Reading time: 3.42 878 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, There’s this podcast called What Did You Do Yesterday? with Max Rushden and David O’Doherty and the premise is splendid. They ask each guest “what did you do yesterday?” Not last week or on their last birthday. Not the greatest and most important day of their life. Yesterday. No matter how dull yesterday might have been. And then they talk about it, from the moment the guest wakes up to the moment they fall asleep. The...
4 days ago • 4 min read
Reading time: 4.17 1,017 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, You should try stand-up comedy. No, you should. I know what you’re saying right now: Fuck no, Vicky. What’s wrong with you? Ha. The eternal question. To which the answer is many, many things, but none of them are important right now. Right now, I want to convince you of something you’re absolutely adamant you’re never going to do. Stand up in front of people and try to make them laugh. You’ve done it before, I bet....
6 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 2.20 553 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, July 3, 1947, So’ton. I open up the envelope, carefully, because the paper is so delicate. It’s a letter, from my Grandad’s best friend Jack to my Grandad, Ernest. It concerned the shenanigans Jack wanted to get up to that weekend. “Write to me and let me know if you can get off this weekend. I’ve got a girl and I want to go dancing. Are you still stepping out with that girl you met — was it Bridget?” Another letter from...
8 days ago • 3 min read
Reading time: 5.23 1,279 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, What do you picture when I say NETWORKING ? Is it a dude in a shiny shiny suit shoving his business card at you while he tells you about his boring company history and product you’re not interested in because he didn’t ask you while looking over your shoulder in case he sees someone more interesting to talk to? Cos that’s what I see. That’s what I DID see when I went to my very first networking event as a baby business...
10 days ago • 6 min read
Reading time: 4.14 1,004 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, “Why don’t you enter the Pole Theatre competition?” I’m not good enough. That was my first thought: I’m not a good enough pole dancer to enter this prestigious competition and win. I don’t have the polished skills, the flexibility, the gymnastic or dance background that pole dancing competition winners seem to have. I’m not ready — my second thought. Who am I to enter a well-known comp? The same thoughts pop into my...
13 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 1.19 311 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, Whose idea was wisdom teeth? Doesn’t seem very wise to me. They lurk in your skull (which is already super creepy — teeth are so weird) just waiting to slowly emerge and cause pain, like the world’s slowest and most annoying cruise missle. And they serve NO purpose that I can figure out. I mean, there’s not even enough room in my head for the stupid things. My wisdom tooth (bottom right jaw, which you definitely weren’t...
15 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 4.28 1,060 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Grandpa Joe and the other three grandparents live in a giant bed. Like, they never get out of that bed, until Charlie wins the golden ticket and Grandpa Joe can suddenly miraculously walk even though his muscles would definitely have wasted after years in a bed. And just imagine the stink. And the bedsores. Nobody ever mentions the bedsores. We think rotting in bed will be a nice...
18 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 4.37 1,136 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, Professor Sir Terry Pratchett, one of the most successful authors in the world ever, continues to delight me with his Discworld series. I’ve read every single book, except the last one (because I can’t quite face it yet) multiple times. One copy of Pyramids has fallen apart it’s so well loved. On the face of it, Terry Pratchett was a fantasy author — sidebar: I will NEVER understand this snobbery directed at science...
20 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 1.39 391 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, “Do fewer things. Work at a natural pace. Obsess over quality.” YES CAL. I love this. That’s the key message of Cal Newport’s book Slow Productivity and I’m thinking of sticking it up on my wall. In a world where everything is fastfasterfastest alllll the damn time, and we’re all exhausted, this book is chef’s kiss just what we need. He’s all about working hard on fewer things and as someone who has a thousand ideas a...
22 days ago • 2 min read