All Episodes

Most modern stories kill my intuition and sense of self

Putting art into the world and no one cares

Writing a new book with lots of light

Books that kill loneliness

Sleepwriting poems (I'm guilty of this)

Catching the spirit with art

My favourite artists disguise their effort

Where did the anti-heroes go?

Why I like "bad" poetry

30 years self publishing to traditional publishing

Laughing at myself and sometimes others

Writing about the most boring person I know: me

Resting is important to make quality art

Virality can be a trap for authors

Instagram poetry line breaks drag me through poems

Finding your writing voice

A writing trick & what my 3rd book's about

When your weirdness finally fits into society (in the form of a book)

A writer's pilgrimage to LA

Forgetting my book is actually good

Writing a whole book as fast as I can

My new book for an artist's heart lost in the world

Borrowing the atmosphere of my favourite writers

The thing you are good at is hiding in plain sight

Planting stories in real-life locations

Getting my new book from publisher Andrews Mcmeel in the mail

Recording an audiobook - behind the scenes and some thoughts

Atmosphere over story

How I found energy after work to make art and break out of the jail of meaningless jobs

Revisiting my 2009 tweets wasn't a good idea

Finding my writing voice took the length equivalent of 4.5 PhDs

Writing update....

Writing is the hardest work I've ever done

5 years on writing full time after quitting my job

Following the Art Spirit through darkness into light

Just make something good

Trying to remember my book is magic, not a unit to sell

I've become more writer than human

Signing me book that's just out

The fear of sharing art to an audience

Today is for people with art, tomorrow for people with plans

The need to create under a new patch of sky (live overseas)

Nervy thoughts on releasing a book

Never ending search for home

30 years of following the "art god"

Masculine and feminine energy in books

The BS of artists "making it" at a certain age

Blending comedy and poetry

Modern poetry all sounds the same for a reason

Creative theft or just whinging?

Borrowing the essence of classic books

Good art makes everything else seem like it's pretending

Sometimes books are home

Writing my way out of mental straitjackets

Art is a passport to travel the world

The average age of best selling authors is 48-52

I swapped cynicism for wonder and my life changed

Art is a passport to the heart

The magic, quiet eye of mum's storm

How many followers I needed before publishers came knocking (250k)

15 Years Writing with Beers by the Tracks — The Best Part of My Day

Writing from character (more on mum)

More on Mum's book

Mum's voice and my voice. And writing mum's voice.

You're Dangerous When You Make Something Beautiful

Mum: and the alive things she told me before she died

Creative burnout and managing social media

Writing memes

Sometimes the truth sounds like the truth (when it isn't)

My favourite art alleviates the burden of time

When storytelling loses its power

Finding true things in a world of BS

Creativity under pressure - some thoughts on RuPauls Drag Race

Fear and good art don't belong together

I can't be creative in summer

40 is when writers arrive into themselves

Thoughts on The Exorcist (book) and vibes in the air

Balancing cynicism and magic

Becoming an artist by becoming bad at everything else

Tapping the magic of being an old fart

Australian art legend Michael Leunig's influence and advice to me

Fast witty thinkers VS slow deep thinkers

Turning the love of art into a job

Writing stuff that's just for me

Jay the street writer - interview

Stuck on the couch - boring episode

Josh Turek, poet and comedian interview

You need a thin and thick skin to write and promomote your work

Writing breakthroughs have no linear progression

My best stuff comes from beyond me

Balancing chaos and routine for creativity

30 years to find an audience (it took me)

Writers block - things I do to kill it

Other peoples stories are medicine

Do I regret dedicating a life to writing, thoughts and ideas?

Creativity is cart before the horse before the cliff

Life and death and writing

Taking a break from writing

Writing my new book with small-big thoughts (out today!)

