If you want to be creative you need to learn how to disconnect from the world.

Hey — it’s Payton.

“Creativity is about connection.”

…said artist and author Austin Kleon.

“You must be connected to others in order to be inspired and share your own work — but it is also about disconnection. You must retreat from the from the world long enough to think, practice your art, and bring forth something worth sharing with others. You must play a little hide-and-seek in order to produce something forth being found.”

I’ve been working unsustainably hard to launch my new side-hustle Very Good Ghost. It’s a ghosting writing business that puts me in the room with Christian founders and c-suite executives.

It’s rad.

But it’s exhausting.

I say all that to say this: find something you love doing and work really hard at it. But then work even harder to step away from it at times to rest.

You’ll thank me later, my body, mind, heart whisper to me as I wrap up this newsletter and turn off my computer for the weekend.

Write on 🤙

Payton

Payton’s Picks

🧠 Tactic: Notion has grown on me over the last couple months. I’ve been maintaining my client’s Project Dashboard in there, along with my personal story drafts. Anyone have a killer Notion template they think dominates all the others?

✍️ Quote: “Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous," meaning it’s better to break all the rules than write something poorly.

Or, in the modern tongue, “It’s better to write something poorly than to write with AI.” 

📚 Book: Traction by Gino Wickman. I haven’t read it, but it’s been recommended to me about 10 times now and it’s finally on my weekend reading list. Any thoughts?

📈 Post: This post seem to sum up today’s letter.

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When you’re ready to go deeper, here are two ways I can help:

✍️ Write with Very Good Ghost

I help Christian CEOs, founders, and thought leaders turn their message and experience into compelling, high-impact content. If you need clear, story-driven writing for your emails, brand, or newsletter — Very Good Ghost is where I do that work.

📥 Steal My 7 Magnetic Story Templates

These are the story frameworks I’ve studied, tested, and now use everywhere — from emails to landing pages to sermons. I want you writing stories so good your friend forwards it… not realizing you wrote it.

→ Download the 7 Templates