On a teaser episode for the Adventures in Nutopia podcast, Tim Smit (founder of the Eden Project) gives away a piece of advice for which he normally charges £10,000:
Accept every third invitation you receive1.
He goes on to say that this puts you into “a milieu which is self-selecting for the curious” and that, for him, almost every single life-changing event (including the Eden Project) came from accepting that third invitation.
Your natural tendency is to only choose those things which fit in with the prejudice or the preference of your existing mindset.
Magic is not created by meeting the people you think you need to meet, it is created by meeting the people you didn't know you needed to meet.
This is, essentially, how I live my life. It works. Exciting things happen.
If you’re close to London, and you’re looking for something to say “yes” to, why not come join us on Hackney Marshes at 8:04am this Saturday, to celebrate sunrise on the shortest day of the year.
New books
I have recently published a couple of new books under my Peakrill Press imprint. If you order them right now, you should still get them in time for Christmas (I’ll be posting first class). And remember: subscribers to this newsletter can get 10% off by using the code MYC10 at checkout in the Peakrill Etsy shop.
How to be Bozz by alexander de pfefel jonson (assisted by Chris Barker) is ideal for people who love Nigel Molesworth, and for people who hate Boris Johnson. Set at St. Cnut’s School, the book introduces you to characters such as jakub rees mogg, rishmal richbanks, keer fotherington-stamer, mad lissy lettis and wobbli therese, as well as explaining how jonson got Tuxxit don, and giving you access to the patented de-pfefel jonson excuse-o-matik.
In the words of the author:
If you reed this buk you will find out how YOU can one da become as grate and powerful as me, The mitey alexander de-pfefel jonson, curse of st. cnut’s the goriller of SW1a and once and futur werld king. (You will not acheev this if you do not attend st. cnut’s skool for bois I am afrade tho so giv up now and do not bother trying).
True Clown Stories, by James Burt and others, is a collection of short stories about clowns and the awful things they do. James writes:
My clown stories are about people who want to be entertaining. They want to bring people some innocent joy, but reality has thwarted them. These are stories about people who've devoted themselves to red noses and giant shoes but struggle to survive.
These pieces are strange and intense. They might be about grubby, angry performers, but they are also about the world we all live in. Get True Clown Stories here.
My book King Arthur vs Devil Kitty by Daniel Sumption, with illustrations by Maximillian Hartley is also still available. A poetic adaptation of a 13th-century French tale, in which Merlin and Arthur travel to the Alps to battle a giant kitten, this story is suitable for children, adults and immortals alike. The beautiful illustrated book is inspired by kids’ picture stories of the 1970s, Monty Python, Jabberwocky, Gawain & the Green Knight, and The Goodies vs Kitten Kong. Get it here.
Love!
A big, big thank you to everyone who got in touch to express concern and offer help after my rather raw update last week. Things are still going well for me. So much love in the universe! Which reminds me… here’s a recent track from my all-time favourite composer William D Drake:
William (Bill to his friends) also recently released the long-awaited EP from his 1990s band Lake of Puppies. Listen to it. Buy it. It’s gorgeous! So much so that I got married to the track Largelife:
Unless you have an extremely good and family-related reason for not going.
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