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3 Fast Things
I had the best freaking night with comedians on Friday. Who knew that they all congregate at The Newtown Hotel to drink booze and talk shop? I had no clue. I haven’t worked in a proper office setting for over three years, so the Friday night work drink situ is welcome. A bunch of people who share similar interests and failing dreams coming together once a week is so romantic.
I’ve started improv again! It’s been over a year since I set foot on the improv stage, but I’ve finally jumped back in at ITS to do Level 4. I’ll tell you what, after 6 months of being fed to the wolves on the stand-up comedy circuit, improv feels like eating a biscuit. The vibe and culture and people are totally different. I don’t know which I like better yet, so don’t ask.
My YouTube videos are evolving! Today I posted the first of a series of interviews with creative people. There’ll be no more solo videos of me boring you to Babylon, from now on, it’s interviews with people I admire and like.
1 Slow Thing: I’m going to need to improve my writing if I’m going to co-author a book
Will you give me a few minutes of your time? I’m practicing my writing.
Lately I’ve been reading books on the craft of writing and they all say I need to simplify the shit out of my prose.
They say that to express my point I don’t need to say things like:
By thoroughly reading through the words written on the pages of the books I’ve acquired (which have been written on the craft of writing, by the way), I’ve learned that in order to deliver high quality writing to my dear readers, I must, I simply must simplify the shit of my writing.
I just need to say things like:
I’ve read a ton of books which all say that simplicity is the key to good writing.
Do you see the difference?
If not, get out.
Look for the clutter in your writing and prune it ruthlessly. Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine each sentence you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? Can any thought be expressed with more economy? Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging on to something useless just because you think it’s beautiful?
Simplify, simplify.
— On Writing Well by William Zinsser
You want to know why I’ve been reading books on the craft of writing?
Well, the clue was above but since you asked… Do you remember what I hinted at in my last email? I said that an opportunity to work with a comedian had presented itself in the form of [potentially] writing a book with him.
It’s still pretty fresh so sharing feels like I’m telling the internet about a three-hour-old pregnancy. But whatever, it’s Year of the Rabbit and rabbits are always announcing pregnancies.
So I met this comedian after a gig last year. We were chatting and vibing and exchanging IG handles and then one thing led to another and next thing I know I was in bed with him in my earholes as I listened to his hilarious podcast.
We began chit chatting on IG because that’s how networking happens in 2023. My suave move seems to be manipulating comedians into liking me by dishing advice on social media.
In the interest of keeping the writing simple, I won’t bore you with the details of how we got to a point of working together on his how-to self-help book, but this is where we at:
We are going to work together for two months so I can prove that he can’t possibly write the book without me, and once he sees how invaluable I am, we’ll write up a contract regarding splitting the royalties when we sell it for millions.
He already believes he can’t write the book without me, these two months are more formalities to make sure we enjoy working together and have a similar vision.
We have a strong rapport and each of our creative strengths and weaknesses seem to complement the others’.
The timing of putting his message/story out into the world is impeccable. We both know it. And I feel like everything I’ve done up unto this point in my life has led to such a crisp alignment of my values, skills and creative gusto.
I believe these types of opportunities only present a handful of times in one’s career.
What do ya think?
I bet your bloody burning to know more details, but until the two months are up, I don’t want to drop any more deets.
Watch this space.
Watch
This week’s video: Interview with Facundo
Upcoming Shows
Friday 24th Feb - Breaking Comedy Club
Recommendation
Book: On Writing Well - William Zinsser
Exciting times!