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McKinley Valentine

Writer, editor & researcher



A newsletter for the terminally curious

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The Whippet is a free
fortnightly collection of science, history, language and weirdness.

Featured on Inside Hook's The 80 Best Single-Operator Newsletters on the Internet


Television

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Hard Quiz  
(2016- )

Watch on iview

Tom Gleeson on Hard Quiz
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WTFAQ
(2023- )

Presenters Lawrence Leung, Kirsten Drysdale, Chas Licciardello

Copywriting & Comms

Writing, Editing & Proofreading

I have over a decade’s experience creating effective communications for business and government, with a focus on accessibility and plain language.

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Workshops & Coaching

  • Newsletters

  • Content writing

  • Business writing

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Podcast Guest Appearances

Cool Tools
Kevin Kelly & Mark Frauenfelder

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Cool Tools: Kevin Kelly and Mark Frauenfelder talk to a guest about some of their favorite uncommon and uncommonly good tools they think others should know about.

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Text version

2 Pages
Michael Bungay-Smith

Podcast banner: McKinley Valentine on 2 pages

McKinley Valentine reading from David Robson’s The Expectation Effect, and discussing understanding and utilising your mental resources.

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with Angus Hervey (Future Crunch)

The First Time Podcast: Conversations with Friends

Two of the internet's favourite newsletter-writers geek out about craft.

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Noè Harsel

Why Write?

Short-form podcast.
One writer, one question.
Why does McKinley Valentine write?

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Katherine Collette

Darebin FUSE

Newsletters as a medium, writing as a companion, and tips for starting your own newsletter.

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Selected Articles

Chronos vs Kairos
Understanding how the Ancient Greeks viewed time will make your life richer


Are You an “Interviewer” or a “Volunteer”?
How to salvage awkward social situations by understanding conversation styles


Your Articles Aren’t Getting RT’d Because Twitter Hates External Links
It's not you, it's them


The situation for Chin State refugees fleeing Myanmar
If you landed in a foreign country with no documentation, could you prove who you are? How would you do it?


Body-doubling: The ADHD-management technique that can work for anyone
Do you struggle to get started on tasks at home or work?


The Psychological Principles That Make Kanbans So Powerful
and applying them to your productivity system of choice


Quit Your Phone Addiction Using the Methods That Work for Smokers
They're the experts in addiction!
It makes sense!

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Unsolicited Advice

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An advice column that cuts out the middleman

Why wait for readers to ask questions before suggesting solutions?

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Fiction

Fantasy Magazine

Illustration of a cat sprawled across spellbooks

"The Code for Everything"
McKinley Valentine

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Contact Me

(Don't worry, I do actually read these.)

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Copywriting
Editing
& Proofreading

Clients include:

  • Federal Government (DFAT, DPMC)

  • Victorian Government (DPC, formerly-DELWP, formerly-DEDJTR)

  • WorkSafe

  • VicHealth

  • Development Victoria

  • PricewaterhouseCoopers

  • Strategic design consultancies (Paper Giant, Today)

  • Phoenix Australia Centre for Posttraumatic Health

  • European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI)

  • Monash University Publishing

  • Hyphen Books

  • Uro Media

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Privacy Policy

This website does not track you or harvest your data in any way. It's compliant with compliant with GDPR, PIPEDA, CalOPPA, etc.

If you use the 'Contact' form, I'll see your email address and whatever name you input. I won't use that email address to sell you spam or pass it on to anyone else.

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Below Radar: A community for business owners and freelancers who don’t want to rely on Facebook, Google or marketing techniques that fuel surveillance capitalism.

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