What do you want to escape from?

When you saw the title of this newsletter, something made you want to learn more. What was it? What is it that you are desperate to escape from?

What is keeping you from living the life you want?

My name is Jason McBride, and more than fourteen years ago, I wanted to escape a job that was killing me. Now, I’m working to escape something else entirely.

Back then, I was a lawyer. Every day before work, I threw up. Then, because of a perfect storm of circumstances, including my nervous breakdown, the five-attorney firm I had founded and built blew up into a spectacular failure.

That’s when I began phase two of my career. I became a freelance copywriter. I became very good at it. I built a successful copywriting business where I earned a full-time income in very part-time hours while I cared for my four children.

Over the past fourteen years, I’ve tried just about every side hustle you can imagine. Along the way, I’ve had some big successes and a lot of failures.

Today, I make a living through a combination of freelance work as a creative brainstormer, copywriter, illustrator, and book designer, and through my work as a poet-cartoonist, creator of illustrated essays, and author of seven books.

I’m building an anti-capitalist indie press that’s more punk rock than boardroom.

I’m sharing my journey, complete with lots of failures, to show you what is possible when you choose to use trial and error to build a creative life.

Let’s escape together!

I’m not a guru. I don’t have all the answers. I am a fifty-year-old dude who has been self-employed almost my entire life.

I’m someone who doesn’t believe in the hustle-and-grind lifestyle. I have no interest in using AI to make passive income.

My goal is to make enough money so that I can keep making my weird poetry comics. I’ve been pretty good at that. I want to show you everything I have learned, including all of my failures. I also want to show you what I’m currently learning.

Here you will find the inspiration and motivation you need each week to keep creating a life that gives you enough space to make cool shit. You will also find strategies for overcoming your creative blocks and business obstacles that keep you stuck.

I don’t have all the answers, but I’m great at figuring out what the right questions are.

If you want to escape the rat race, if you want to create a future where you have time to live your life and make your art, this is the perfect place for you.

Newsletter details

Escape Motivation is a division of Weirdo Poetry, my indie publishing imprint.

I also run the Weirdo Poetry newsletter, which is all about creative experimentation.

I do not paywall any posts on this newsletter.

I publish across several platforms including Substack, Medium, YouTube, and my blog. Each Sunday I send out a digest with paywall-free links to everything I’ve published in the past seven days. When you sign up for the digest, you also get a free ebook. Click here to learn more.

How to support me

You can support me by becoming a paid subscriber to either one of my Substack newsletters. You can also buy my books (available most places books are sold or directly through my Weirdo Poetry Shop) or leave a tip on my tip page. Paid newsletter subscribers get discount codes for free ebook versions of my work and are the first ones to hear about special sales on my physical books.