Paul W B Marsden
@paulwbmarsden.bsky.social
Author of award winning George Orwell novel, ‘Darkness in 1984.’ Dad to 3.
Standing up to fascism, billionaires & mad dog MAGA-ites.
Champion for a sustainable way of life, embracing diversity & respecting Nature.
Former UK Member of Parliament
Standing up to fascism, billionaires & mad dog MAGA-ites.
Champion for a sustainable way of life, embracing diversity & respecting Nature.
Former UK Member of Parliament
I was a fool in love.
Twice.
Once in a sour marriage
and once in a miracle
I couldn’t hold.
Two lives,
two abandonments,
and the same man
at the centre of both —
bleeding,
bewildered,
bare.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Twice.
Once in a sour marriage
and once in a miracle
I couldn’t hold.
Two lives,
two abandonments,
and the same man
at the centre of both —
bleeding,
bewildered,
bare.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
December 3, 2025 at 7:37 PM
I was a fool in love.
Twice.
Once in a sour marriage
and once in a miracle
I couldn’t hold.
Two lives,
two abandonments,
and the same man
at the centre of both —
bleeding,
bewildered,
bare.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Twice.
Once in a sour marriage
and once in a miracle
I couldn’t hold.
Two lives,
two abandonments,
and the same man
at the centre of both —
bleeding,
bewildered,
bare.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
A sharp honourable journalist and a fine editor. But most of all a decent human being that I knew and respected.
Andreas - thank you and you are remembered.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Andreas - thank you and you are remembered.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of the Independent, dies aged 88
Journalist and editor also led British Board of Film Classification and served as senior lay member of the Church of England
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:29 PM
A sharp honourable journalist and a fine editor. But most of all a decent human being that I knew and respected.
Andreas - thank you and you are remembered.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Andreas - thank you and you are remembered.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Wake up to the Nature inside of you.
Trees have been our homes, fire warming fuel for food and our friends that we walk amongst for millions of years.
Treasure the trees and feel their love.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Trees have been our homes, fire warming fuel for food and our friends that we walk amongst for millions of years.
Treasure the trees and feel their love.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
The Philosophy of Trees
How walking among them restores the mind
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Wake up to the Nature inside of you.
Trees have been our homes, fire warming fuel for food and our friends that we walk amongst for millions of years.
Treasure the trees and feel their love.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Trees have been our homes, fire warming fuel for food and our friends that we walk amongst for millions of years.
Treasure the trees and feel their love.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
What my mum taught me about women, I let slip, and then rediscovered.
Now I humbled try and be better.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Now I humbled try and be better.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
The Silence They Forced on Women, and the Words That Survived
How the world undervalued women writers and why we must never repeat the silence
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:50 AM
What my mum taught me about women, I let slip, and then rediscovered.
Now I humbled try and be better.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Now I humbled try and be better.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Out jogging this morning for second time this week and second time in nearly 5 years!
Feels so good for the rest of the day!
Found a golf ball in the middle of a field and felt it was a good sign!
Why?
Click and find out.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Feels so good for the rest of the day!
Found a golf ball in the middle of a field and felt it was a good sign!
Why?
Click and find out.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
The Found Ball
Two days ago—and again today,
open.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Out jogging this morning for second time this week and second time in nearly 5 years!
Feels so good for the rest of the day!
Found a golf ball in the middle of a field and felt it was a good sign!
Why?
Click and find out.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Feels so good for the rest of the day!
Found a golf ball in the middle of a field and felt it was a good sign!
Why?
Click and find out.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Reposted by Paul W B Marsden
I can’t run anymore but I dream of my marathon races.
#PaulWBMarsden #Marathon #Pain
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
#PaulWBMarsden #Marathon #Pain
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
I can’t run anymore but I remember my marathon races
Some days I struggle to walk from pains that swirl around my body at the speed of sound, from centre of my lower back, to left side below rib cage, to right hip, to right shoulder, and down into my ba...
open.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 10:34 AM
I can’t run anymore but I dream of my marathon races.
#PaulWBMarsden #Marathon #Pain
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
#PaulWBMarsden #Marathon #Pain
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Reposted by Paul W B Marsden
Childhood adventures, aged 6, to Mr Scully’s Sweetshop in my hometown of Frodsham in 1974.
Liquorice sticks, Love Hearts, candied mice, gobstoppers, flying saucers and Black Jacks.
