\u2014
Read Time: 3 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n
Hello<\/p>\n Welcome to Chapter Five of SQUAD<\/a>. Access the Locker<\/a> to read old Chapters or T\u2013S\u2013F<\/a>\u00a0to download 365<\/a> open files. (Password: topgun)<\/p>\n The title for today’s chapter is a blatant rip-off from Stephen King\u2019s book (review below). I couldn’t help myself. You’ll, and Stephen (if he were a squadron), would modestly agree, this is by far, an attempted textbook appropriation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Or in other words, borrowing a book title, worth millions of dollars in copies sold, to elevate and prime my reader\u2019s inbox experience. Is it working? Are you tickled?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Writers, copywriters and writing tools are the subjects of our talk. These essays, articles, books, works and apps have been passed down by friends, colleagues and, drum roll please, internet trolls (ahem, David).<\/p>\n As a kid, I loved reading Goosebumps (hottest book covers, ever) and comics\u2013mostly Superman, Spiderman, Chacha Chaudhary<\/a> and, my favourite, Batman. Back then, I mostly read stuff because I liked the book jacket cover art.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whoever said \u201cdon\u2019t judge a book by its cover,\u201d had no idea what they were talking about. Ask the 12-year-old me, he\u2019ll tell you the glossy emboss on the cover of Jurrasic Park by Michael Crichton<\/a> fermented my shallow, judgemental and pretentious general attitude towards books and life in general.\u00a0<\/p>\n A bit of a stretch there. Coming back now. I was kidding. Ok, seriously now. Twenty-two years later, I find out the cover was designed by Chip Kidd. Watch his Ted Talk.<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Even today, the smell of printed books (or petrol or wet cement or wet armpits)\u2013type, chemicals, ink and paper\u00a0never fail to disappoint my addiction.<\/p>\n Writers<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n \u261e\u00a0The Case of The Four And Twenty Blackbirds<\/a> by Neil Gaiman (A short story)<\/p>\n \u261e\u00a0The Internet Is A Playground<\/a> by David Thorne (27bslash6<\/a>) is a\u00a0compilation\u00a0of email conversations\u2013you’ll piss in your pants funny, promise.<\/p>\n \u261e\u00a0Neil French<\/a>, a copywriter, is one of my biggest inspiration from advertising. His long copy ads are such a treat. \u00a0 Pocket Novels<\/u><\/strong> \u261e\u00a0Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite<\/a> by Paul Arden debunks conventional wisdom in bold\u00a0typography.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reviews<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n \u261e\u00a0On Writing<\/a> by Stephen King<\/p>\n \u261e\u00a0Blink<\/a> by Malcolm Gladwell<\/p>\n \u261e\u00a0Why Men Lie And Women Cry<\/a> by Allan & Barbara<\/p>\n \u261e Ommwriter<\/a> \u2013 No more distractions.<\/p>\n \u261e Grammarly<\/a> \u2013 English professor.<\/p>\n \u261e Hemingway<\/a> \u2013 Write sharp shit.<\/p>\n \u261e\u00a0F.lux<\/a> \u2013 Yoga for eyes.<\/p>\n \u261e Noizio<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Cafe ambience\u00a0anywhere.<\/p>\n I would love to hear\u00a0your recommendations on books, essays, blogs, writers and apps. No poems, please.<\/p>\n Share your views on today’s Chapter either by replying to this email or\u00a0tweeting me<\/a>. Always happy to improve, learn and answer your questions.<\/p>\n Have a happy week!<\/p>\n Yours truly, TWITTER<\/a>\u2014INSTAGRAM<\/a>\u2014MEDIUM<\/a>\u2014OFFICE<\/a>\u2014ELLO<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Paul Syng’s SQUAD \u265b Chapter Five On\u00a0Writing \u2014 Read Time: 3 minutes Hello Welcome to Chapter Five of SQUAD. Access the Locker to read old Chapters or T\u2013S\u2013F\u00a0to download 365 open files. (Password: topgun) The title for today’s chapter is a blatant rip-off from Stephen King\u2019s book (review below). I couldn’t help myself. You’ll, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-digest-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90005\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/413394af-9aab-4f61-a053-8d70e5e27348-scaled.jpg\")
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\u261e\u00a0Write Like You Talk<\/a> by Paul Graham (A blog post)
\u261e\u00a0The Element<\/a> by Sir Ken Robinson\u00a0(If you need help figuring out your passion\u2013the why\u2013 in life)<\/p>\n
\u261e\u00a0The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time<\/a> by Mark Haddon is story narrated by an autistic kid. I’ve already said too much.<\/p>\n\n
Apps<\/strong><\/u> (explained in 3 words or less)
\n<\/h2>\n
Paul Syng<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paulsyng.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/8dbc5fef-bd62-48af-9de2-31f8b887f614.jpg\")
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