Write Now

Write Now with Chaz Hutton

How a former designer turned writing emails into a career.

Chaz Hutton
The Writing Cooperative
4 min readMar 13, 2019

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Photo courtesy of Chaz Hutton
Write Now provides a glimpse into how different people write for a living. Today's edition features Chaz Hutton, author and artist (Instachaaz, Draw You Maybe, and Mr. Whale). Order Chaz's prints.

Who are you?

I’m Chaz Hutton: A writing, drawing, professional idiot and comedy merchant. Currently aimlessly wandering around lovely Berlin.

What do you write?

My writing is… unrefined. I’ve never really learnt how to write properly and so a lot of what I write just sounds like it does when it comes out of my face. It’s presumably a nightmare for editors, and they spend most of the time constantly having to remove useless words like ‘actually’ which I use way too much.

Most of what I write leans towards comedy. I’ve written serious stuff before but I always seem to drift back to writing nonsense, which is where all the fun is at. Plus people judge comedy less than serious prose, so that’s a bonus.

I think I’ve always written stuff, but I really got into it in a big way writing internal e-mails at my old architecture job. I eventually found writing funny emails to people far more rewarding than designing buildings, and so when I got the opportunity to turn it into a full-time gig I didn’t hesitate.

As for the enjoyment factor, I loved what I do up until the point that I started doing it as a job. Now it’s no longer the fun distraction from the job but the actual job. Making jokes is a little less joyous when they have a deadline, but that said, there’s still no other job I’d rather be doing.

Where do you write?

I often write ideas and outlines and little bits that come to me while sitting at a bar. I’ll write it all down in Notes on my phone, and then once whoever I’m waiting for turns up (I’m annoying punctual) I’ll send it to myself as an email. Then, the next day I’ll sit down at a desk at home and start turning it into something. It’s a good hangover cure.

As for drawing stuff, I’m still a bit old school. I still draw everything on paper (Rhodia No18 — Blank, Orange cover) and with either a 0.2 or 0.5 Artline Drawing System pen by Shachihata. I use the the 0.5 for most of the work and then use the 0.2 for smaller details and some of the writing. Then I’ll take a photo with a phone, email it to myself and fix it all up in Photoshop.

I’ve been told I should just do it all on a tablet and save myself the effort, but I can’t seem to let go of the drawing on paper thing, it just feels right.

When do you write?

Early. Always, if I can, early. I try to get up at 5:30 or 6:00 (I’ll be honest, this doesn’t always happen, but it’s the aim) so that ideally I’m at my desk by 7:00am. Then, three hours of solid work from there. I like this time zone because procrastination feels ridiculous at this hour. The idea of watching YouTube at 8:15 am seems an even bigger waste of time than usual.

Generally I’ll write a list of stuff I need to do for the day, and then slowly just work through it. Usually its a mix of packaging and sending off some artwork, adding a few more hundred words to a book I’m trying to pull together, commission work (which is the main bread-and-butter), maybe an instagram comic or two if I’ve been lazy on that lately, etc.

Then by about 5:30pm I’m usually creatively spent, so I’ll have a hot shower and sometimes you can get another hour of work done after that because you feel a little more fresh again.

Then I’ll head to the pub and open up Notes again.

Why do you write?

The cool answer is: To make people laugh (which is partly true), the more honest answer is: Money. Man’s gotta eat, and this is the career I’ve chosen. Money is a pretty good incentive, especially when you don’t have much of it and so I tend to find I’m a lot more productive when I’m getting paid to do the work.

How do you overcome writer’s block?

There’s a great Chuck Close quote which I’m sure I’ll butcher, but something like:

“Inspiration Is for Amateurs — The Rest of Us Just Show Up and Get to Work”

I absolutely love that. To me, writers block is like the opposite of an orgasm, in that the more you think about it the more likely it is to happen. The key is to get over yourself, sit down and just write something. Doesn’t matter if it’s terrible, just sit down and start pressing keys and write something, anything. Be it good or (more likely) bad, it doesn’t matter, just write. As Chuck says: Get to Work.

Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?

If its daylight, I like to walk. Long meandering, destinationless wanderings (what the Situationists would call a Dérive) I like these because it means extended time not looking at a brightly lit screen, and it’s a great way to discover little corners of your city you may have never stumbled upon.

If it’s night, I do enjoy a beer.

Write Now is curated by Justin Cox. Want more great stories like this one delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to Justin's newsletter!

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