My blog and occasional comment on current affairs.
I used the Day One app on my old MacBook Air years ago and absolutely loved it. But then they moved to a subscription model and I wavered. Did I really need an actual app to write my sometimes inane but usually powerful and insightful thoughts? Then, for various reasons, I switched to a Microsoft…
I spent last year writing non fiction – this year, that is going to change. Writing fiction is deeply satisfying and after a day of it, there’s a sense of a day well spent. I do a lot of ghostwriting and if I spend the day writing about bitcoin or leadership techniques then see it…
Mindfulness, meditation, writing more, and the importance of routine are concepts I have decided to embrace more this year. It is partly a deepfelt yearning for life improvement and partly because I am turning 50 this year and have decided to have a personal crisis. It seems daft that I have always been a bit…
Happy Festivus! It is time to celebrate, drink, go to church, or air your grievances! Whatever floats your boat, I hope you are having fun. All of us at the Word of Ward Towers hope you are well and enjoying the festive season. I know I am, and although the hangovers are unpleasant, it is…
When I was young I was massively into the predictions of Nostradamus. Sadly most of them were shite. I was about 11 or 12 and also loved things like the mysteries of the crystal skulls, yetis, abominable snowmen, ghosts, the occult, and so on. I think it is a phase young atheists go through when…
I wrote this sad story about a gorilla raised in a small English village for Medium earlier this year. It went massively viral with 63,000 reads. And that was behind a paywall. It’s a great story, even ignoring my fine prose, so I thought I would share it for free. (Although feel free to click…
It’s that NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) time of year again. This time last year I was writing so much I thought sliding a novel into the mix would just happen. Except it never did. The writing I do for my job, that pays the rent and so on, seemed to take over and dominate…
I am getting rid of adverts as they feel unnecessary and ineffectual these days. Let me briefly explain the plan. I have been ridiculously busy of late and most of it has been unsatisfying. I have quite a few clients – who are all utterly fantastic and brilliant – and then a load of random…
Podcasts are a pretty amazing phenomenon and I am late to the party. But for the last few years, I have been embracing the medium, partly because they can be fascinating and funny, and partly because they are a huge repository of ideas and interesting stories. The podcasts below are all entertaining and will teach…
I never really saw the point of audiobooks before as I adore books and the act of reading. Why listen to someone else’s voice when my own mental voices are so great? Then the pandemic happened. I know that sounds dramatic, and I have been fortunate to have been largely left unscathed. I was, however,…
If you are reading this as a result of doing a plagiarism scan, then read on. For everyone else, it is probably best to skip it. Here’s the story. I write for a variety of clients and on a number of platforms. Someone got in touch with me on the platform. It was late and…
Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet was the first show I watched when I got Apple TV+. I wasn’t all that bothered about Apple TV but you get a free year when you buy a laptop or iPad. I am a huge fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia which had the same writer and star –…
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is here and you have to feel a bit sorry for Japan. Hosting an Olympics costs a fortune but the theory is that visitors will pay back some of the investment and afterward you have a lot of lovely stadiums. So, hopefully, they can still enjoy the latter. You know, in…
I recently bought a new iPad Pro, got the new Apple Pencil thing, downloaded Procreate and applied that paper-like screen cover stuff. I’ve have decided to get back into art and always feel like spending a ton of cash is half the battle. I can draw ok and have done since I was young but…
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was free on Playstation a few months back and as I had loved the first two, I thought I would give it a go. I would have bought it at some point but there was no real hurry and as sometimes happens (like Days Gone, Final Fantasy VII, or Star…
I fancied reading a classic Bond, and Moonraker was particularly appealing as I had heard it differed from the film. That turned out to be an understatement. I was prepared for some minor changes but it is in fact utterly, completely different. The similarities are that Bond, M, Moneypenny and Drax are in it. Oh,…
I have never believed in UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) or UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) stories until now. My stance has always been there is definitely life out there in space, but the aliens haven’t yet made it to Earth. Or if they have, they’re just watching us undetected. If we wanted to watch cavemen without…
I adore Kurzgesagt. Unfortunately, it is hard to recommend to others in real life as I can never remember its name. It means “in a nutshell”, which I can remember but is a bit weird to get people to look that up when you’re trying to persuade someone to check it out. Also, if you…
Haunted Thailand now has a new book cover! You probably guessed that from the headline and above picture. It was a necessary purchase as the old one made me cringe every time I looked at it. I consider myself a creative person, I write and draw, but creative or graphic design is sadly not one…
I finished Ghost of Tsushima recently and it has stuck with me ever since. It is a superb game that I thoroughly enjoyed playing, with memorable characters, and a surprisingly good story. The combat was also incredibly satisfying, which is fortunate as you kill a ridiculous amount of people. What is Ghost of Tsushima about?…