“So you want to be a writer?” by Charles Bukowski

If it doesn’t come bursting out of you
In spite of everything,
Don’t do it.
Unless it comes unasked out of your
Heart and your mind and your mouth
And your gut,
Don’t do it.
If you have to sit for hours
Staring at your computer screen
Or hunched over your typewriter
Searching for words,
Don’t do it.

If you’re doing it for money or fame,
Don’t do it.
If you’re doing it because you want
Women in your bed,
Don’t do it.
If you have to sit there and
Rewrite it again and again,
Don’t do it.
If it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
Don’t do it.
If you’re trying to write like somebody else,
Forget about it.

If you have to wait for it to roar out of you,
Then wait patiently.
If it never does roar out of you,
Do something else.
If you first have to read it to your wife
Or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
Or your parents or to anybody at all,
You’re not ready.

Don’t be like so many writers,
Don’t be like so many thousands of
People who call themselves writers,
Don’t be dull and boring and
Pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-love.
The libraries of the world have
Yawned themselves to sleep
Over your kind.
Don’t add to that.
Don’t do it.

Unless it comes out of
Your soul like a rocket,
Unless being still would
Drive you to madness or
Suicide or murder,
Don’t do it.
Unless the sun inside you is
Burning your gut,
Don’t do it.

When it is truly time,
And if you have been chosen,
It will do it by
Itself and it will keep on doing it
Until you die or it dies in you.

There is no other way.
And there never was.

Charles Bukowski, 1920…1994

No Comments 2022 Count of views: 370

Trends are a trap

Never follow trends. Any design should start with a blank canvas, any copy should begin with a blank Google Doc with a blinking cursor in it. Solutions are born in the head, not on the screen.

It’s no use aligning your work with trends or reading another top-10-design-trends-of-the-coming-year article. No one who walked a well-trodden path has ever invented or explored something new.

The only way to create something unique is to think out of the box, to develop your own thinking that will lead to ideas completely different from those that trends dictate.

Trends are a mental trap. They limit designers to a range of customary, safe solutions that don’t excite people. How else to explain hundreds of thousands of identical landing pages, dull logos, and Corporate Memphis illustrations. All this is the result of following trends.

I publicly declare that trends are bullshit, and I allow you to score on them. If you look for a novelty, swim against the tide.

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No Comments 2022 Count of views: 371

Circus with animals

Circuses and moving zoos are the wildest misconception in 2021. I honestly don’t understand why they still exist.

What is the point to look at a dancing bear that was trained and forced to dance? Who has ever laughed at clown’s jokes? Aren’t they the most pathetic and lousy jokes in the world? What is the pleasure to stare at animals locked in small cells, dying of thirst or frostbite?

I would prohibit circuses just for their absolutely disgusting “wanna-gouge-my-eyes-out” advertising and terribly vulgar costumes, that kills the people’s sense of beauty. Not to mention the fact that being a person who commits and supports violence against animals in the 21st century is completely fucked up.

Here’s a fresh poster by Tyumen circus — make my eyes bleed

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No Comments 2021 Count of views: 477

Timestripe climb “Beat Writer’s Block” ⚡️

I present to you the project I’ve been working on for the last month and a half.

There’s a great task-planner called Timestripe. Inside of Timestripe there are climbs—short-term programs aimed at improving of a certain skill or a habit.

I happened to meet the guys who from Timestripe team: Sergey Kulinkovich and Andrey Maykov, both are creators of the product. I offered them my help with copies, and Sergey asked me, “Do you write in English”. Apparently, I fucking do.

One month and a half later I found myself finishing my own Timestripe climb about beating writer’s block in 21 days. This climb is a starting point for those who want to write regularly or become a commercial author, writer, editor, copywriter, etc.

My climb in Timestripe climbs' library

Within 21 days you’ll learn the basics of writing good and clear copies, and create a few pieces on the topics you’re passionate about. The climb consists of short theory basics and easy-to-do everyday tasks.

