I am trying to answer this question,
How do I live my best life in this the world’s greatest city during this climate emergency?
This blog has been my way of organising my thoughts—an evolving conversation between facts, instinct, and considered opinion. Along the way, I’ve also reflected on the production process behind this endeavour, a practice I’ve found invaluable in my career.
Now, it’s time for a change.
Going forward, I’ll be structuring my updates in two alternating reports:
What I have learnt, so far – What are my emerging answers to that organising question?
Production update – How am I getting to them?
I will publish a report every fortnight, alternating between the two topics. This is a production update.
Achievements since last update
I now have a draft strategy and plan. I see strategy as the handful of big bets that will shape the next two or three years, guiding me toward answers to my central question. A plan, on the other hand, is a set of practical initiatives over the coming year. It would be easy to overwork this document endlessly, but I am striving for “just enough.” I’m nearly there.
One of my most significant recent posts was the Barnes Triangle explanation—a piece that provides a necessary boundary, albeit a porous one. Without it, this blog risked becoming sprawling and directionless. Now, I am anchored in this corner of London, and when I step beyond it, I do so with purpose.
I am spending an average of 90 minutes every day on this blog. The output reflects this effort. The volume also reflects the product life cycle - I’m laying down a factual foundation. The more challenging output such as comments, queries and research comes later and will take more time.
Adding to this momentum, I am writing from Dallas, Texas. Maintaining discipline while travelling has been a satisfying challenge. In fact, the absence of home distractions may have made writing easier.
A few things have crystallized:
Research: I subscribe to several London-focused newsletters, which have been particularly impressive. I’ll write more about these soon.
Writing styles and story types: I now have a clearer sense of how I tell stories.
Idea management: My story pipeline is structured into three lists: the top ten current stories, the next ten, and a longer backlog. I edit this list on a near daily basis.
Photography: I’ve assembled a collection of stock images from the Barnes Triangle. You may have seen them popping up in various stories. I had about sixty in my Apple Photo collection. When those blue skies return, I will head out and capture some more images. I need more rights-free and authentic images.
The Production Toolset
Over the past month, my production tools have solidified:
Craft Documents: I started with Apple Notes, but its unreliable synchronisation forced a switch. Craft, despite requiring a subscription, has been excellent.
Speak.App: Walking stimulates my thinking, so I dictate ideas into Speak.App, use its AI to refine them, and export to Craft.
Substack: I have a deeper understanding of the platform now.
NotebookLM: This tool helps digest dense government documents and other long-form reports.
ChatGPT: I use it daily—first for basic research, then for proofreading—but I always fact-check and never publish AI-generated content verbatim. I have just started to use the Deep Research function. This is like having an editorial assistant on hand. Very impressive, so far.
Canva & Adobe Express: Both have proven useful for visual content. I am not sure how much longer I can continue with the free version of either, though.
I am still within my monthly budget forecasts. Costs so far include:
a dedicated mobile phone number
my domain, bridged2050.com
ChatGPT Plus
Carft Documents
Niggles
One unresolved question: What constitutes ‘minimum viable coverage’ in six months? I recognise gaps in climate and people stories. Addressing the climate angle is my priority for the next quarter, starting in Apri (Quarter 1). As for stories about people, ideally I want the individual in question to tell his or her own story interviews. Realistically, this won’t be a regular element until October (Quarter 3) .
I’ve also secured help setting up URL redirects to Substack.
Next four weeks
The main task ahead is to take stock of this first phase. This was an MVP or minimum viable product. Has it passed muster? If the answer is yes, do I need to change any aspect of the draft plan for the year ahead? If the answer is no, I need to plan an elegant exit.
Were I to contine, the theme of the next quarter is likely be ‘going public’. So far the only comments I have received about my work relate to a handful of Substack Notes. Thrilling and positive but still, small beer. Maybe small beer would be just fine for six months whilst I mature this blog.
The sort of changes that might happen in April include:
opening the blog to the Substack community
re-introducing Substack Notes
and introducing video posts mainly through a YouTube channel with curated playlists plus the occasional video posts
In order to understand what this might mean, I have done some preparatory work on these topics. It will involve some expense for both hardware and some software.
I am attending my first industry conference, Connected Places, admittedly virtually since I am still based in the USA.
Finally I aim to share the content model which underpins my output. I have found it useful when it comes to planning my story mix.