitter: @thecreativepenn

"We need to value creative work."

To find out more about Emma - your podcast host and author of Driving Tito: Through The Balkan Backroads with a Celebrity - go to https://www.travellingthrough.co.uk

Thank you as always to Mariska Martina at: https://www.mariskamartina.com for creating our lovely travelling through podcast jingle!