Happy Easter if it's something you celebrate. For my fiancee Amanda and I, Easter is really just an opportunity to buy discount chocolate after the fact. Here’s hoping that in the era of shrinkflation and inflation, there are still good deals to be had! (And isn’t that the true meaning of Easter?).

I also adore the quietness of our town - Bathurst - during public holidays. Weekends and public holidays mean little to a full-time artist; I do the same thing every day regardless - I create. But during public holidays there’s less traffic, more families in parks, and the vibes are chiller. I love soaking up those chill vibes.

This letter is coming in WAY LATE! It was due a week ago; I’m sorry for the delay! 

Following the Newcastle Writers Festival (more on that soon), Amanda and I spent 4 days having our first mini-holiday in almost 3 years, and just chilled out on the beach.

I finished writing Letters to Our Robot Son on that same beach three years ago, following the festival where I was touring my memoir. It was a beautiful and spiritually rewarding return to a sacred site for me, and I did my best to enjoy every minute.

It was the first time in more than half a decade I was able to almost truly relax. I say almost because I was foolish enough to check emails and social media during the time and caught the urgency of other people and bureaucracy more than I’d have liked; a rookie error (I am not used to having time off).

Next time; I won’t just keep my phone on silent, I’ll throw it into the sea!

Newcastle Writers Festival

I adore writers festivals. They are in many ways my favourite part of releasing a book. Putting aside the attention (I sure do love all that attention, I’m a wee little whore for it), it’s so much fun to meet readers and to spend time with other writers.

Most writers are all so poor and busy that events are really the only way most of us can catch up. I got to pick the brain of Siang Lu, this year’s Miles Franklin Winner. Despite texting with him regularly, I’d never meet him in person, which was a real treat. Same with author and Marvel actor Zoe Terakes - who I’ve zoomed with and interviewed over the years (at one point we were in talks to do a film together), but who I’d never met in person.

Audiences this year were ravenous to hear about A.I. in particular.

Both my sessions at the festival sold out, and I did a 20 minute spot on ABC radio talking about A.I. and the arts (photo above). It’s so weird to have people actually want to talk about a topic that for years friends thought I was a bit nutty for going on and on about.

As you may know, I’ve been working on The Heart Saga for 21 years this year. Letters to Our Robot Son is the first book in that series. I’ve been concerned with the intersection of class and technology, including A.I., for a long time - ever since Google declared that they weren’t building the world’s best search engine but the world’s first A.I., at the same time that they leaned on their (former) motto “Don’t Be Evil”.

The combination of those statements got me thinking two decades ago, and here we are. (Curiously, Google dropped “Don’t Be Evil” as their motto in 2018 and moved it to the final line of their mission statement instead - making it a literal afterthought for the company these days).

For years I’ve been warning people of the approach of A.I. - I signed the first deal for Letters in 2021 - although it’s really only been in the past 18 months that the average person has begun to comprehend how transformative the technology will be for society.

I have a lot more to say on the subject yet, believe that.

The Last Millennial 

Soon I’ll be releasing a novella which deals with the future of A.I. head on - and if you’re a paid member of my website (thank you thank you thank you), you’ll be getting that for free! Otherwise it’ll be available for purchase on my site.

Formerly known as The Battle of Newtown, the novella was originally part of the first draft of Letters to Our Robot Son. The book initially had split timelines - between 2040’s and 2128 - although it made it over 600 pages in length, which was waaaaay too chunky.

So, I extracted some of the material to create two spin-off prequel novellas instead: The Last Millennial and MARYX (Or My Life as A Shopping Centre). The former is the backstory of some members of The Resistance, while the latter is the backstory of Frankie the friendly robot.

More on that soon!

War

I spent much of last year making three bold predictions to numerous audiences:

1. Democracy and capitalism as we knew them were dying, as I wrote in The Australian newspaper last April. This is a part of a slow civilisational collapse
2. An economic collapse is coming, likely this year (driven by A.I. and private equity)
3. We were again headed for war - Iran and Mexico were the countries I had pegged; I expect the U.S. will invade Mexico in the second half of the year

These predictions were part of T.O.M.C.a.T., which I’ve talked about in these letters to you before; my Theory of Modern Civilisation and Time (the acronym is new).

