Walking with Rob Self-Pierson, writer
Walking with Rob Self-Pierson, writer
Writer and moonwalker, Rob, explains why walking is essential and that when it comes to writing, it's never just words
“It’s never just words.”
That’s the closing message on Rob Self-Pierson’s website. It’s a sentiment born from carving out a successful career as a writer, brand language expert and consultant, following an admonition from a creative director at the start of his working life: “Stop fussing, Rob, and get it done. It’s just words.”
As a brand writer and consultant myself, ‘it’s never just words’ is a point of view I share. And one that Rob and I have chatted about over the years. In fact, it’s partly down to Rob’s encouragement that The Writer’s Walk newsletter exists. During a chance conversation after an event at Falmouth University – we’re both alumni of the Professional Writing MA although we were there at different times – I told him about an idea I’d been playing with for several years and wanted to bring to life but wasn’t sure how, when, or even if, I should.
His advice was that I’d never know until I tried it. And that whatever I decided, and however I decided to bring it to life, the most important thing was that The Writer’s Walk should be more than ‘just words’. It should be something I truly lived.
Rob asked me what I was doing for the rest of the day and I told him I was going to walk along the river, think about things and make a plan. 3 months later, I launched this newsletter. 18 months after that, at another chance meeting, Rob asked me how it was going and I reminded him of the advice he gave me, and the difference his encouragement had made. Then I asked if he’d be interested a willing guinea pig for this new Interviews series. I’m honoured that he agreed.
Like me, Rob is also a walker. And like many great writers of old, he’s no stranger to walking after dark. In 2009, he set off to walk the British Isles by the light of the full moon. Ten years later, he wrote about it in his book Moonwalking – a vulnerable yet witty memoir about losing the love of his life then finding himself through 13 walks, taken beneath the full moon.
Intrigued by the idea of a full moon walk – and too afraid to do it alone, if I’m honest – I asked Rob to join me for one. So we met up at Primrose Hill in London and wandered along Regent’s canal, heading east towards the rising full moon, while chatting about all things walking, writing and moon shaped.
Walking
Hello Rob! Please introduce yourself
Hello, I’m Rob Self-Pierson. These days I most often call myself a writer, brand language expert and consultant. You’ll see why at robselfpierson.com.
I split my writing life between travel memoirs, short stories and supporting brands with their language through The Brand Language Studio, which I founded in 2014 and rebranded in 2020.
After 8 years of living in London, I moved back out to Essex early 2023 – a town called Epping, beside leafy Epping Forest, not far from where I grew up. Right now, I’m working from home. Though client meetings and workshops (I help people in business to embrace writing, and find new ways to express themselves, in language workshops) take me all over London. Sometimes even around the world.
I’ve written and published two travel memoirs, Twinned with (2015) and Moonwalking (2019). The third in the trilogy is now starting to form in my head. It will be about music, people’s lives and stories, and world cultures. But sshhhh, the detail is secret for now. One day I’ll bring together short stories I’ve written since I was in my early 20s into a collection. All the while, I’m lucky to support brilliant brands like Bauer Media UK, Canary Wharf Group and University of Greenwich with brand language – and partner with exceptional creative agencies, like me&dave and Baxter & Bailey.
Outside writing, I love art and music. I draw, I paint, often while listening to my record collection. I visit galleries and museums. I travel when I have time. I enjoy disappearing to my cottage in North Wales to stroll, hike and breathe the sea air.
That’s quite the intro, thank you. Speaking of walking, what’s your style?
Happy Hiker
Reluctant Rambler
Sunday Stroller
Wild Weekender
When I have time, a Happy Hiker. Though when life’s busy, more like a Sunday Stroller.
How did you get into walking?
Let me think. Hm. Ah, I know. Well, I can think of two important moments – one that started my love of a good walk (almost always through nature), then another that follows on and confirmed my passion for a ramble.
