The holiday gloaming.

There's a particular feeling that arrives every July, just before a summer holiday. The holiday gloaming, I've taken to calling it. That half-lit stretch where you're technically still working (probably too much, in order to tie things away) but your attention is prone to wandering off toward the vacation you haven't taken yet. Not quite here, not quite there. I'm writing to you from somewhere in that stretch.

The biggest news round here lately is that my musical project, Preslav Literary School (which is neither Bulgarian, not literary, nor indeed an educational establishment) has manifested a new record.

ASTRAL TOURISM will be out on all streaming platforms this Thursday 16th July. If you are so inclined, you can RSVP for the listening party (online, Wed 15/07, 7pm Berlin) and come chat with fellow fans and, er, me.

Or, if you are like really inclined, you can pre-order the album now. Use the code pinned at checkout for a 25% subscriber discount; you'll get a digital copy immediately.

In other news:

• October 25th 2026: I'll be speaking at The Power of Storytelling in Timișoara, Romania. PoS is a gathering built on the idea that well-crafted stories can bridge divides, inspire action, and create change and it's basically my favourite event. Buy tickets here.
• I'm just wrapping up my current engagement with Report for the World, a global majority nonprofit doing stellar work matching community newsrooms with world class journalistic talent and innovation support. I've loved my work there as an in-house strategy advisor, I'm sure we'll be doing more together soon.
• YouTube is going well at the minute. Despite not posting much, the algorithmic gods have turned some favour in my direction. My How living abroad rewires your brain video now has 30k views. 700 hours of career coaching in 17 minutes and How to start a business when you have too many interests have both started to pick up too. One thing I'm learning: YouTube is a really wholesome place for a channel like mine. The comments are just such a heartwarming place to be. It's like a slice of 2007 internet.
• Over at Theory of Change, I wrote some pieces I'm really proud of about leading a "multipath" life, the blessing/curse of being a "parentpreneur", and the wondrous world of the "adjacent possible."

I've plans to consolidate a lot of my work into one space in the near future. There's an increasing amount of overlap in my thinking, writing, coaching, advising, filmmaking and (perhaps to a lesser extent) my music. It's confusing the hell out of me to have all this stuff in silos, and it's probably confusing other people too.

And that, I think, is the shape of the gloaming this time round, situated as we are, here in 2026. I'm not actually stalling per se, but experiencing a kind of creative accumulation, everything sitting close enough together that a pattern is starting to show through. The holiday will come, of course. And so too, again, will the work.

In the meantime, thanks for being here.

/A