As I said in an interview with the Mudgee Guardian last August: 

"We are on the cusp of a major shift in world politics, in democracy, in capitalism. We assume that wars and revolutions are artefacts of history, but humanity is more cyclical than that... history doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme."

In Letters to Our Robot Son, I expressed a similar sentiment:

“War is like fashion; it looks a little different each time, but it always makes a comeback.”

Amanda and I began doing two things after Trump returned to power. We increased the speed of collection for our digital movies (nearly 1500 shows and movies now, and counting, bought over a ten year period) and we bought portable solar panels and batteries. 

We don’t have the means to fortify our home, and we’re renters anyway. We’ve lived as frugally as we can since Covid; we only eat two meals a day, we almost never drive, we recycle our floss, we take only a mini-holiday maybe once every 3 years. There’s nothing else we can cut back on. 

What I needed to protect though was stories and the capacity to continue to make them.

I will explain the underlying mechanisms of T.O.M.C.a.T., and how I made these predictions, and you’ll find those explanations in my work. That is what The Heart Saga is! The series of stories is my way of trying to explain the model through storytelling, because what I’ve bet half my life on is that we are in a new era - not just of destruction but opportunity.

Revolution

The collapse of civilisations is part of the breathing in / breathing out of any system.

Peter Turchin believes that civilisations collapse because of “elite over-production”, and I think that’s what we’re seeing in the world today. Two groups of elites, the “old money” (the military-industrial complex, media and financial systems) are competing with the “new money” (tech bros and influencers).

To make it easier:

Democrats & most American institutions = Old Money = Elites

Trump and his goons = New Money = Counter-Elites

In Letters to Our Robot Son, this theme of two elite groups fucking ecosystems was represented through the Knowers and the Sons of the Acolytes, or The Workers and The Chosen.

Too many wealthy people want more wealth and power, and so they’re tearing the world apart to try to upend the other faction. The average person (ie; the working class) is irrelevant to both sides, just as peasants were to the nobles centuries ago during previous collapses.

Whether life and death or the big bang of the universe itself, existence may not move in circles, but it does move in spirals. I have a specific name for the creation & destruction of intelligence: Downward Intelligence Streams, which I’ll talk more about in an upcoming book.

I’ll also be talking about time and non-linear consciousness (and how artists tap into that) in a major essay to be released next year.

For us as a society, the opportunity comes when people are librated from the constraints of an old system. This topic is way too big to describe with any justice here, but I do truly feel that the chaos being unleashed today will become the seeds of cultural revolution tomorrow.

People will demand human-made works for example, just as they demand free range eggs, single source coffee beans or ethical chocolate today. 

A.I. will both fuck up (and help) us all, but what A.I. will never do is create. Rather, I think that as a species we’ll strive harder to stay “ahead” of A.I., which can only regurgitate what came before it.

Only humans can create.

Creation is a divine act, which requires humanity. Anything else is an imitation. While the field will be flooded with shit (it already is - think of all the A.I. slop out there), the act of creation, of breathing something new into the world, will exclusively remain ours and ours alone.

While, the money of the world fights and fucks itself over, we will be forced to innovate. We will be forced to become cohesive. We will be forced to reject some of the fuckiest things about capitalism and politics and the ruling class. The systems of government and bureaucracy which have enslaved us (especially the young) will continue to corrupt and weaken, giving us the opportunity to reveal their inner cruelties.

This is why I write.

I want people to know that what we’re going through isn’t a punishment, it’s a rebalancing necessitated by the greed of a few, and if we keep love in our hearts and look for the opportunities to create and innovate, we can live better lives further away from consumption and materialism.

There is so much more to life than that which is dictated by elite groups and counter-elites (together: “The Ruling Class”). So much more than has been programmed into us by nation states and their bureaucracy.

That is the opportunity.

To see beyond our conditioning, towards the essence of our existence. It only comes along once every 250 years or so, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it and more importantly - how you can join the revolution.

