Introducing: Headless Friends
People who have been paying me to write things for 10 years now. Even a decade in, I still feel slightly stunned that journalism has become such a big part of my career. This was never the plan.
At school, I did well in English but Art & Design was always my stand-out subject. No one was shocked when I went on to study Graphic Design at college, however, some people were quite surprised when my applications to study at art school were all rejected two years later.
This was my second attempt at applying to art school and the rejection stung twice as much. To give my wounded ego some time to recover, I took a break from making art. However, I was keen to stay connected to the creative industry I was still desperate to one day break into. And so, I started writing.
I was 19 when I first got paid to write (after lots of unpaid writing work for publications which I now have mixed feelings about). Back then, I wrote solely about graphic art and illustration; disciplines which I had an immense amount of passion for but, in hindsight, knew very little about. Confused about my sexuality and plagued with anxiety, I didn’t dare to write anything more personal. I was on the brink of discovering the language I needed to discuss how I felt with other people, and it would be a few more years until I felt comfortable enough to put these words down on paper.
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Well-written articles and well-told stories have helped me feel less isolated while developing an understanding of my queerness and mental health. I want to emulate that in my writing.
Fast forward ten years, and I feel like an entirely different person to the boy who was so excited by his first-ever (underpaid) writing commission. Of course, you should feel different in your late twenties compared to the final year of your teens (if you don’t, something has gone wrong).
I am now an openly gay, proudly queer man who is always up for a chat about how strange our brains can be. I live in a city I hadn’t even visited a decade ago and I run my own creative studio which back then felt like a pipe dream.
My focus as a journalist has shifted massively too. I used to be concerned solely with the things which people made but am now much more interested in the people who make them. Well-written articles and well-told stories have helped me feel less isolated while developing an understanding of my queerness and mental health. I want to emulate that in my writing.
So, after a decade of writing, what’s next? Now feels like the perfect time to begin a new project I can pour all of my skill and passion into…
Introducing Headless Friends, a brand-new online journal produced by Headless Greg (that’s me!). New issues will be released once a quarter, be completely free to read and centre around a different theme each time.
Headless Friends will explore the intersections of creativity, queer culture and mental health. It will be a space where my friends and I can celebrate and chat with one another, discussing the topics which are closest to our hearts - just as we do in real life.
Expect open, friendly conversations about how creativity can be used to communicate feelings and celebrate cultures; how strangely common it is to struggle to understand your brain; how complicated but f*cking brilliant it is to be queer; and how all of these things come together to make us who we are.
The first collection of articles is ready to read right now! You can explore The Adventure Issue here.