#PaulWBMarsden #Sweets #1970’s
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Liquorice sticks, Love Hearts, candied mice, gobstoppers, flying saucers and Black Jacks.
#PaulWBMarsden #Sweets #1970’s
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Sweet adventures in 1974
My mum and dad didn’t have much money when I was growing up in the late sixties and seventies.
open.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Childhood adventures, aged 6, to Mr Scully’s Sweetshop in my hometown of Frodsham in 1974.
Liquorice sticks, Love Hearts, candied mice, gobstoppers, flying saucers and Black Jacks.
#PaulWBMarsden #Sweets #1970’s
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Liquorice sticks, Love Hearts, candied mice, gobstoppers, flying saucers and Black Jacks.
#PaulWBMarsden #Sweets #1970’s
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Reposted by Paul W B Marsden
A Journal Is the Only Memory You Can Control
Writing to release, stimulate and record your feelings
#Journalling #Writing
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Writing to release, stimulate and record your feelings
#Journalling #Writing
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Your Future Self Is Begging You to Keep a Journal
Thanks to @Seastar I noted down why I keep a journal.
open.substack.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:10 AM
A Journal Is the Only Memory You Can Control
Writing to release, stimulate and record your feelings
#Journalling #Writing
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Writing to release, stimulate and record your feelings
#Journalling #Writing
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Reposted by Paul W B Marsden
On Substack I kept pumping content out and… nothing much happened.
The breakthrough wasn’t “more posts” — it was turning up with intent.
Result: from 42 → 170 subscribers in 4 weeks — a 400% increase.
No tricks.
Just consistent, human connection.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
The breakthrough wasn’t “more posts” — it was turning up with intent.
Result: from 42 → 170 subscribers in 4 weeks — a 400% increase.
No tricks.
Just consistent, human connection.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Show Up, Don’t Shout — The 2-Hour Routine That Grew My Substack 400% in 4 Weeks
I am a historical fiction author of books—George Orwell novel, Darkness in 1984, and Ernest Hemingway novel, Making A Moveable Feast—all based on true events.
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:56 PM
On Substack I kept pumping content out and… nothing much happened.
The breakthrough wasn’t “more posts” — it was turning up with intent.
Result: from 42 → 170 subscribers in 4 weeks — a 400% increase.
No tricks.
Just consistent, human connection.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
The breakthrough wasn’t “more posts” — it was turning up with intent.
Result: from 42 → 170 subscribers in 4 weeks — a 400% increase.
No tricks.
Just consistent, human connection.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Reposted by Paul W B Marsden
In a busy café last year, an elderly lady and her white terrier made me feel so good about writing.
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
When the World Tilts: Use Writing as Your Compass in Uncertain Times
What if the very act of writing were not escape but actually orientation in your life?
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:59 AM
In a busy café last year, an elderly lady and her white terrier made me feel so good about writing.
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
In a busy café last year, an elderly lady and her white terrier made me feel so good about writing.
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
When the World Tilts: Use Writing as Your Compass in Uncertain Times
What if the very act of writing were not escape but actually orientation in your life?
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:59 AM
In a busy café last year, an elderly lady and her white terrier made me feel so good about writing.
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Writing gives you a sense of control in life.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Reposted by Paul W B Marsden
After 23 days on the frontline, a Ukrainian soldier sent his wife sunflowers from the Donetsk region🌻
True love overcomes distance and other challenges
💙💛
👇
True love overcomes distance and other challenges
💙💛
👇
November 3, 2025 at 3:10 PM
After 23 days on the frontline, a Ukrainian soldier sent his wife sunflowers from the Donetsk region🌻
True love overcomes distance and other challenges
💙💛
👇
True love overcomes distance and other challenges
💙💛
👇
The moment Every Writer Both Dreads—and Dreams of!
First serious book review of my George Orwell novel, Darkness was in 1984.
Discover my good news and take heart if you are publishing your first book.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
First serious book review of my George Orwell novel, Darkness was in 1984.
Discover my good news and take heart if you are publishing your first book.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
✍️The Moment Every Writer Both Dreads—and Dreams Of! First book review for my George Orwell novel, Darkness in 1984
Every writer waits, fearful and hopeful, for that first serious book review.
open.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The moment Every Writer Both Dreads—and Dreams of!
First serious book review of my George Orwell novel, Darkness was in 1984.
Discover my good news and take heart if you are publishing your first book.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
First serious book review of my George Orwell novel, Darkness was in 1984.