Photos:

Me going into ABC radio last weekend to talk A.I.

Photos from Newy Writers Festival

My first ever piece of stitched Fan Art for Letters to Our Robot Son - this blew my mind!

Guy on Roof

The tree by Newcastle Beach which inspired Last Tree from Letters to Our Robot Son

I have almost forty creative projects I need to finish before I die. Many of them are books, some are films or virtual reality experiences, there’s a couple of board games to design in there too. Am I daunted by the scale of this undertaking? Not at all; I’ve learned to find peace in my process, to stay in creative flow. Indeed, I’ve discovered that flow is the secret to success.

Anybody who has ever driven a car has experienced flow. Once you learn how, you don’t think about driving - you just do it. Creative flow is the same, and anybody can learn it, it has no limitations.

Dr Maya Angelou said it best: “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” It’s not like money, or time or favours; creativity is a unique force in the universe. Shitting your pants worrying that you’re not good enough, that you won’t be able to “solve” a work, that you won’t have any new ideas… believe it or not, these are healthy starting places. They’re the first sign that you care about something so much that it causes your body to physically react. It’s the hallmark of artistry; a signal that you want to create.

Before we start, understand that the natural world is an infinity engine of inspiration.

If you take one thing away from this article, let it be that nature wants you to succeed, because it keeps giving you everything for free. It wants to be known, to be seen by you, and all you need to receive its inspiration is to show up. Take walks, meditate, sit in stillness. If ever you get stuck, let the natural world’s pace guide you, calm you and fill you with awe. This is what we call awe mining. You just have to be receptive to it, to be open, and the creativity comes like the dawn. You are already everything you need.

First, develop a system to collect dots.

The goal is to get ideas down quickly and then to let them pass, to allow space for more ideas. For many people, this might mean keeping a notebook or an app handy at all times. The act of capturing ideas is the work; it tells your mind “this might be important”. You’ll end up with more ideas, and of higher quality, if you reward yourself with the act of frequently capturing dots and then letting them go. The more passive and natural you can make the process, the more productive you’ll be, but also the more relaxed. A relaxed mind is ripe for creative orgies.

For me, that means keeping a “Bluesky” document for every project in Apple Notes, sorted with tags, or by adding ideas to project lists in the Reminders app. I go nuts collecting dots, writing them down as quickly as possible. I use Siri on my Apple Watch where possible, to avoid unnecessary screen time. I keep my phone silenced 24/7. Attention is an artist’s currency; breaking flow is devastating to my process, so I disable all notifications, to remain present, with my dots.

I collect all of them. There are no bad ideas, only the blue skies of possibilities, and I’m grateful for each and every one. Whenever it feels like a project is calling me, I make space for it and slowly Bluesky its dots over time. 

By starting this process early, you’ll amass more ideas over time than if you crunched “to come up with something”. Being intentional is the key. By creating spaces to collect dots, such as a notes file or a reminders list, or by keeping a dedicated notebook for a project, we leave ourselves receptive and open to the creative process. 

Because dot collection is more of a passive process, albeit intentional, I can keep many projects spinning at the collecting phase, and then typically elevate one or two at a time get upgraded into the next phase: connection.

Next, connect your dots.

Stephen King reckons that “a great idea is two good ideas, meeting”. Your task then is to smash ideas together to make them greater than the sum of their parts. Often, this will happen automatically, in the background of your mind. You might be washing the dishes, driving the car, taking a shower. Because you’ve amassed so many small dots, you’re increasing the likelihood that two of them will smash together on their own. The thrill when this happens is indescribable; it feels like winning something, like you’ve discovered a new colour.

Though it won’t always be automatic, so the trick then is to dedicate the time and intentionality for making connections. Find somewhere comfortable, cut out all distractions, and look back over your dots. It is a sacred process, you are enjoying the fruits of your mind, harvesting ideas. You’ll know they’re not yet ripe when the fear you feel about them outweighs the excitement. Simply allow more time, and remain intentional. 

