mostly david ephgrave

Hearing back the interview I did for my friend Clary Saddler's podcast Mouth-Off in July last night proved how the timing of chance events can be fortuitous, as it gave me a little spark of certainty and gentle self-confidence I haven't felt for ages. powered by Sounder I know my self-perception is often skewed by my depressive mindset, after years of negative framing that makes me feel I'm not enough, either as a person or a creative entity. But listening to our conversation a good few months after recording it helped me hear my thoughts with fresh ears and gave me a renewed, if tentative, conviction in my own voice and that I may even be allowed to feel a little pride in my achievements, such as they are. (There's a fine line between having some self-belief and commissioning a giant statue of yourself to front a flotilla down the Thames though, so I'll tread lightly.) It helped that Clary went all out when it came to content, bolstering the interview with audio...

I wonder if anyone’s ever signed off a letter with “Please hesitate to contact me”? If they did, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, as at least it would be honest; the world may even be a better place (if a more abrupt one). Just think how much time we’d save if we didn’t pussyfoot around and were straight. Take me as a case in point: I reckon at least half the things I do I really didn’t want to, until I painted myself into a corner and had no choice. That may even be a conservative estimate (with a small c, not a big one; we're not talking any of that ‘Boris Johnson / Michael Gove £350million-a-week-to-the-E.U.’ bullshit: unlike them, I have morals). That’s not to say we all need to be blunt, just truthful. After all, what appears the easiest option in the short term can be worse in the long-run if you have no faith in it: there’s little worse than going along with something purely through apathy. I wonder how many incompatible relationships did that? If you...