Discover my good news and take heart if you are publishing your first book.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
What if John Keats didn’t die in Rome in 1821, but travelled to Greece and, in good health, wrote new sonnets?
Here are my imagined The Greek Sonnets.
My humble birthday present to John Keats on 31 October - 230th anniversary of his birth!
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Here are my imagined The Greek Sonnets.
My humble birthday present to John Keats on 31 October - 230th anniversary of his birth!
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
✍️ The Lost Greek Sonnets of John Keats
My Humble to You of an Offering of Beauty Reborn.
open.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:14 PM
What if John Keats didn’t die in Rome in 1821, but travelled to Greece and, in good health, wrote new sonnets?
Here are my imagined The Greek Sonnets.
My humble birthday present to John Keats on 31 October - 230th anniversary of his birth!
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Here are my imagined The Greek Sonnets.
My humble birthday present to John Keats on 31 October - 230th anniversary of his birth!
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Happy Birthday John Keats!
Born 230 years ago today.
He changed poetry forever with his emotional honesty and love of Beauty.
Keats argued that life’s suffering and experience are necessary because they form our soul.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Born 230 years ago today.
He changed poetry forever with his emotional honesty and love of Beauty.
Keats argued that life’s suffering and experience are necessary because they form our soul.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
✍️ John Keats birthday: Few Lives End so Soon — and yet Echo so Long.
Happy Birthday!
open.substack.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Happy Birthday John Keats!
Born 230 years ago today.
He changed poetry forever with his emotional honesty and love of Beauty.
Keats argued that life’s suffering and experience are necessary because they form our soul.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Born 230 years ago today.
He changed poetry forever with his emotional honesty and love of Beauty.
Keats argued that life’s suffering and experience are necessary because they form our soul.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Apparently asking nicely didn’t work.
The rogue Royal is out.
#PrinceAndrew
apnews.com/article/king...
The rogue Royal is out.
#PrinceAndrew
apnews.com/article/king...
King Charles III will evict Prince Andrew from his royal residence and strip his titles, palace says
Buckingham Palace says that King Charles III is stripping his brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicting him from his royal residence.
apnews.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Apparently asking nicely didn’t work.
The rogue Royal is out.
#PrinceAndrew
apnews.com/article/king...
The rogue Royal is out.
#PrinceAndrew
apnews.com/article/king...
2080:
If you finds this place when I’m gone, I want them to know we tried again.
That one of us, at least, remembered.
We were never meant to rule the earth.
We were meant to tend it.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
If you finds this place when I’m gone, I want them to know we tried again.
That one of us, at least, remembered.
We were never meant to rule the earth.
We were meant to tend it.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
✍️ 2080: The Garden at the End of the World
Devon, UK — Sunday, 17 May 2080, 10:45am
open.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:37 PM
2080:
If you finds this place when I’m gone, I want them to know we tried again.
That one of us, at least, remembered.
We were never meant to rule the earth.
We were meant to tend it.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
If you finds this place when I’m gone, I want them to know we tried again.
That one of us, at least, remembered.
We were never meant to rule the earth.
We were meant to tend it.
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Tomorrow is John Keats’ birthday.
Celebrate Beauty’s resistance!
#JohnKeats #Endymion #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Celebrate Beauty’s resistance!
#JohnKeats #Endymion #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Countdown - Tomorrow is John Keats’ birthday! - 31 October
Thursday, 30 October (Birthday Eve)
open.substack.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Tomorrow is John Keats’ birthday.
Celebrate Beauty’s resistance!
#JohnKeats #Endymion #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Celebrate Beauty’s resistance!
#JohnKeats #Endymion #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Over the past few weeks, thousands of readers have joined my Historical Fiction Masterclass for novelists — a six-part exploration of how to make the past speak again.
Here’s the full series.
#HistoricalFiction #WritingTips #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Here’s the full series.
#HistoricalFiction #WritingTips #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
✍️ The Historical Fiction Masterclass 2025 — A Journey Through Time and Craft
Every great historical novel begins not with a plot — but with an act of resurrection.
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Over the past few weeks, thousands of readers have joined my Historical Fiction Masterclass for novelists — a six-part exploration of how to make the past speak again.
Here’s the full series.
#HistoricalFiction #WritingTips #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Here’s the full series.
#HistoricalFiction #WritingTips #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Denis Diderot was imprisoned in Vincennes in 1749 but the tyrant king could not stop his free thoughts.
A lesson for us with the monster, Trump.