Try this climb and Timestripe for free →

If you’re interested in the topic, I invite you to try this climb and share your feedback with me via email → evgeny@lepekhin.me.

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Wallpapers for writers in Art Deco style

I’ve always hated standard wallpapers on any devices I had. That’s why in 2018 I designed minimalist wallpapers for writers. They were just dark background with short and sophisticated phrases in Russian about writing and editing. Many authors and editors loved them so much, that I made another version.

Today I present brand-new wallpapers with a beautiful typeface called “Bad Russian” by Paratype. They look fresh, simple, and also please the eye with elegant forms of the Art Deco type.

Here’s an example of wallpaper from the set

The resolution of desktop wallpapers is 2880×1800 pixels, and it’s 1125×2436 for mobile. All wallpapers are free to download, but I’ll appreciate it if you will mention me and my blog while sharing a link.

Download wallpapers →

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No Comments 2021 Count of views: 625

Author’s manifesto for 2021

I’ve been in commercial writing since 2017. I’ve come all the way from a freelancer to an owner of a design studio.

Here are 25 principles I’ve crafted over 5 years of my career. They’ll help you increase your value as a writer, and, therefore, your profit.

Editing

  1. Before you start writing a copy, think about how not to write one.
  2. Your text will not change the world. It’s just another text.
  3. Don’t play with the words, don’t move them around. It won’t make much of a difference.
  4. Don’t grind your copies to perfection. Publish fast, then polish. Perfect things exist only in your mind.
  5. Publish your post while it burns you from the inside and excites you.
  6. Hire a proofreader so that you wouldn’t have to argue with a client about spelling and punctuation.

Service

  1. Take responsibility for the result you provide, not for separate words, sentences, or a number of characters.
  2. Ask questions, shut up and listen to your client carefully. They have all the answers.
  3. Don’t be an asshole: don’t go missing and warn your clients when troubles arise.
  4. Don’t teach your client how to write, and don’t be stubborn as a ram.
  5. Don’t argue about your unique vision of writing and style. No one is interested in it. Solve the problem and don’t try to show who’s the boss here.
  6. Leave emotions behind when you enter a Zoom meeting. Reschedule if you are having an off-day. Recover, then talk.
  7. Don’t grovel and don’t settle for bad decisions. Defend your working routine, processes and principles.

Money

  1. Always work on a contract and take an advance payment.
  2. There is no such thing as an average price. Only a fair price. A fair price is the one that suits you and your client.
  3. It’s not easy to make a living on writing. To make more, sell your service and solutions, not a copy or a number of characters.
  4. Develop skills in related areas: layout, management, design, code, typography, illustration, negotiation, law. They give you leverage.
  5. Never work on urgent tasks. You won’t make much money, but you’re guaranteed to eat some shit and be a scapegoat in the end.
  6. Work only on the projects you wouldn’t be ashamed to put in your portfolio.
  7. Don’t get into a project with a bad context, especially out of need. You won’t be happy with the money made there.

Strength

  1. Remember that you’re great. You make a living using your head. Most people never dare to do it.
  2. When you don’t see a way out, go back to the initial brief and the task your client brought in. Usually, you’ll find an answer or a hint there.
  3. See all projects through to completion. In hard times remind yourself why you got into this project and keep the goal in mind like a lighthouse in the storm.
  4. Take care of your health: sleep at night, exercise, eat well. Make 10,000 steps a day, eat fruit, vegetables, and greens, drink more water and less coffee.
  5. Be honest and frank with yourself. All problems begin with a lie.

Postscript

This year I’m going to talk to the authors, writers, and editors, even more, to fill the manifesto with new principles that I consider crucial and useful. I hope that in five years, when the fifth version of the manifesto comes out, we’ll be able to trace how the profession of the writer has changed.

