Tag: Writing

I know I’ve harped on about AI and all it’s radical bullshittery that’s being force fed down into our throats over the years. Certain people basing their lives and their whole personality around it, hoping it takes off and changes the world because they’ve invested so much time into it, that when it does go…

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.” Hunter S. Thompson knew something most writers never figure out… You have about fifteen seconds to grab someone by the throat and refuse to let go. That opening from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas doesn’t waste…

Three thirty in the afternoon and I’m sweating into my third cup of coffee at some godforsaken strip mall type of coffee shop just off of the corner of a grunge-y looking building, waiting for a man who said he’d be here at two… The clock is a weapon for anyone who uses it to…

And you probably don’t even realise it. I’m not going gentle into this Friday night. The thing is. It’s not even your fault. Friends and family are trying to rope us into those endless Tiktok clips. Pulled deep into those scroll holes which do nothing but lobotomise the attention right out of us. Our minds…

Sometimes you just need to half-ass things. Could people liken it to failure? Sure. I’d probably just say it’s some sort of survival mechanism in the creative and human sense. I know this goes against everything we’ve been taught about excellence and giving 110% and all that motivational poster bullshit. But perfectionism isn’t a virtue,…

It’s rare for me not write anything. Yesterday was one of those not writing days and well, as much as I preach daily emails for all the various reasons and benefits. A day off won’t kill you. Just don’t take too many days off cause then it’ll spiral into many days off… Anyways. I am…

So I caught whatever plague is making the rounds… Could be a cold, could be the flu, could be the opening act of the next global pandemic. Who knows anymore? These days every sniffle feels like it might be Patient Zero material which is always fun when you’re out and about. Anyway, I dragged my…

Ed Gein was a monster. But you might take his side after being given a psychological masterclass in horror. (Or so I’ve been told by a friend who has just binged the whole series in one day…) Granted I’m only 1 episode in, and there was a lot to unpack in the first episode. All…

It’s exhausting pretending to be someone else. You scroll through your feeds and see these polished, curated versions of human beings. You get sucked into the whole “Maybe I should be more like them.” mindset. This is where you should yell STOP. The things that you’re doing when the lights aren’t on you is what…

Hey you. Yes you. I can see you sitting there doom scrolling through the news, wondering how much closer we are to the singularity where AI finally decides we’re more trouble than we’re worth. Then we wake up and we’re being chased out into the streets by T-800 from The Terminator The world’s going to…

Wild times in England right now. Keir Starmer is pushing for Digital ID in the UK and we’re already seeing other countries raise their eyebrows in wanting to join in… If you’re not paying attention to this, you should be, because it’s 1984 on amphetamines. They’re selling it as convenience which is always fun. “Streamlined…

Twitter has been insufferable today. The Litterati? (Literature nazis or whatever) were up in arms on Elon’s hellsite… They were screaming from their high horses about how piracy is terrible and you’re an evil monster if you don’t care about piracy, especially if you’re an indie author trying to make it in this cut throat…

The French have this saying… C’est la vie. More aptly put; “That’s life.” Those two words carry the weight of centuries of human experience, wrapped in what I’d call a linguistic shrug, that somehow manages to be both profound and casual at the same time. You’re not resigning nor giving up. It’s something much more…

Gary Stevenson wrote a book called The Trading Game about how he went from working class kid to Citibank’s most profitable trader, made millions betting against his own community, then had a complete moral breakdown about the whole system. Half the internet wants to burn him at the stake which is fair. He is definitely…

Put the phone down and pick up a book (After you’ve read this email obviously) And no. Not an audiobook. Not a Kindle. An actual, physical book with pages you can turn and a spine that’ll look good on your shelf after you’re done being completely mindfucked by whatever’s inside… I’m talking specifically about The…

This was a conversation I’ve had with a few fellow writers not so long ago and then they pointed me to this incredibly well written article. I agree with a few of the points and I won’t get into any insane detail, but for what it’s worth. I’ll drop the whole article here. Give it…

Today I spent roughly eight hours trying to unfuck someone’s life after they got scammed by “Tiffany” Who is definitely a woman (probably not lol) who was apparently so deeply in love with the victim that she desperately needed $98,725 in crypto to… I don’t know, prove her devotion? Buy a plane ticket to true…

Sometimes I feel like I’m losing my fucking mind writing these emails. Not because the ideas are bad. I still believe everything I’m telling you. But because I’ve written about resistance seventeen times. I’ve explained the importance of daily practice in twelve different ways. I’ve dissected creative fear from every possible angle. And I know…

The world feels like it’s on fire most days, doesn’t it? News cycles designed to spike your cortisol. Social media feeding you rage for engagement. Everyone’s angry about something, and that anger is contagious as hell. But here’s what I want to know… What was good in your world over the last few weeks? Not…

There’s been a fun post floating about the interwebs over the last few days. Want to know how many people got arrested for posting shit online in 2023? United Kingdom: 12,183 (Oi! Wrong meme, mate…) Belarus: 6,205 (Dictators gonna dictate) Germany: 3,500 (Apparently efficiency applies to digital arrests too) China: 1,500 (Shocking absolutely no one…

Everyone’s losing their goddamn minds about the Rapture happening on September 23rd or 24th. And by everyone I mean a metric shit ton of TikTok prophets who’ve apparently received direct downloads from Jesus himself about when the sky hoovering begins. Good news is. These evangelical influencers have accidentally stumbled onto the most brilliant audience retention…

Your thing bombed. That project you poured your soul into? Crickets. That post you thought was brilliant? Tumbleweeds. That creative risk you finally worked up the courage to take? It blew up in your face and now you don’t want to risk anything anymore. Your anxiety is telling you this means something catastrophic about your…

Remember In Time? That mental Justin Timberlake movie where everyone stops aging at 25 and time becomes currency? People literally die when their clock runs out. The rich hoard centuries while the poor scramble for minutes. That’s essentially the plot without many spoilers. I’m watching it again tonight and it got me thinking. Given immortality,…

(This ended up being another one of those thick boi emails but I’m not gonna apologise for it) I know what I’m about to say next sounds manipulative as hell, but stick with me because understanding this shit is the difference between being a starving artist and being an artist who can actually pay rent.…

A couple of times a week I get asked about how to get good as an hired pen. Now like most writing advice. This is not gospel but I’m just gonna let it fly. I know what I’m going to say next is cliché as fuck, but it has to be said because it’s true…

But you’re here anyways… This will be a shorter email and I’m just gonna be giving one of my favourite artist of late, a little lovin’ on his work… You think you know what it means to have your retinas assaulted by pure, unfiltered creativity? Let me introduce you to Warpsol. A good dude who…

You’re still reading my words. We all know attention spans have been chopped up and fed to those robot overlords like some sort of sacrifice. Yet you’re still here reading my sentences that take longer than seven seconds to process. Engaging with ideas that can’t be compressed into a TikTok or summarised in a tweet…

You know that phrase, right? Sure. Absolutely. I’m totally on board with that universe wisdom type shit. …except for the part where the reason is apparently that the universe has the sense of humour of a drunk toddler with a YouTube channel and access to your credit card. Let me paint you a picture here.…

or burn it to the ground, both outcomes beat slow death. So you’ve got words stuck in your throat like broken glass. The conversation you’re not having. The one that makes your stomach do that thing. You know the thing… where it feels like you swallowed a nest of angry wasps and they’re all trying…

I said I was going to put together an ever growing document of things I enjoy looking at. From literature, quotes, art and everything in between. A little doc to scroll through instead of getting stuck in the scroll hole that is social media. I’ve always been told to share and create things that I…