And how you, too, can get unblocked — Yesterday, I released my first book with my publisher Holloway: Creative Doing. The book contains 75 prompts to unblock your creativity, focused on practicality, action, and time flexibility. I wrote this book for content creators, creative independents, creative hobbyists, and people working in companies in creative teams or needing to…

Alcohol offers a devil’s bargain: inspiration through disinhibition, at the cost of a few I.Q. points, maybe even an early grave. Why are writers, more than other artists, so willing to take that risk? — In the small hours of October 25, 2021, I was roused by an agonizing pain just below my sternum. This was no indigestion; I felt as if the leering goblin from The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli was squatting on my torso, walloping it with a meat mallet. Was it a…

It gets under your skin — I pour myself another cup of coffee: two scoops into the Aeropress, a gentle pour of boiling water, a quick stir. I leave the plastic stirrer in the tube like a tombstone while the water percolates through the grounds. Quiet mornings are hard to come by. I had a conversation…

The test of a good mother is never how they react to the status quo but always how they cope in a crisis — For Patricia. I. When your child is still very small, teach them how to knit, how to draw a bath, how to bake a pie, how to make a bed, and how to serve tea. When they grow up, if they are unwell in any capacity always suggest a cup…

When there’s more than one — “I don’t want them to go. Seriously. I love them to death. But once they are gone, won’t it be kind of nice to have fewer complications, fewer interruptions?” These are the things you say before they go, before they’re gone. Up until the second it happens, their leaving is…