I grew up in Waltham Abbey, not far from the Lee Valley. Sunday afternoons, I’d walk up the river with my brother to an area called Fishers Green. My brother would take his fishing glasses, and try to spot carp under the water’s surface. While I’d look up, trying to spot birds, or better still search for blackberries and apples to take home for Mum to magic into crumble. Walking was nature and natural to me.
Aged 18, I moved to south-west London to study English Literature and Creative Writing at Roehampton University. Like I imagined the great poets would, on days I lacked a creative spark I’d head to Richmond Park, 15 minutes from campus. So many times I completed the 4-hour circuit, following the streams, reflecting on the views, watching the deer share breakfast in the early-morning mists.
By the end of my time at Roehampton, I knew I wanted to write about nature, walking and the feelings that come from time spent reflecting.
That sounds like every nature writer’s dream. And maybe every student’s dream – who doesn’t want to get away from lectures and stretch their legs for a while. So what role does walking play in your writing?
It’s essential. I find that through writing we can explore and understand our thoughts, our place in the world, and how the world works. The same with walking. The two go hand in hand, one enhancing the other.
I’ve had ideas for books when walking, cracked client conundrums, composed in my head the exact words I need to say to that person to share what I truly feel.
You’re a writer after my own heart, Rob. So when you go for a stroll is it headphones or head in the clouds?
Mostly head in the clouds, or ears open to our world of sounds. Nature treats our sense of hearing when we’re aware of it. I’m not a fan of noise though – so if I go for a walk between meetings in the city, I’ll tune into Classic FM. Classical music has become a dear friend and companion since my mid-30s.
Side note from Sarah: I grew up in a house filled with classical music, so in honour of the moonwalk Rob and I took together I’ve added Debussy’s Clair de Lune to The Writer’s Walk Spotify playlist.
You spent a year walking beneath each full moon then published the experience in your book, Moonwalking, 10 years later. Had you always planned to write the book, or was it something you thought about later?
When I had the idea for Moonwalking, I was studying for my postgrad degree in Falmouth, Cornwall. It was for my final piece of work, and I got ridiculously excited. I loved travel memoirs – Bill Bryson, Robert MacFarlane, Geoff Dyer – but had never read one set at night. My tutor said the idea was more than a final piece of university work. Done right, it could be a book. When I began my journey, I wrote a blog. But it became clear that my tutor was right: Moonwalking deserved to become a book. It took 10 years to write because I had to mature before I could do the idea justice.
They say that good things come to those who wait – and I imagine many aspiring writers will feel reassured and inspired by your story and how you eventually brought it to life.
But moonwalking is pretty – niche. What makes it so special, compared with walking during the day?
There’s magic in every step. And mystery. And uncertainty. And moments of trepidation. Many times on many moonwalks I’ve taken a deep breath before the next step. Can I? Should I? I wonder what will happen if…
It’s also the light. During my moonwalking year, approaching the final moon of the year (a blue moon), I created a mini website encouraging my blog followers to do their own ‘bluemoonwalk’, wherever they were in the world. My sign-off line was: ‘See the world in a new light.’ Quite a few people, from the United States to Asia to Eastern Australia, took part in my global moonwalk. They shared photos and stories with me. So often, the stark softness of full-moonlight was mentioned. And those wonderful moonshadows beneath trees and tall buildings that only really appear during the few days of a full moon. (‘Few days?’ I was once told by a white witch that a full moon is powerful the day before, day of and day after 100% illumination.)
And finally it’s the stories. The myth and lore. The people you meet when the full moon shows her face. These things just don’t happen when you walk during the day.
I’m gutted that we’d yet to meet at that point, so I never got to join your global moonwalk. What advice would you give to anyone thinking of taking their first moonlit walk?
Be curious, and be safe. It’s incredibly unlikely anything bad will happen – in fact, I often feel safer walking by the quiet and solitude of moonlight. But it’s best to avoid doing anything silly, like climbing up on high walls beside a violent sea!
