Don't ask me what I write about
Relevant To Your Interests #11
You’ve Got A-Mail!
This is another edition of Relevant to Your Interests, an email just like the lord intended – full of great links and deep thoughts.
Keep reading!
I was at a family event recently and the person sitting opposite me at the table asked me what I do.
You’d think work is safe and acceptable small talk. Not with me! You’re gonna inadvertently set off an existential crisis over my warm goats’ cheese salad.
After attempting to fob them off by saying I was a writer they asked the crassest, most intimate possible question one human being could ever ask of another:
“What do you write about?”
What am I supposed to say to that?? Surely not the truth which is that because it’s so tough to make it work as a writer, i only have the wearwithall to write about things that really, deeply matter to me which at the moment are stories about fear, misunderstandings and disappointment. You know, the emotions that all of us have but none of us want. But i don’t get to do that too much because a) there’s a media apocalypse happening right now and publications are shutting down all around me b) i’m terrible at pitching c) i have self-doubt and don’t pitch my ideas so therefore eliminate any and all chance of getting said ideas published d) it’s hard. So i try to write my sad little stories in my sad little newsletter but that’s tricky too because i originally built an audience writing about how to freelance but now i’m worried that freelance writing isn’t a viable career so i feel reckless advising others on it. Ok, no here’s a simple explanation: i write about completely unrelated things because i’m a multifaceted human with a range of interests. i’m an artist ! Oh and sometimes I write about work but not like the ~economics~ of it, more like how it makes us feel, which i guess can be summarised as afraid, misunderstood and disappointed.
“I write about business, culture and technology,” I said.
✨ sOmE pErSoNaL nEwS ✨
This week, I gave a lil speech in parliament for the launch of a report from the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society about the dire state of freelance journalism. Tl;dr: The average freelance journalist makes a measly £17,500 per year, and yes that’s below the minimum wage. To paraphrase what I said to the room of politicians: If journalism is about holding power to account, why does the industry allow its own freelancers to get shafted?
Speaking of the ALCS I just got my bi-annual payout. Over £500! If you’re a UK-based writer of any kind, you must join!! ALCS collects secondary royalties (eg schools photocopying your books/articles) on behalf of its members and LIFETIME membership is only £36. You are an actual fool not to sign up.
I’m speaking on a panel about freelancing and AI at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia next month. If the IJF is the Glastonbury of journalism, does that make me Dua Lipa? Probably. The only difference is that tickets are so easy to get hold of, you don’t even need to pay for one!
This month on A-Mail, I wrote about my unexpected friendship with the nine-year-old girl who lives next door and how she challenged my idea that kids are a hindrance to making friends as an adult.
I also asked readers to share a story about a time they doubted themselves at school. The replies are heartwarming and one of my favs is the redemption story from reader
about cheating in a football match 😲
Money memos for the A-Mail Pros
Every month I publish a money memo exclusively for my A-Mail Pros. March’s edition has already dropped and in it, I detail exactly how much money I made from commercial work in 2023 (yes I share profit, not just revenue).
This is what one of my Pros has to say about my income reports:
I really appreciate you sharing this. I couldnt care less about the actual numbers, although it puts everything in perspective.
What I find interesting is the breakdown of your different streams of income and your feelings about it all and how you approach your finances. So thank you !
If you’re interested in the business side of my writing, these posts are for you (plus they support A-Mail overall).
A list of things I’ve read/watched/listened to to soothe my existential crisis and/or distract me from it:
How do we survive the media apocalypse?
’s Search Engine podcast has hit its stride! The most recent episode with on the strange and unsettling transformation of the media is a brutal but vital listen. TBH they should probably be pumping it through the tannoy system at journalism schools right now. It will leave you re-evaluating your role as an ethical internet consumer.Short-circuiting the Substack burnout cycle. “It seems like writers have a six-month burn rate where they come in excited, start to build, grind, and finally burn out.” As someone who’s burned out so badly on Substack they once shut the whole thing down, I relate HARD to the burnout phenomenon
identifies here.The Victim (BBC). If there is one thing British television does exceptionally well it’s a dark crime drama.
Goodfellas (Blockbusters). I am so embarrassed to admit that I’ve been going around saying “fuck you pay me” without realising it was a Goodfellas reference cus I’D NEVER WATCHED THE MOVIE BEFORE NOW.
How to with John Wilson (HBO/BBC). Continuing on the theme of “how am I only watching this now”, this is one of those shows that’s hard to explain but easy to enjoy. My favourite kind. It made me nostalgic for New York.
- and . And lastly, a double shout out to two of my current fav Substacks. On the surface, these are two very different newsletters; what unites them is they’re both personal essays written by men. It’s a sub-category of the PE that you don’t find that often and both and do the genre justice with their unique brands of vulnerability.
I hate that question, too!!
Anna, thanks for the shout-out.
I like that you write on a variety of topics that interest you. But the voice is always yours. I was thinking about that cartoon in the beginning of this post and how we highlight different aspects of our personality depending on who we're with. But the voice tends to remain the same.
But you have to explain why a taxidermist would be the best answer to get rid of a creep!