Hi,
Welcome Inside!
Some of you have already signed up. They're now officially on the list for my monthly(ish) newsletter about George Michael: Inside Out – The Stories Behind the Songs.
I say monthly(ish) because I've learned enough from writing a book to know that making firm promises about dates is generally asking for trouble.
So, what can you expect here?
Some insights (old, new, borrowed, and blue). News about the book and where we are in the process. Things I've discovered along the way. The occasional story that didn't quite find its way into the book. And probably some other stuff I haven't thought of yet.
So, where are we now?
After several years of researching, writing, rewriting, checking, rechecking and occasionally wondering why on earth I ever thought writing a book was a good idea, George Michael Inside Out is now in the final stages of design.
This week, the last pieces are coming together.
And that means something I've been looking forward to for a very long time:
I'll soon be able to reveal the cover.
Seeing the words and images that have existed on my screen for so long finally becoming an actual book is a rather wonderful and slightly surreal experience.
For those who are new to the project, George Michael: Inside Out looks at George's songs in a different context. While in the 80s and 90s the world was trying to understand George Michael through headlines, some of his deepest truths had already found their way into his lyrics. Only later, through interviews, documentaries and his own words, did many of those songs begin to reveal another layer. That's the story I've spent the past several years exploring.
I've invited people to a newsletter, partly because I wanted somewhere where I could share a little more than social media allows.
And, if I'm being entirely truthful, partly as a response to Meta and its deeply unsatisfactory practices across far too many areas to list here without turning my first newsletter into a manifesto.
I love the George Michael community I've found on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and elsewhere, and I'll absolutely continue posting there.
But it's rather nice to have this space too. No mysterious algorithm deciding whether three people or three thousand people get to see something. If I've got something to tell you, I can simply tell you.
What a concept.
So thank you for stepping Inside.
The cover reveal is next.
Lonneke Langenberg, author George Michael Inside Out
P.S. I promise not to make every newsletter this long. Although I did once say something similar about the book.