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No Comments 2021 Count of views: 706

Hegarty on creativity: There are no rules

In London I bought a book by John Hegarty, an iconic British PR-manager and advertiser. The book has only 125 pages, but it’s the most captivating piece on creative thinking I’ve ever read. I ate it during my three hour flight to Moscow, and funny but literally can eat this book, 'cause it’s printed without ink.

Hegarty breaks all templates and familiar patterns that stuck in our heads, and reminds about simple truths we know, but we are too afraid to follow.

The book is written in a modern and clear language. Anyone with an intermediate level of English can easily read and understand everything Hegarty says. Here’s one of the feature quotes from the book:

Screw the rules, go hard.

The layout of the book is spectacular

I will not write a summary of the book as it’s too short. I outlined some quotes that stroke me with its power and certainty. Some of them are perfect to be typed in a beautiful font, printed and hung over your working desk.

Quotes from the book

  1. The greatest strategy you can employ is the truth. It is handy also, because you can always remember what you’ve said.
  2. When I’m asked, When do you do your best thinking? My answer is always, When I’m not thinking.
  3. When you are intent on putting a great wrong right, creativity will often exceed all expectations. Out of conflict comes purpose.
  4. Use juxtaposition.
  5. By looking in the opposite direction, you might just find something new.
  6. We must always remember technology is not an idea. It’s the means to express an idea. So under no circumstances should you become overawed by it.
  7. Don’t be afraid of technology
  8. So be careful. Don’t surround yourself with people who want to bury your ideas.
  9. The greatest creative people are great precisely because they hold on to a childlike simplicity and urge to question everything.
  10. So ask yourself. What excites me? What drives me?
  11. So take off your headphones and let the world in.
  12. Read shit, you’ll think shit and you’ll create shit. There’s no doubt you get better when you surround yourself with great things and great people.
  13. So, do respect what’s gone before. But revere it? Never.
  14. Constantly chopping and changing your speciality with hinder your success. Keep your focus!
  15. Practice only makes perfect if you make progress.
  16. Collaboration is great for sex not for creativity.
  17. Our brains still operate in an analog world.
  18. Spotting a right idea is as important as having it.
  19. Henry Ford said, “If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”.
  20. You can make your own timing.
  21. Plan on failing. But when you do, don’t dwell on it.
  22. Money doesn’t have a soul. It’s a tool not a philosophy.
  23. Don’t read anything about yourself or your work in the press.
  24. Doing something quickly is not the same as doing it well.
  25. Every McCartney needs a Lennon.
  26. Your success will, in fact, distance you from the very world that stimulated the ideas that make you successful. It will isolate you.

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No Comments 2021 Count of views: 909

What’s all the fuss about?

Hey!

My name is Evgeny. I’m an editor, writer and art director. I run a small design studio and write copies for brands. Beside that I have a few side projects of my own as this blog and my monthly newsletter about writing, management, leadership.

That’s me in Rize, Turkey

I have a Russian origin, so don’t freak out 'cause of my name. The English version of it is Eugene, and I hate it. So, when you contact me never refer to me like that, use the original version of the name. Or at least the Spanish one—Eugenio.

I grew up in Tobolsk, a small Siberian town and then moved to Tyumen, just 228 km to the south. But the weather is pretty much the same here. We have cold and snowy winters, and goddamn hot summers. Sometimes they’re so hot you wish it were a winter or at least a fall.

What is this site for?

In February I’m planning to start several projects in English:

  • Blog and personal newsletter about writing and design. I love sharing some good thoughts and notions about things and people around me.
  • Shortreads about life in Russia, stories of some Russians that touched me.

Follow this blog via RSS or subscribe to my newsletter so you don’t miss the news and updates.

I’ll finish this post with a quote of my favorite writer Ernest Hemingway.

Life should never daunt you. Never be daunted. It’s the secret of my success. I’ve never been daunted. Never been daunted in public.

Ernest Hemingway, 1899−1961

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No Comments 2021 Count of views: 660