Reading time: 1.53 445 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” This is a quote I’m fond of sharing because it debunks a big myth about inspiration. Unfortunately, it also suggests success in writing is down to habits. Somerset Maugham was incredibly prolific and successful for a variety of reasons and one of them was that he started writing every morning at 9am BUT that wasn’t a...
1 day ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 1.43 407 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Yesterday, I performed stand-up comedy in front of 250 people in Bristol. I can’t tell you how it went, because I’m writing this in the past. But I can tell you that I’m very proud of myself and the set I wrote and the work I put in. I’d always wanted to have a go at stand-up comedy, but there was always that voice: you’re not funny, you’ll humiliate yourself, it’s a waste of time, there’s no money in it. Well — none of...
3 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 4.03 961 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Fight the power! I can already hear the zombie-drones of capitalism moaning at us to drain our bank accounts in the pursuit of perfection. January crawls closer like a B-movie undead torso, imploring us to spend money, transform ourselves into something we’re not and can never be, and perform productivity in the name of the gods of consumerism. Yeah, I’m here with my fist raised, shaking it at the inevitability of “new...
6 days ago • 4 min read
Reading time: 1.07 264 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, For the first time in 13 years of running my own business, I’m having 3 (THREE) weeks off over Christmas. I’m calling it my Winterval. Everything is scheduled in advance. All my prepping is (just about) done. And at 5pm on Friday I switch off until Tuesday, January 6. Which, incidentally, is when January Uncaged begins! It’s my anti-burnout adventure for burnt-out writers, procrastinators, and joy seekers. For those...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Reading time: 1.39 392 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, NEW YEAR NEW — STFU pur-lease! Caution: you are about to be bombarded with a shitnami of messages telling you how absolutely horrifying you are and what you need to do to create a whole new you in 2026. PLEASE IGNORE THEM. You’re already very cool indeed. This January, the new year new me nonsense can get in the bin (actually that’s every Jan for me). Out with January scare-hustling and in with January JOY. January...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 2.57 701 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Sometimes I am my own worst fun sponge. I tried for years to turn writing into a habit. It went onto my to-do list along with “clean the toilet” and “answer emails from my accountants.” Just another chore. I’d download content strategies, buy new planners, attend launch workshops, and watch what the uber-successful folks on social media were doing, and try to copy them. It didn’t work, because I’m not them. And I...
9 days ago • 3 min read
Reading time: 2.46 657 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Step off train — light cigarette. That was Joe’s habit. He’d get the train to work, then walk from the station, and on the walk he’d smoke a cigarette. He doesn’t smoke anymore; hasn’t for years. Doesn’t get the train much anymore, either. But when he does get off a train, he still reaches inside his jacket for a packet of ciggies. Cue —> Behaviour —> Reward Step off train —> Light cigarette —> Nicotine hit That’s a...
10 days ago • 3 min read
Reading time: 5.11 1,232 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Every year, Joe and I have an advent calendar, because Christmas whimsy is not just for children. This year, I got marketed at by Task Master and bought their advent calendar and it does not disappoint. All over the box are 24 doors, as you’d expect. But there’s also a door on the back (start there) and a bunch of random little doors on the sides, too. Instead of chocolate, there are tasks — usually puzzles to solve...
13 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 2.06 497 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, My stupidest gym injury yet involved me thinking I was Morpheus out of The Matrix. You know when he leaps from one building to another like gravity isn’t real? I had it in my head that I could soar onto a 30-inch box like some kind of gazelle. I could not. Box jumps have been in my workout routine for a while and I’d been making progress, then had a couple of weeks off, and forgot what height I was leaping to. I spied a...
14 days ago • 2 min read