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Hey Reader,

“Would you like to go climbing?” he asked.

“Climbing? Like, rock climbing?” I said. “I don’t know how.”

“I’ll teach you.”

17 years ago (ish) I met the most handsome guy and we became friends. We both rode motorbikes and we both liked adventures and we both had no idea what we were doing.

He flirted with me; I was, as always, oblivious.

He taught me how to climb and I taught him that chaos can be fun.

I cooked him dinner — one of the only times that ever happened — and he pretty much moved in. We went walking and motorbiking and climbing and exploring, up mountains and deep underground at midnight into the flooded levels of a slate mine.

Reader, I married him — 16 years ago today.

Since then, he’s kept hold of the hem of my shirt while I’ve created a whirlwind of chaos around us.

He’s been my biggest cheerleader, my love, my best friend, and the only person I could ever imagine sharing this ridiculous adventure with.

Happy anniversary Joe.

You’re amazing.

I would have starved by now without you.

And now for the Friday Goodie Bag!

This is what I’ve gathered for you today. Enjoy!

This subReddit for bald men which is the most wholesome thing

If you want to see a little corner of love on the internet, please proceed to reddit.com/r/bald for the most delightful experience. My friend shared it on Instagram and I was instantly hooked. It’s full of guys who are beginning to go bald, asking, “Should I do it? Should I shave my head?” and other guys digitally hugging them and saying, “It’s time, bro. We got you.” Or, sometimes, “Not yet. Hold fast.”

And then they post the after pics, and everyone gathers to tell them how great they look. And it reminded me that there is MUCH more love in the world than fear and hate so get yourself over there and smile.

Sarah Silva’s adventures in book writing!

Sarah is taking part in Season 7 of MicroBook Magic (next round is in April guys!) and she’s doing the coolest thing: she’s documenting her progress her each week with a series of short videos!

​Head over here to her newsletter and follow along. It’s really cool. I’m so proud of her (and all my MicroBook Magicians) and her book is going to be brilliant!

Ken Cheng on LinkedIn

It might look from the outside like LinkedIn is all Very Serious Businesspeople With No Sense Of Humour Getting Offended By Other People’s Life Choices but it’s not. Ken Cheng is a comedian and writer who I’ve been following for AGES because he’s hilarious. He writes satirical posts and you should definitely follow him.

Someone asked him what was his number 1 tip for being funny. His answer: “I don’t know; I’m just a bit weird!” Amen, brother.

I’m not saying copy him; far from it. I want to show you there are as many different ways of doing LinkedIn as there are people on LinkedIn. So you can stop buying templates now and let yourself out of your cage. You’re welcome.

Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files

Every week, Nick Cave answers a letter from a reader (or readers) and sends it to his email list. It’s always a beautiful, insightful, gentle read. So I thought I’d share this one.

The letter came from an 18-year-old who didn’t know what to do with her life. She sent Nick a poem she’d written, and asked what he thought of it.

Nick told her. He gave her beautiful, honest, kind feedback. USEFUL feedback. Not just, “It’s lovely” but “here’s what worked and here’s how to make it better.” That’s how you do it.

This cool direct mail

You might think direct mail is dead, but it’s not and never will be. Of course, sending a random shitty pen and irrelevant guff is dead, but that’s always been the case. Sending something interesting, useful, and relevant though? That’s gold.

I saw this brilliant example of a relatively small direct mail campaign that got great results.

What can you send? If you identified, say, 20 people or businesses you’d like to work with, what might get their attention? What’s stopping you from trying?

What I’m reading

I’ve almost finished A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine and honestly, I’m finding it a bit slow. I think it may have suffered from me not really reading it in large chunks, and I think it needs more concentration than that.

I’m also reading Eddie Schleyener’s Very Good Copy which I adore because his writing is SO GOOD. It makes me cry in the best way. Get this man on your radar immediately if you haven’t already.

What I’m writing

I’m writing my 5 minute comedy set ready to perform at the coaching session on Monday night. EEK. Aargh. EEEK. Right now I’m riffing on autistic communication vs neurotypical communication and how I simply say what I mean, but neurotypical people seem to weave these overcomplicated meanings into and under and around everything they say, which, frankly, is a fcking nightmare so if you could stop that, that’d be great.

As an example:

Word of the week

chortle

Did you know the word “chortle” was first coined by Lewis Carroll in The Jabberwocky? It was one of his nonsense words! I think it was Lewis Carroll anyway. Might have been Edward Lear.

Now it’s a really common word for “laugh” — how cool is that?

Make up a word today and then make it mainstream.

LET’S MAKE FETCH HAPPEN.

Quote of the week

[When Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope]

Get out. See things. Listen to people. Have conversations. That’s the beginning of writing.

Have a beautiful weekend. I will.

TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

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