“They may chain me, but they cannot prevent my thoughts from travelling.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
#Diderot #FreedomOfSpeech #WritersInPrison
A lesson for us with the monster, Trump.
“They may chain me, but they cannot prevent my thoughts from travelling.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
#Diderot #FreedomOfSpeech #WritersInPrison
✍️ The Philosopher in the Prison Cell
Vincennes Fortress — Monday, 31 July 1749
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Denis Diderot was imprisoned in Vincennes in 1749 but the tyrant king could not stop his free thoughts.
A lesson for us with the monster, Trump.
“They may chain me, but they cannot prevent my thoughts from travelling.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
#Diderot #FreedomOfSpeech #WritersInPrison
A lesson for us with the monster, Trump.
“They may chain me, but they cannot prevent my thoughts from travelling.”
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
#Diderot #FreedomOfSpeech #WritersInPrison
Countdown to Keats’ birthday!
2 days to go.
For him, imagination and affection were sacred in ways of perceiving truth deeper than logic or creed.
His moral vision still humbles ours.
#JohnKeats #KeatsLetters #Romanticism
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
2 days to go.
For him, imagination and affection were sacred in ways of perceiving truth deeper than logic or creed.
His moral vision still humbles ours.
#JohnKeats #KeatsLetters #Romanticism
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Countdown - 2 days to John Keats’ birthday - 31 October
✍️ Wednesday, 29 October
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Countdown to Keats’ birthday!
2 days to go.
For him, imagination and affection were sacred in ways of perceiving truth deeper than logic or creed.
His moral vision still humbles ours.
#JohnKeats #KeatsLetters #Romanticism
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
2 days to go.
For him, imagination and affection were sacred in ways of perceiving truth deeper than logic or creed.
His moral vision still humbles ours.
#JohnKeats #KeatsLetters #Romanticism
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
✍️ The Night Rousseau Walked Out
Paris — Tuesday night, 8 June 1762, 9pm
His book—Émile—had been condemned and burned.
So Jean-Jacques Rousseau did what few writers have ever dared:
he left Paris on foot, under cover of darkness
#JeanJacquesRousseau #Philosophy
substack.com/@paulwbmarsd...
Paris — Tuesday night, 8 June 1762, 9pm
His book—Émile—had been condemned and burned.
So Jean-Jacques Rousseau did what few writers have ever dared:
he left Paris on foot, under cover of darkness
#JeanJacquesRousseau #Philosophy
substack.com/@paulwbmarsd...
Paul W. B. Marsden (@paulwbmarsden)
✍️ The Night Rousseau Walked Out
Paris — Tuesday night, 8 June 1762, 9pm
A warrant for Rousseau’s arrest lay on a magistrate’s desk.
His book—Émile—had been condemned and burned.
So Jean-Jacques R...
substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:13 PM
✍️ The Night Rousseau Walked Out
Paris — Tuesday night, 8 June 1762, 9pm
His book—Émile—had been condemned and burned.
So Jean-Jacques Rousseau did what few writers have ever dared:
he left Paris on foot, under cover of darkness
#JeanJacquesRousseau #Philosophy
substack.com/@paulwbmarsd...
Paris — Tuesday night, 8 June 1762, 9pm
His book—Émile—had been condemned and burned.
So Jean-Jacques Rousseau did what few writers have ever dared:
he left Paris on foot, under cover of darkness
#JeanJacquesRousseau #Philosophy
substack.com/@paulwbmarsd...
3 Days to Keats’ Birthday!
The poetry of Earth is never dead
“Keats knew what the climate movement keeps relearning.”
“The poetry of Earth is never dead.”
— “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” (1816)
#JohnKeats #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
The poetry of Earth is never dead
“Keats knew what the climate movement keeps relearning.”
“The poetry of Earth is never dead.”
— “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” (1816)
#JohnKeats #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
Countdown - 3 days to John Keats’ birthday - 31 October
Tuesday, 28 October
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:45 AM
3 Days to Keats’ Birthday!
The poetry of Earth is never dead
“Keats knew what the climate movement keeps relearning.”
“The poetry of Earth is never dead.”
— “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” (1816)
#JohnKeats #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
The poetry of Earth is never dead
“Keats knew what the climate movement keeps relearning.”
“The poetry of Earth is never dead.”
— “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” (1816)
#JohnKeats #Romanticism #PaulWBMarsden
open.substack.com/pub/paulwbma...
