Welcome to the Tuesday tastemaker

Tuesday Tastemaker #39 The workshop I’m discussing in today’s email will be available during The Common Wealth Summit, August 18-22. It’s free, and if you’re a regular AI user, you absolutely need to catch this one. Register here. Hiya Reader. Are we tired of reading and talking and writing and experimenting and worrying and arguing and rebelling and explaining AI yet? Nope! There’s more! Last week I invested several hours into refining and customizing Claude, my AI co-worker of choice. … and...

Tuesday Tastemaker #38How to send Consistent Weekly Emails (hint: it's not time management) TL;DR: You should register for The Common Wealth Summit, if only to experience an egalitarian experiment in mutual aid, community care, and regenerative (not extractive) growth practices. Reader, Every few months, I like to turn the tables back on my readers (that’s you), and ask what YOU think I should be writing about. I do this for a couple reasons: to find out what you’re interested in and make...

Tuesday Tastemaker #37dumb copywriting advice Happy Tuesday, campers! I recently kicked off a summer miniseries called The Laugh Track, where every Sunday I break down a different funny thing so we can take all the fun out of it and see what’s behind the curtain. (Sorry.) It’s been making me think about some very common, very lazy, very stupid copywriting advice I hear ALL THE TIME: “Use humor!” “Using humour in copywriting blogs can be a great way to engage readers and make your content more...

Tuesday Tastemaker #36:baking fails Last week I tried and failed to make a key lime pie for the first time ever. It was not good, Reader. The gluten-free crust I’ve made 100 times crumbled apart and cracked across the bottom. The filling didn’t set, then it curdled in the oven. 😖 The meringue was… well, it was disgusting. I don’t know if this is because of something I did, or if meringue is actually just disgusting (I suspect the latter). The good news is, my partner ate it anyway. He’s a...

Tuesday Tastemaker #35:A peek inside my copywriting portfolio Happy Tuesday, Reader! Last week, I took on a massive, random project nobody asked me to do (because, obviously), and spent three days straight putting together a snazzy PDF portfolio of my copywriting work over the years. It took me a long time and was very labor intensive, but the end result is gorgeous and professional and makes me look like a bona fide somebody: You might be surprised that I didn’t already have something like...

Tuesday Tastemaker #34 Hooo-wee, Reader! In these past two weeks, I’ve witnessed some truly shocking behavior on the world wide web. Most of it I can’t actually tell you about, either because it would violate confidentiality, or because it’s not my story to tell. But let’s just say… Abusive text messages.Facebook pile-ons.Manipulative business partnerships.Shaming Slack threads. My friend Mary told me last week that according to the stars, this was the week when people showed their true...

Tuesday Tastemaker #33: better late than never IT'S TUESDAY IF I SAY IT'S TUESDAY, READER. Wanna know a boring but true fact about having curly hair? It's a real bitch to find someone who can cut it the way you like. I've lived in Asheville for almost 15 years(!), and just now, I've finally found my person. Some stylists are so into their curly methods that it feels a little culty. Some of the most popular curly cuts are super labor intensive (nope), and the cuts leave my hair looking too...

Tuesday Tastemaker #32 Happy Tuesday, Reader! I’ve been watching the most recent season of Top Chef lately, and I finally made it to… dundunDUNNNN… Restaurant Wars. Each season, once there are eight contestants left, they split into two teams of four to create an entire pop-up restaurant in 24 hours. It’s always the most stressful and dramatic episode of the season. But it’s also one of the best and most exciting. In the middle of prep, Tristan, a fan favorite who’s been killing it all...

Tuesday Tastemaker #31: How I burned it all down (and why) You know that feeling when you finally do a government thing and it turns out to be wayyy easier and less time consuming than you were expecting? Yeah. That just happened to me. You are now looking at the proud owner of SKP Writing LLC, dba Indie Copy Studio! For the past several months, I’ve been dismantling my old business, brick by virtual brick, and tossing it all into a giant stinking bonfire in my non-existent backyard. Why?...