This fortnight, I worked on my branding yet again, did a sxc photoshoot, and sunk beers with the editor of Etherea Magazine.

Copywriting

I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out my brand in the past few months. Not only the way I present myself, but also defining my offer.

Going for an “I’ll write anything” approach doesn’t seem too smart, so I’m gonna try specialising in writing website copy for B2C businesses. I’m also thinking of making my main “offer” a free website review and building all my marketing around that. This way, people can get an idea of what’d it be like to work with me before committing to anything.

If I do go with this offer, it’ll likely go live coming fortnight, so stay tuned.

In other news, I did another photoshoot, this time with Chad Gerber. I’m going to use some of these photos on my website, but most will be for LinkedIn, where I’m currently upping my game (more on that next fortnight).

I had my Magic: The Gathering cards in my bag when I went to Chad’s for the shoot, so I couldn’t resist this one:

Also, one of the scripts I wrote for The Front went live on YouTube this fortnight. I think this is one of the last videos (if not the very last video) I had a hand in. Here she is:

Fiction

As for my fiction, I’m still slogging it out with my story Ciggie Zombie.

However, a three-hour plot treatment helped me come to terms with the most maddening incongruities of the story, and I’m feeling like this next draft is going to stick (I’ve rewritten the blasted thing like three times now).

A pair of YouTube videos helped me immensely in this, especially the stuff about “purpose before personality” and “drawing your shapes.” Basically, the majority of my characters weren’t contributing to the exploration of my themes. And because I’d done fuck-all planning before I started writing, I didn’t even know what my themes were. I thought I had direction, but really I was heading towards one specific scene without too much of a care for how I got there. I was just padding the damn thing out.

Anyway, here are those videos. If you’re into storytelling, Local’s channel is 100% worth checking out.

It’s been a few months since I’ve read any story submissions for Etherea Magazine, but I’m hoping to get back to doing that on the regular soon. Aidan, the magazine’s editor, was in Perth this fortnight, so we caught up for a cheeky beer. Which ended up being five. Or was it six?

Either way, we captured this blurry photo to celebrate the magazine and our drunkenness. Safe to say we got along famously.

Thoughts

I know it’s still January, but I’m thinking 2023 is gonna be a year of growth. I’m feeling physically and mentally strong, and it’s starting to show in my work and social life.

Thanks for reading 🖤