Désiré – Writes Words & Stuff

Hi there, I’m Désiré ;-}

A writer powered by strong coffee and unicorn magic.

Welcome to my little corner of chaos, where I publish most of my thoughts, articles, sketches, photography, book reviews and even manuscript snippets.

When I’m not working on client commissions [blogs and books] for TILT Creative, I’m usually found emptying my soul into the backend of this engine, armed with a large coffee mug while classical crossover pieces resonate softly from my headphones.

I enjoy taking complex technical ideas, from a diverse assortment of industries, and creatively express them in a more interesting, engaging and human medium. I’ve made asbestos and accounting both sound sexy, so that’s something! TILT Creative Agency, my professional outlet, specialises in content creation and managed solutions for companies and personal brands.

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Snippets

Featured Pieces

(in random order)

Advice from a Failed Startup Founder

This business took everything. Two marriages. Two cars. Homes. Money. Sanity. Everything. How ready are you to open a business? There is no founder on the planet who has lost

On gratitude: The things we often take for granted.

I spend my life in a state of not-satisfied, not because I’m not content, but because I am afraid of getting comfortable. I’m always working. Nothing is ever good enough.

Managing Anxiety

Stop on your way to work for 30 seconds and look around you. What do you see? The postman is out delivering mail, people are rushing past you on the

The latest musings

“I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself.” Simone de Beauvoir

Menstrual cups are game changers. Period.

We do not talk about our periods enough. In fact, most of the world doesn’t talk about it at all, as though it’s this disgusting, taboo thing that only happens to a tiny population of people with bad hygiene. If men had periods, we wouldn’t even be entertaining this conversation. Frankly, body odour is a natural occurrence and that doesn’t

Trust your inner voice. It’s the better writer - thewritingmanifesto.org

“I only write when I’m inspired, so I see to it that I’m inspired every morning at nine o’clock.” ~ Peter De Vries

Paralysed, spiralling, but (at least) I’m honest!

Honesty time. I’m stuck, I feel paralysed and I feel like I have zero control of the world around me, what’s happening to me and I am so angry. Loaded sentence, I know but I needed to get that out there. Speaking publicly about mental health is one of the things that I have been juggling from the yes to

“Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it.” Tina Fey

Perpetually misunderstood, and that’s okay

For my entire life, all 30 years of it leading up to this point, I have been misunderstood. I was a very different kind of kid. Most children enjoy playing and making friends and doing stuff, and I don’t really remember doing much of that. I remember reading a lot, and when I had finished my personal library, I delved

Either writing is a priority or it ceases to exist - thewritingmanifesto.org

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” ~ Richard Bach

“I merged those two words, black and feminist, because I was surrounded by black women who were very tough and who always assumed they had to work and rear children and manage homes.” Toni Morrison

Navigating triggers with complex PTSD

Unless you read this blog or you know the real person behind the positive facade that I have built, you most likely wouldn’t guess that I have complex post traumatic stress disorder. I am very high functioning and have developed lots of coping mechanisms, many of which are practiced in autopilot to ensure that I am steady all the time.

You are a writer. You were touched by the divine. For who else can create worlds from nothing and life by mere thought? - thewritingmanifesto.org

That time I was denied help: I was suicidal and sexually abused at home

This week, the entire world has been talking about one thing: the Harry and Meghan interview. It was an interview that rocked the world and is one of the most telling interviews since Princess Diana’s landmark Panorama interview. I’ve seen the interview twice: once when it aired, and again this morning, but what is really interesting to me is the

Saving myself… from my past

As a creative mind with a personal history of deep trauma, I am highly susceptible to rumination, which is both a good and bad thing. Rumination can sometimes allow an ability to play with thoughts and understand various outcomes, but it can also have a very dark path, leading one into a labyrinth of painful memories and suffering. To cope

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ~ Stephen King

Focusing when your own mind is a distraction

Distraction is my biggest life foe. My curious nature allows my distraction to derail every attempt at being productive, and it thrives on my inability to complete tasks… This becomes one of those vicious cycles where I’m distracting myself with feelings of dissatisfaction for not being productive, which leads to further distraction and down the rabbit hole of self-destructive inner