A lack of slack

Sorry about the two-week delay.

First I put my foot through the stairs in our house and then I got sick. I tried to battle on, but some things had to go.

The good news is that the experience has got me thinking about what it means to work with a lack of slack. To not build time into your days for stuff happening. I put my thoughts into a blog post, which you can find via the first link below.

Anyway, how are you? Working on something exciting? Found something you think I should share in this newsletter?

Don't forget, you can always hit reply and say hello. I don't bite.

A lack of slack

Here’s something I wrote about what happens when you always work at capacity and don’t allow for the unexpected. Like putting your foot through the stairs or getting really rather poorly.

In Writing, Progress Doesn’t Always Look Like Progress

This is a post about the futility of giving and taking on writing advice. But the main point really hits home with me – that any scribbling, reading, editing, fettling, fiddling about or outright writing is a step forward.

The 22 Very Best Email Newsletters to Subscribe to

I’m sure you’ll find something vaguely useful in this list, but honestly I’m still reeling from the absolute travesty that is the exclusion of this very newsletter. What were they thinking? What WERE they thinking?

“Closer to poetry”: the art of texting in novels

I know exactly why I have previously avoided texts and any form of social media in my fiction – it really dates your work. But I am also learning to accept that it’s impossible to write contemporary fiction and ignore the fact we are all communicating via technology all day long.

A Wild and Precious Life: A Recovery Anthology

“Addiction, physical and mental illness and its aftermath: a collection of stories and poetry from writers in recovery.” This is a project by an old writing pal of mine and I think it’s important. Please take a look.

How to Make Your Day Job Support Your Art

I like two things about this post. First, the idea that it’s okay to have a day job that supports whatever you consider our art – they can be complementary. And second, the importance of having an audience.

Stoop - A newsletter app

Like newsletters? Wish they didn’t clog your inbox? Stoop is a neat app for iOS that lets you find subscribe to and read your newsletters in one place that is not your emails. Like a podcast app for newsletters.

Reading in the Age of Constant Distraction

There is a tendency to pit books against the internet, as if it isn’t possible to read and be enriched by both. I don’t agree with that, but I do like the ghosts analogy in this piece – the idea our Twitter feed haunts our thoughts long after we’ve put the screen down. That feel true and potentially harmful.

Movie Color Palettes

Timelines created from single frames taken at intervals in movies. There is no question films and TV shows have some sort of colour palette. It’s about mood, tone and voice. Books have them too, I think. They’re just invisible.