What’s more likely to happen, if you’re curious, is you’ll discover something magical about yourself and our planet as you moonwalk.
Oh and don’t forget to peer up at Phoebe (one of the moon’s many mythic names) – you’ll notice something different every time you do.
Solid advice to look up – no matter what time of day we’re walking. You’ve clearly had a lot of adventures, so can you tell me about the best, weirdest or funniest walk you’ve ever done.
There was the one where I got locked inside the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. I thought I was alone; I wasn’t. The hike across Salisbury Plain with two long-distance walkers and their bottle of brandy. We were walking a moonraker trail – in filthy weather – getting tipsy, going around in circles, and laughing so much. The best? That’s a difficult one, because every moonwalk is special for its own reason. I’m going to say a visit to South Wales, when I first watched the full moon rise from the sea. I was moved to tears as Nature treated me to extreme wonder and beauty.
Your moonraker walk sounds epic. Speaking of epic walks, if you could wander with anyone, real or fictional, alive or gone, who would it be?
Michael Palin. I’m pretty sure but not certain that my interest in travel comes from watching Michael’s global adventures when I was a kid. It was an event in my family home, getting together to watch Pole to Pole or Sahara. He seems, and from what I’ve read is, such a warm, kind and curious man. I’d enjoy time in his company, and definitely learn lots about exploring the world and capturing my thoughts in writing.
Now for a last, one-word round
One thing you always take with you on a walk?
CuriosityOne word to describe how you feel about walking?
LiberatedOne word to describe how you feel about writing?
Refreshed
Writing
We can’t close an edition of The Writer’s Walk without a bit of writing – especially when it features a writer. Can you share a moonwalking-inspired writing prompt with us, Rob?
For me, full moon is a time for reflection – as the moon reflects the sun’s rays towards us. During your moonwalk, take a moment to sit with a notepad and pen and look up to the moon. Reflect on whatever comes to your mind or heart at that moment. Then write a simple something, poetic or prose, that begins:
‘In this light of the full moon, I…’
Allow your words to travel wherever they’d like to go.
Giveaway time! CLOSED
Rob’s generously given me 3 signed copies of Moonwalking to give away to 3 lucky readers of The Writer’s Walk. For a chance to get your hands on a copy, you need to:
‘Like’ this post by clicking on the heart at the bottom
Tell us who you’d most like to go on a moonwalk with, why and where you’d moonwalk with them by adding a comment to this post – it can be anyone you like: family, friends or someone famous
Rob and I will pick 3 people’s names from a hat and I’ll get in touch with the winners, so I can arrange to send them their copies.
A huge thank you to Rob for chatting with me, sharing his love of walking and writing, and for helping me ‘see the world in a new light’ through our moonwalk together.
Happy walking and writing until next time,
Sarah
More from The Writer’s Walk
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I live on small, heavily forested Pender Island, a 2-1/2 hour ferry ride from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We have no apartment buildings, no streetlights or stop lights, so our light pollution is zero. The changing moon is brightly visible on the ocean and in our night sky. I am a moon watcher and long-distance hiker so imagine my pleasure to meet kindred spirits. Not sure if I can put my hat in the ring for a giveaway from so far away but here’s hoping!
Great interview and always good to hear from Rob! This reminds me that in Sri Lanka each full moon is a public holiday, and I thought this was a wonderful idea. I’d love to do a moonwalk with my Mum, as she loves the moon and stars and lives in rural Finland so there is no light pollution, and I’ve seen absolutely huge moons in the summer there. Otherwise, I think it would be interesting to do a walk with Tristan Gooley, the natural navigator, and learn about navigating using the moon, which could come in handy. And maybe a witch, to know more about the magical aspect of the moon. And a biodynamic farmer to understand about the moon’s impact on growing. There are so many aspects to the moon which make it so fascinating! (And Rob of course to hear more about his book!)