Pete's October 2024 update
The fermenting mentor writes about memories.
I moved to Melbourne and embraced the cliche. That’s right, y’all: I made kombucha. Bought a starter from a place called The Fermentary and ferried it home nestled in the cup-holder of my electric car. Brewed up some loose-leaf tea, organic sugar, and filtered tap water. Let it all steep in a mason jar covered with a cotton tea towel held on with an elastic band saved from a bunch of asparagus spears. Flavoured it with grapefruit direct from the grower at the farmers market, and made another with ginger and turmeric from the organic wholefood store. And you know what? It was friggin’ delicious. Would do again. (Have to, in fact: that starter needs constant feeding.)
Melbourne is great. We’ve barely scratched the surface and found things here that make us happy.
It feels like ages ago but it was just this month that I: troubleshot a plumbing issue and fixed my broken shower; installed a clothesline; installed another 2 IKEA wardrobes; been up into the ceiling and on the roof.
I’ve put in a few applications for jobs here that look interesting. The hunt is making me think (again) about what I want to do, and whether it’s time for a step in a different direction. Or at least a parallel track. Investment? Commercialisation maybe? Or going deeper into a Strategy, Operations or Product specialisation. I love working with founders, though, so the “portfolio career” is also a real possibility and I’m keeping fractional and part-time options on the table.
Startups and Coaching
I finally made it (to a Blackbird office). I started mentoring in the Blackbird “Giants in Residence” startup mentoring program back in lockdown days—I think it was late 2020? I mentored a few cohorts, took a break from it. They just kicked off Cohort 8 so I signed up again. And this time around they held an in-person speed mentoring session. Saw the space, had some chats, took a selfie.
I did a guest lecture for Uni of Sydney undergrads, brushing off my presentation on startup pitching. It was weird being on Zoom delivering a session to people in a lecture theatre but they were really great and shared some awesome insights from it at the end.
It’s been an interesting month of startup mentoring. Talking a lot about capital, and the sequencing and strategies to get it. A lot of these startups have self-funded and invested a decent chunk to get to their current stage. They’re good companies solving real problems. But that doesn’t mean they’ll get funding. It’s a bizarre industry. Meanwhile:
Got some stellar feedback on a leadership session I ran for Scalable Leaders: 🥰
Do you know any emerging tech leaders who could use some professional development? Or senior leaders who want to grow and scale their teams? I’d love to tell them about Scalable Leaders. 😉
Fiction
Getting back into the practices of writing and submitting stories. This month I clocked up my 70th lifetime Rejection, logging my 35th R of the year in October—just ahead of last year’s tally (34), despite the shitshow that was the first half of 2024. 🦾
I’ll be short of my original goal of 100 submissions, but if I can get above 50 submissions in 2024 I’ll be happy. (Currently at 43 subs in 2024, vs 38 total in 2023.)
Right now I’m trying to finish a story that’s pushing me out of my comfort zone. It’s less “voice”-driven than I usually write. It’s probably, I’ve just realised, my first attempt to write a proper, serious sci-fi story.
Open browser tabs: kayfabe, trammel, tilting at windmills, Charlotte’s Web, “how to give directions terminology etymology”.
Inside glimpse: here’s an automated response email I got today when I submitted a story.
Because of the volume of submissions, it may take a while for you to hear back from us. We will do our very best to respond in six to eight months.
6-8 months. 🧟
Nutmeg
Nutmeg had a horrible test run on a new drug, which made her swing between agitated and sleepy and restless. She settled as soon as we dropped it. The difference in temperament was wild.
Read / watch / listen
[Read: 5 minutes] I wrote about science fiction stories dealing with memory, for my Spec Recs newsletter.
[Watch: 7 minutes] How to write emails like a white lady is self-aware and probably pretty good advice. I have no idea of the context — why is this presentation being given to a small group in a living room, sitting in a vague space between scripted comedy and unscripted reality content? I don’t know. Maybe this channel is a youtube content juggernaut that I’m only just being
targeted byexposed to. 🤷♀️[Watch: 6 minutes] Designing the perfect wish to outsmart a genie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any genie content. How long until we see this on Linkedin with a deep thought about ChatGPT?
[Watch/listen: 4 minutes] When Travis covered Baby One More Time, they stripped the poppy production away to expose a really well-written song. When Alex Melton covers songs he saturates them in emo rock cliches, and whether or not it survives depends on the strength of the original songwriting. Coldplay’s Yellow holds up; Fix You fares less well.
Want more covers of songs I grew up with?
King Stingray doing Yellow
Middle Kids doing Champagne Supernova
SAFIA doing White Flag
Do you like scary stories? 😱
Horror Lite short story collections. (I have a story in “Peculiar Pets”)
“What does the process look like before that big pitch?” — me, hinting at something I hope to announce in the next newsletter…
Thanks for the link to Peculiar Pets at the bottom! I love following your journey. And hope your pup is back to normal.