What Do We Do Now That We're Here?

Articles

Everyone I know is worried about work

1 week ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

Almost everyone I know is worried about work: finding a job, keeping the one they have, or what will happen when the work they do no longer exists. I am no stranger to this state of being. After all, I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was 18, which means I spent the first decade plus of my career relentlessly trying to outrun print and web journalism’s successive death marches. I thought maybe, if I worked really hard, I could get successful enough just in time to stake out a stable career.
"Other people's people"

1 week ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks |Lisa Sibbett

Here is my Live conversation with of The Auntie Bulletin! Nearly 90 of you joined last night which was far more than I was expecting. We spoke about our culture’s weird divide between parents and non-parents; how to ask for (and receive!) help; cultivating an attitude of defiance towards the billionaires who want to wreck, and then leave, planet earth; and how to start loving “other people’s people,” as Lisa beautifully put it.
Sitting on the bench

3 weeks ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks |Lisa Sibbett

No essay this week. I often have periods where I feel things growing, shifting, and changing (often uncomfortably so) and I just need to shut up for a bit. I need to walk in the woods near my house, and sit on the bench in the sun with my cat. I’m currently in one of those moments. This kind of restraint is a big part of putting good writing out into the world, at least for me, but it’s not often encouraged or modeled.
You'll never be done

1 month ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks |Chloe George |Holly Whitaker

A few weeks ago, I asked paying subscribers and folks in the Substack chat if they had any questions for an AMA (ask me anything). Unsurprisingly, I ended up spoiled for choice. The questions below cover AI, the mental load, work, childcare, culture shock, writing, and more. I had a really hard time whittling this list down and not allowing this post to get absurdly long, so I’ve included an audio version if you prefer that.
Keep coming back

1 month ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks |Amanda Litman

I recently spent two weeks in southern California, where I grew up, and found myself at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf most mornings during the first half of our trip. CBTL, as my sister and I call it, is a southern California-based chain that we loved as kids for their Ice Blendeds and have continued loving as adults out of some kind of nostalgia. But this time, it felt different. Whatever conglomerate now owns Coffee Bean seems to have stripped it of all the funky, faded charm it once had.
Ask me anything

2 months ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

Just a quick note today: For an upcoming edition of the newsletter, I’m planning to do another AMA (ask me anything). Because you pay to support this newsletter voluntarily, this is a chance for me to offer a small something in return, so ask away!I did one of these last year and really enjoyed hearing what’s on readers' minds. It helps me shape the ne…
Should we lower our boundaries? With Alice Wilkinson

2 months ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks |Alice Wilkinson

It’s been a while since I’ve published a Q&A in this newsletter, so I’m excited to kick off a new series of interviews exploring how to build a village from a range of viewpoints and angles. If you’re new here, you can view past Q&As from the newsletter here. There’s this tension in modern life that I think about a lot. We’re all lonely and say we want more connection.
No one left to cancel with Africa Brooke

2 months ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

This Q&A is part of a series of conversations with people who are forging meaningful lives in a time of chaos and unpredictability. These interviews take time and skill to produce, but I keep them available to all subscribers rather than paywalling them. If you value the themes explored in these conversations, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
Wired for care

2 months ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

A couple of weeks ago I took a train down to London to help a close friend who recently had a baby. Her husband had gone back to work, and I offered to come down for a night (don’t worry, I didn’t ask her to host me) to ease the transition to being the sole caretaker of an infant for hours on end. Before I had a baby, I wouldn’t have done this.
Show your work

2 months ago | rojospinks.substack.com | Rosie Spinks

I’m currently working on a couple of longer, more ambitious pieces of writing, so this week I’m deviating from the usual format. I hope this will be interesting not just to writers, but creatives of all kinds. Writing advice is often viewed as low-hanging fruit, and rather cliché. But I think there is a good reason why writing advice is so compelling to so many people. Writing is a method of paying attention to the experience of being alive.