2025 - A year to forget
I always hated this time of year as a kid. The adverts weren't Christmassy any more, the news showed nothing but reviews of the year, and the magic was rudely…
The shower test
Your best ideas don't come from scrolling through feeds or sitting in meetings. They emerge in the shower, on walks, during that quiet moment before sleep.…
Making it up as we go along
One juicy bit of advice, that came to me relatively late, was to never compare your inside with someone else's outside. You're comparing your messy, uncertain…
Life is not zero-sum
Creativity is not a finite resource. When someone else succeeds, it doesn't diminish your chances. Yet, we've somehow convinced ourselves that life operates…
Your brain believes everything you tell it
Your brain, particularly your subconscious mind, has one job: to help you succeed at whatever you're focused on. The problem is it can't distinguish between…
Creative compound interest
Keep creating. Do something every day. Just one thing. It might take 2 minutes or 2 hours. The magic isn't in the individual sketch, paragraph, or chord…
Write through their eyes
When describing a scene, don't just paint what's there. Paint what your character sees through their emotional lens. The scared protagonist doesn't notice…
The Political Circle
Like many of my mad ideas for websites and apps, the Political Circle came from a need to better understand my characters. In the fantasy world I'm creating…
The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs
The best advice I ever received as a young man (apart from my dad's): Never be afraid to change your mind. Rereading C.S. Lewis's *The Last Battle* as a…
Your Instincts Speak a Different Language
I'm convinced our instincts are our right brain trying to communicate non-verbally. When you get that "something's not right" feeling about a person or…