Stuff learned from my first spoken word performance

In praise of reading not to learn

Thoughts on putting together my live show

Making something out of nothing

Productivity and creativity hate each other

The hidden door in rock bottom

The horror of time

Lessons from a hangover

Exploiting myself for ideas I'd never thought I'd publish

Courageous artists: be the first to say the thing

Best bits from 88 episodes of this podcast (some of them)

The exhaustion of acting normal in a weird world

Zero expecations allow creativity to happen

Smuggling your weirdness through years of the cult of sensible

A hundred bad ideas to write a single good one

The sum of our artistic influences... and our life

The endless daily creative defeats make me grumpy

We love to make meaning out of everything

I've got an inner waggy pissed off cat's tail and an outer waggy happy dog's tail

Balancing Sensible Self and Crazy Self (to pay bills and make art)

Your old ideas that never found an audience are the most important

Unexplained happiness

I know who I am and after all these years there's a victory in that

The duty to make art in a shit culture

Memes and culture

Thinking out loud has changed the way I write

Writing in 'beginner mode' and poetry as a baseline to find one's voice

A little about writing me new book, WORKING NINE LIVES

Finishing a book project and starting the next

Following your dreams

Making art for no audience

Selling out to myself

Creative breakthroughs by not giving a shit

Documenting the writing process for one of me videos

Walking to the supermarket in the no mans land between Christmas and New Years

Physical frailty and creating beyond oneself

Every creative breakthrough I've had across 40 years

One idea leads to the next

Sticking up poems around the streets and talking to myself

Shit podcast episode where I was out of ideas

Getting out of the way of yourself in creativity

Finding momentum to keep creating

Find out who you are and do it on purpose

Writing my way out of straightjackets and 2 other random ideas I had this week

Finding your voice in creativity with your actual voice

Catching the emotional truth of what I'm writing about

Starsigns and creativity - skip this if starsigns ain't your thing!

Nows the time to create in a world distracted by politics

Creative breakthroughs

Interview with Tommy Attwood, writer/illustrator

How I've been able to pay the rent writing poetry

Honouring my 8 year old self's decisions to make books

Have faith in shit ideas: from 200 views of a poem, to half a million (with the same poem)

Limiting myself creatively to free myself creatively

I often make my brain to ask itself: what would legs do?

Making art while working a full time job: art before the horse

Half baked ideas I've been playing with

Creatives need breaks to be improve

Great art lets you see the world for what it is

Road Trip to free up creativity

Charles Bukowski, poet, and what I've learned from him

Making stuff from mess and it's easier than ever to be an individual

Waking life runs on dream logic more than we probably care to admit

Cats and creativity

Self censoring making art

Dressing my words in pyjamas by handwriting

Reaching the edge of culture and creating my own world

Poems that shake me alive

"UM": my little (big) book I've made that's sort of a self help for creatives

I applied for 2500 jobs with the stupidest resume

Balancing darkness and light in poetry

Searching for truth and wisdom in unlikely places

Adulting in a creative life

Creativity in trying-not-trying

The exhaustion of acting normal in a weird world

The past is a foreign country

Self publishing isn't a dirty word

Second week off writing thoughts

Creative burnout - relaxing is hard work

Editing, writing and painting my new book CONFETTI TORNADO

Comedians tell the truth more than poets these days

Earning years of life to earn poetry

Ideas I had this week that didn't quite work

Finding ideas/wisdom/truth outside the popular opinion of the crowd

The Wizard Of Oz and The Never Ending Story are documentaries

11 poems, artists & places that have greatly inspired me

Spirits (and other random weekly stuff while walking around talking shit into my phone)

I wrote this episode by walking

Using booze as a tool to write

Sport tactics and psychology that have helped my art

Writing routine and how social media engagement helps put a book together

Are our stories worth telling over and over?

Finding your voice through perfect truths, imperfectly said

The courage (and stupidity) to say what everyone's thinking and no one's saying

Detectives and Poets do the same job

Creativity that comes from living years of life

How I got into writing and the sisyphean weirdness of writing for social media

Thoughts on writing and the creative process

When art or music saves your life, you're ready to be an artist.