💜"Writing Through Resistance"💜

"All these weirdos, and me getting a little better every day right in the midst of them" - Denis Johnson. [22 June 2026]

Chasey Delaney

Jun 22, 2026

SUBTLE MINDSET CHANGES

…When Life Gets in The Way…

“If you like your newsletters without politics or preconceptions or seeking a break from the norm you may have just found your new hangout”

NOTE: THIS LETTER MAY BE TOO LONG TO SEE IT ALL IN YOUR INBOX. TO VIEW IT IN IT’S ENTIRETY YOU MAY NEED TO OPEN BROWSER OR THE APP.

Available for iOS and Android

Friday 12 June 2026- Monday 22 June 2026

Dear Chasers! 🎀

First of all I’m scarily late! I’ve not been in touch with you here for absolutely ages but I don’t just mean that aspect of it, it goes deeper than that. I’m late, late:

I’m NOT PREGNANT (phew!) that would be weird at my ripe old age of 43 I’m not cut out to be a un-yummy “GRUMMY” hahah ;) I’m not remotely interested in trying and failing to keep another human alive, I’m hardly managing to keep myself afloat. I’d never have a clue what to do, I’d obviously feed, clean, cuddle, and keep the little baby human warm. I have no natural instinct or even common sense. I wouldn’t want to be in that situation where I’d be required to do all the necessities in keeping the child comfortable and still fail because the poor little thing had an itchy back! How would I have ever known that’s why it was crying?
Last night, I was excitedly thinking about everything I want to write in my ‘Friday Night Newsletter’ then time ran away with me and it was too far into Saturday to finish, because I was knackered, let alone send out to everyone.
I’m scared that I’m late to the game to become an indie author! I’m worried I’ve left it too late to perfect my writing as a craft instead of a hobby, therapy or coping mechanism. I’m late because I’ve missed my deadline for publishing my essay collection, so now I’ve extended my release date: to be announced. The good news is that I’m buzzing to start a new project in the meantime. Might not be the greatest idea but a 'change is as good as a rest’.

What I Will Discuss in This Letter: Including personal anecdotes and any relevant tangents along the way.

Filtering Criticism By The Source

Action Creates Motivation - Not The Other Way Around

Action Is The Cure For Inaction - Sadness As A Writing Prompt

Shifting Your State to Reset - Lifting Your Mood

TAKE A BREAK FROM MUSES + Personal Update!

EXIT SONG: Homemade Chasey Music Video!

MIXTAPE: Strutting My Scruff+ (hours of music)

SIDE NOTE / DISCLAIMER:

New subscribers (welcome! xxx) you might need a little heads up that one thing that I am not good at being is concise. It takes me a while to get to the point. I’m unfortunately a bit quasi-verbose (that’s my way of saying I’m long-winded without the intellect to back me up). I try to be as informative as I can be but the most I manage to do is ‘‘spill the tea’’ and a have bit of bad banter.

I never beat around the bush, I just forget about there being a bloody bush by the time I come to the end of any exciting sentence. I usually just decide to finish with a murky ‘punchline’. I tend to stop writing when I run out of steam, so let’s see how we go, with or without, any real ‘conclusion’ at all. Never mind..

It’s my ‘ART’ which by consideration or ‘definition’ is mostly about the process and not the end product..! x

“Life is like a gym, you look to your left there will always be someone in better shape than you, look to your right and there is someone else who will die to be in your position”.

I’m slowly starting to invite more people to come and experience my writing and receive free newsletters from me. The trouble with this is that I feel very exposed as most of my letters are filled with personal information as opposed to regular news. I feel like I’m opening up my mind to strangers and that’s a very scary prospect for an introverted, otrovert* semi-recluse like me. I have about a thousand followers on my old profile, which I no longer have easy access to but my Instagram stories still get shared on there so if I wanted to ‘market’ my blog on Facebook I could do it that way, but I’m not interested in that option at all.

*Otrovert: I found a new word to describe my awkwardness! see image below:

I tend not to do that (and keep my Instagram private these days) because I don’t want friends or family or people who I simply don’t like (from the past of those I’ve forgotten) getting into my world of thoughts and feelings again. Potentially, getting upset, worried about me, or even offended by something I’ve said. I prefer my audience to be those who have no bias for or against me in particular.

