Sit And Have A Chat

Featured Writer at Flint & Steel

Thanks go to Ellie Jacobson @ Flint & Steel for this ‘Featured’ feature.

How did you discover Medium and how long have you been writing here?

During the first year of the pandemic, I found myself working from home but spending more of my online writing time raging against Trump supporters in the U.S. and ranting about lockdowns and rules here in Australia.

It wasn’t productive writing.

I started looking for another outlet and saw a few online writers mentioning Medium. My writing may not be any the more productive, but my headspace is sure happier.

Published my first piece on the 21st of January, 2021

What are you reading, listening to and/or watching these days?

I’m listening to Irish Mythen and the Foo Fighters.

I should be reading “Harlem Shuffle” by Colson Whitehead. Over at Counter Arts we have a 2022 Book Club going. But so far this year, my reading has fallen even further off the perch than my writing.

What is around you while you write?

Sawdust and plaster. With my laptop squarely on my lap. Normally I sit at a small wood desk, phone, laptop, a printer tucked underneath and a stained coffee mug — American sized (but not American coffee).

Oh, and some scrap paper and pens. I’m forever jotting blurbs, chicken scratches and lists.

What is your guilty pleasure(s)?

Chocolate, but there is no guilt. 😁

What must be in your fridge (and/or cupboards) at all times?

In the cupboard, two boxes of brownie mix (because my partner refuses to allow the baking of brownies unless there are two spare boxes in the pantry at all times).

In the fridge — milk, butter and alcohol (or something that can be mixed with alcohol).

If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? (in the perfect bubble where money, Covid, and the world is not an issue)

Sweden — it was next on the list before the years of ‘stay home’ hit.

But anywhere, damn the costs or consequences? That would be just about anywhere! Including Mariupol.

Tell us about one of your Medium articles that you loved writing, that you are most proud about?

Many are of a limerical bent, but I do write in other styles and forms. 274 articles and counting, it’s difficult to pick just one so I’ll pick two.

Looking back, what I appreciate most is being able to jump online here and find the last year and a bit of my life, captured in journal posts.

One serious article I’m still proud of is this one:

But inadvertently capturing memories in a journal posting is one of the best gifts of writing — here or anywhere.

In this entry, I was in trying to capture the moments and feelings of travelling internationally during the peak of the pandemic and the Australian lockdowns.

Tell us about your favourite Medium writers, ones you read on a regular basis.

Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg), Jennifer McDougall, Kristi Keller, Christopher Robin are a few that always stare at me from atop my Medium home page and they need little introduction. If you don’t know who they are, just click on their names and catch up.

A few other writer friends that I always look out for when I want to read: Raine Lore (always entertaining and with a life lesson), Darius (gritty and real), Penny Grubb (a successful and talented crime writer and an entertaining friend here on Medium), and Carlos Garbiras (an essayist who always brings the wit and a message).

And your favourite Medium publications to write for and why?

Counter Arts and Rainbow Salad. Why? Because I’m a co-editor along with a great group of friends at these pubs. Plus, let’s admit it, jumping the submissions queue is one of the many perks of being an editor.

A couple of other pubs I always love reading and submitting to are The Brain is a Noodle (because I love Lucy Dan’s work, her prompts and the pub she’s created) and Six Word Photo Story Challenge (Mary Chang’s pub has kept my writing head in the game many, many times, check it out).

Where else can we find you outside of Medium?

To get ahead in this writing game, I should probably make more of this thing they call social media. If only I could be bothered.

But feel free to bother me here, here, here at my other, near-dormant, writing spots:

Twitter: (@hullwillb) Insta, Ig or ‘the gram’: hullwillb Linkedin: Will Hull

Grab a copy of your free book of limericks at my Ko-fi page.

Maybe your visit and input will be just the thing to kick my media social butt into gear.

Thanks for reading!