For me, I like to sit by the window in my bedroom and look out at the passing day. I can spend months doing this when developing a book. It always feels a little like theft, as though I “should be doing something”, but this is typically more a function of expectation and ego than anything useful. That is: in a capitalist go-go-go society, I’m fearful of being seen to be doing nothing. In truth, my mind is the engine of all my creativity, and it’s busy, busy, busy. My job is as much to allow myself to be creative as it is to “work”.

If you find that the creativity isn't flowing - go for a walk and let your brain switch into subconscious mode. You'll find that even though you're not actively considering the task, your mind will still recognise it has a goal, and produce in the background, sending seemingly random ideas your way.

Procrastination is fine, it’s a by-product of working hard; Phoebe Waller-Bridge reckons “writing is 90% procrastination”. It also opens the door to daydreaming, which is in itself an excellent tool of creation. What’s not fine are distractions; create an environment which insulates you from them. You should be the only one who takes your attention.

Then, find your structure.

All stories have structure. They are evolutionary patterns of revealing information; as a species we’ve grown to have expectations of them. When you’re starting out as an artist, you’ll feel a strong urge to create something “new”, but that’s not what your job is. There is nothing new under the sun; everything is a remix. All music is just a recombination of the same notes. 

Studying the stories which came before you, figuring out how they work, gives you a place to begin to anchor your dots to. The way you do this defines your originality, and is the beginning of your unique voice.

I’m a big fan of “Save The Cat” as a story structure, as well as Dan Harmon’s theory of “Story Circles”. Both are reinterpretations of what is known as “the hero’s journey”, though they’re far from the only structures out there.

Lately I've been more interested in escalation ladders, and chaining character emotions than mapping "beats" (Save the Cat) or "phases" (Story Circles) - although there are no rules to structure, simply what helps you get the words down and then what resonates in editing.

Find what works best for you based on a combination of your collected and connected dots, and then multiply it by the passion you have for the project, by the spark of inspiration which first led you to say “I have this idea for a story…”

Finally - you write.

If you’ve collected enough dots and connected them well, writing is no longer a scary undertaking. It’s simply honouring your dots. It feels less like mountain climbing and more like following a recipe, or decorating a Christmas tree.

The best part is, because by this point you’ve become so adept at flexing your creative muscles, they’re in prime shape for the writing process. More relaxed and no longer afraid of doing the groundwork, all kinds of wonderful new ideas will come pouring out onto the page, and dots will connect in unexpected ways. It’s yet one more reward for being open to the universe, practicing flow and for believing in yourself enough to say: “I create.”

Go on now, bugger off, kid. Go and flow.

P.S. - if you're wondering why there's a photo of a one-legged seagull above, well... that gull (and the others like it) were part of my own dot-collecting journey this past week, which I'll talk a bit more about in the coming months.

Today marks 20 years of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - a show I've watched almost every single day for the entire two decades it's been on air.

I included at least 16 references to Sunny in my latest book Letters to Our Robot Son (there was over 50 in the first draft - and the references are part of a bigger, unrevealed secret in the story).

Amanda and I fall asleep each night watching the show; with the TV timer on. I’ve seen every episode many dozens to hundreds of times. We quote it constantly.

Despite following the worst people imaginable, Sunny is a rare bastion of hilarious, decent and positive LGBTQIA+ stories.

Series creator @robmac once said that of all the depraved shenanigans the show has exhibited, their one regret was the treatment of a trans character all the way back in season one (which was, by the standard two decades ago, still miles above all other storytelling of trans people). The show doubled down to give that character, Carmen, a great multi-seasonal arc.

Rob’s character Mac goes on his own queer journey in the show - one that took twelve and a half seasons to realise. This alone might be one of the most authentic portrayals of queerness ever captured on screen, because it embraces the long, slow, complicated journeys many of us go on in finding ourselves.

The payoff a season later with “the dance” is one of the most beautiful moments ever seen on television and still brings me to tears.

Seeing the Paddy’s Pub family squabble and scream and scheme and get one over on one another reminds me of the household I grew up in - I feel at home watching Sunny.


Here’s to 20 more years of the gang!

@kaitlinolson @robmac @charlie_day@glennhowerton @dannydevito