I have a setting whereby I believe everybody hates me by default and it’s my choice whether or not to attempt to alter their choice of perception of me. Most of the time I feel relieved that they don’t care for me. It’s familiar and comfortable. Easy because I have not a lot to prove and nothing to lose. I feel safer being isolated in a crowd than being singled out one-on-one with someone who I would avoid in person.

My tagline is: ‘Schizophrenic writer from Manchester’ and I like it because if it wasn’t for my chronic mental illness, maybe I would never have the guts to do half of the things I do, or write half of what I have to say on a regular basis. I feel safer to be put into the categories of ‘nutter’ and ‘unreliable narrator’.

I’m scared to let people down and feel like I have already released all accountability for the outcome of my writings before anyone reads a single word of it. I need to feel like I am only accountable to myself and maybe the ‘voices in my head’ which is why it has taken me so long to write to you again.

I’m now an aspiring ‘author’ (I write and consider myself already a ‘writer’) but I have a new ambition to become a personal essayist writer and self publish some collections as paperback books.

Most writers have an inner critic in their head telling them the negative shit they don’t need to hear and hearing voices is quite similar. They trick you into trusting them because they fill your head with compliments about the work you’re doing or the length of your hair, then in a heartbeat they convince you that someone is cutting your hair off as you sleep in bed at night.

The voices present as ‘loud thoughts’ when the medication is working, but with those types of thoughts you run the risk of becoming paranoid and developing delusional ‘’beliefs’’ followed by a barrage of delusional ‘’thinking’’ - like, mind-racing thought trains. Then you can’t differentiate between the ‘loud thoughts’ (the voices) and your own real thoughts. It’s when they merge into one that the scariest experiences begin to feel ‘more real’ than reality itself.

Here’s where recognising myself a ‘real writer’ comes into play to really help me out. I can put negative noises, lets say, voices, commentary, thoughts, beliefs… into perspective as my ‘inner critic’. I can adopt the term ‘’self sabotage’’ as a logical explanation. I have learned to dismiss most of it.

The thing about auditory hallucinations is that you have to beat them at their own game. Expose them as they are, for what they say to you, the trick is not to absorb their commentary alone. They want to be heard and not seen.

I guess they are bad, or at least doing bad things to me, they make me feel inadequate, unsafe, singled out, belittled, gas lit, manipulated.. The list would go on and on. It’s like a bad person doing or saying bad things to another person would hate to see a witness to the scene.

The voices in my head want to be heard and not seen.

In writing about my personal experiences those voices get outed… Fuck ‘em!

Action doesn't just follow motivation; it creates it. We often wait for a sudden spark of inspiration to start a task, but the human brain actually works in reverse: action sparks the dopamine that drives your desire to keep going. This psychological phenomenon is known as the do-loop.

When you push yourself to take a small, manageable step—like writing one sentence or putting on your running shoes—you generate a "win." This initial success releases dopamine in your brain, which builds momentum, boosts your mood, and translates into sustained motivation.

Waiting for the perfect mindset leads to procrastination. Instead, rely on habit and structure over pure willpower. Break your goals down into tiny, low-friction tasks. By focusing on the physical execution rather than the overwhelming end goal, you trick your brain into starting.

Once you are in motion, staying in motion becomes infinitely easier.

Action is the ultimate catalyst. Don’t wait to feel like doing something; start doing it, and the motivation will naturally follow.

When I’ve been feeling a lot of heavy sadness and it has prevented me from getting things done, even such things as cleaning the house (especially those things!), or just going for a walk, or getting dressed, let alone writing or anything creative. I take myself to a comfy spot (usually the bed) and make myself cosy.

I write about each emotion as it arises, either with pen and paper or on the notes app on my phone. I find that during those sad times the mere thought of opening the Chromebook fills me with dread. Instead I try to write something small about my feelings and thoughts.

I describe them but because I am emotionally shut down or locked in and don’t want to talk (write) about anything I’m going through, I just try to use the moment to write ‘poetically. Nothing drastically enchanting mind you! Something like this (I’m actually making this up!)

“The pajama-clad aching as it hits the veiled cage enclosure that holds my dead weight heart captive, reminds me how the pain of having nobody is half as terrible as the ache of having the wrong body for a nobody man looking down on me, slipping his hairy ape-like legs back into his Only Fools and Horses boxers before throwing the towel at me - at least this time hitting the spot”. - Chasey Delaney (About As Poetic As A Fart On A Train!).