My process for writing this newsletter is haphazard. Or rather, it lacks any process whatsoever. I write most of it in my head, on my bike on the way to work. A situation which presents some logistical difficulties.
Every day I cycle 15-miles. A seven-and-a-half mile each way trip to work. The pollution might be slowly killing me, or the constant weaving in and out of traffic might quickly kill me one day. But I wouldn’t swap those two hours for anything. It’s the only time of the day when I can’t check my phone, when I have to be constantly alert. The line between living and dying is too great.
Unfortunately, all that time without a screen gives my mind time to wander. After I’ve picked over any problems at work, the perceived slights and office politics, worried that my friends all hate me, worry that I’m not seeing enough of my friends, or that I call my family often enough, my mind invariably starts writing this newsletter.
Like all things in life, there are pros and cons to this approach. It’s bad because I have no way of writing down my thoughts. Good because by the time I get to work I often have a first draft or a reworked second draft of what I want to write in my head. I just need to get to a computer or notebook fast enough to write it all down.
This repeats itself for five days of the week. And then on Saturday, I sit down, answer any emails from the last newsletter and crack on with writing the next one. After all that’s said and done a newsletter pops out the other end, hopefully fully formed.
On that note, on with the show.
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Thank you to everyone who wrote in after last week’s email. When I used to write a monthly newspaper column I would get no feedback. Or if I did, it would come months later, via a friend of a friend. Second-hand and diluted. That’s the beauty with this newsletter. The feedback is immediate. So thank you.