You know you’re a writer if you’re energized by your observations. Gay Talese, the journalist who made a career profiling ordinary folk (doormen, dishwashers, busboys, billboard caretakers), always said, You can’t fake interest.” Nor can you fake the depth of knowledge that comes from directly experiencing something. My advice to budding writers (thanks to Talese) is […]
Going Outside
Originally published in January 2026 in Blog
Can copywriting still inspire? You better believe it. This message was the first line in the fine print of my HydroFlask warranty. I fished the folded note from my new water bottle, and, for whatever reason, decided to read it. To me, it doesn’t matter how they came up with this message — AI, humans, […]
This is Your Brain on AI
Originally published in May 2023 in Blog
AI and Eureka
Originally published in March 2023 in Blog
Content Relief Supplements
Originally published in February 2023 in Blog
ChatGPT Won’t Be Writing To My Valentine
Originally published in January 2023 in Blog
If you haven’t read Ann Handley’s newsletter this week, here it is. She wrote it herself. Actually, she brought her full self, past and present, to this rumination on AI’s breakout moment. Ann probably had to tie her hair back while she was writing — now that she has grown out her pixie. And maybe […]
The gambler
Originally published in April 2015 in Blog
Back in the fall of 1999, this quote by Richard Ford in The Globe and Mail seemed important enough to scribble down. Translation: it rocked my little whitebread world which, true to form, consisted of Enya, getting lost in Kenny G’s mane, Mac matte lipstick and a shiny black Nissan Pathfinder. “My view of writers […]
