Usually when people ask 'so, what are you up to at the moment?', my mind goes bland. (Ha! bland was a typo! Meant to write blank. Gonna leave it. Totally works.) So I've put together a 'now' page.
🚀 Launching TONE KNOB as a fortnightly newsletter. I thought, wouldn't it be handy if someone collected up all the great examples of brands with great tones of voice. But nobody had. So I started doing it. It's still early days, so always looking for examples of great brands, and possible guest contributors. Hit me up.
🛼 Making 'Get the Fuck on With it' cards. A daft joke about inspirational quotes and productivity that's pleasingly gone too far. And people keep asking if they're available to buy, and it'll be fun to make them for real, and I can already feel other related daftness to come. As a 'high-performing procrastinator' I have a complicated relationship with the whole 'productivity hacking' world.
🔥 Developing a new (online) course about tone of voice. A sort of 'tone of voice 101', for everyone who writes as part of their job. (Voicebox is great but appeals mostly to 'power users': those who need to develop a tone of voice, or help others develop brand voices. Over the last couple of years it's become clear that there's a place for something that's more of a 'primer'. And that's digital.) Have thoughts about what should go in it? Drop me a line.
🤔 Figuring out 'what next?' for That Explains Things My 'studio', you won't be surprised to learn, is often just me. How best to balance my commitments to my regular clients while staying open to new opportunities? How to keep doing interesting and challenging work while also keeping enough time, focus and energy for family, other projects, and general life-affirming and work-enriching nonsense?
💡 Writing a book (or something) about 'the art of explaining'. Cos explaining is an art. We talk about it a lot in the context of specific formats (a TED talk, say, or a pitch. Or a product description. Or science writing or writing for children.) But I think there's something interesting to be learned by looking at how good explaining works more generally.
🦊 Learning origami. Always wanted to be able to do this. Decided to make it so this summer. It's deeply satisfying and mindful. I always have some origami papers in my bag now. In case you're interested, I started with the book Origami for Beginners (it comes with papers). Favourites: Crane. Frog. Rabbit. Fox. Llama. Yoda. I'd like to have a dozen or so I can do without having to keep checking YouTube. Are you also a secret paper-folder? Let's talk.