Being Present, Finding Swords, & More

Something I've been thinking about a lot recently is the balance between being focused and distracted.

As a writer, I find that being distracted is sort of a natural state. Give me a few minutes in any situation, and my mind inevitably wanders – to a story I'm writing, some aspect of a fictional world I'm trying to piece together, or some spark of an idea that could be something but isn't quite there yet.

It means that when someone's talking to me, I realise I've missed something that's been said and I need to rewind a few moments to keep on track.

But it also means, if I'm playing with my kids, that I sometimes miss a power move that one of the horses has done to take down a dinosaur, or I forget to watch the hundredth knight battle all the way to the end.

Going forward, I'm trying to remind myself to be more present in every moment – even if that means having fun in Ikea (is this possible?) instead of looking bored, or sitting down every morning to pretend my fingers are a visitor to the kids’ rapidly growing zoo. It's especially important with the kids, as Ryan Holiday keeps reminding me in his Daily Dad emails.

What's the best sword in fiction?

Earlier this week, four 1,900-year-old swords were discovered by Israeli researchers in a cave next to the Dead Sea.

First of all, if that's not the opening to a good story, I don't know what is. But secondly, it got me thinking about swords in fiction. They're a sort of iconic, fundamental element of stories.

Excalibur is probably the most obvious. A few others come to mind for me – the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII, the Sword of Gryffindor, or Anduril, the blade that Aragorn wields in The Lord of the Rings.

But at the moment, I'm most fond of Serpent-Breath, the sword that Uhtred uses in The Last Kingdom. Probably because we’ve just binged the whole series in a few weeks (better late than never).

How about you?

I found this through Dickie Bush on Twitter/X – and it feels particularly timely.

Stoicism is everywhere at the moment, to the point that it’s probably a bit cringe to quote it in many ways. But good old Epictetus knocks it out of the park with this one.

Since this newsletter marks the start of a new adventure, I have no doubt that I’ll seem both clueless and stupid from time to time. But here’s to not letting fear of looking stupid hold you back from writing on the internet, eh?

My Dad And The Toad In His Shoe by Tom Cox is one of the best things I’ve read on Substack in ages. It manages to be charming, moving, and really funny all at once, and is definitely worth a read.

Read it once to enjoy it, and a second time to appreciate just what a good storyteller Tom is. This one post masterfully combines dialogue and internal monologue to showcase his dad’s character – and the result is you feel like you’ve known him all your life.

Katherine Rundell was interviewed in the Sunday Times today, and I hope the share token works because otherwise it’s behind a paywall. If you can’t read it, reply to this email or drop a comment and I’ll send you the article.

Katherine is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. She writes in the kind of lyrical style of the bards of old, which makes her stories feel timeless. Every book of hers is something to cherish.

I hope you enjoyed 5 Things on Sunday.

If you did, please give it a ❤️ so more readers can discover the newsletter.

Ps. Could you take a moment to share this with one person you think would like it?

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