I think we bring together an outstanding group of writers for you here at the Tribune. We’re proud of the work they do and proud that we can publish it. We look for writers who have more than just the ability to turn a catchy phrase; we want them to convey emotion without sentimentality, information without condescension, humour without being laboured and a logical argument without strawmanning you.

Most of our writers make this look easy. It’s not. Good writing is one of those things you don’t notice until you notice its absence. It takes skill, patience, dedication and years of practice to get it right. Even then, most experienced writers will tell you that they are rarely completely happy with every piece they put out. Usually the reason it’s not totally perfect is lack of time. Every person involved in the Tribune has another job as well, because this is never going to pay the rent or put more than saladas on the table. We do it because we love it; because we can’t not do it, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.

Even after years of practice and with a deep love of the craft, writing well also requires a reasonably stable mental outlook, not something everyone can maintain all the time.

Three of our writers dropped out this month because of mental health issues, mostly to do with depression. What else could they have done? Nothing. It would be easier to write the sort of articles the Tribune publishes with two broken arms than with depression, because nothing leeches all the creativity, confidence and energy out of you quite like depression does.

I’ve been trying for two weeks to find something worthy and uplifting to write about depression. Compassion and understanding and something something cliche, but it’s all just arse, and sanctimonious arse at that. Depression is a horrible, soul crushing thing and I am horrified that it affects so many of the people I know. Family, friends, social media, co-workers, my beloved Tribune writers, it seems to have infested every place I look lately. And I’m so powerless in the face of it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s someone I’m close to and see every day, or someone I just chat to on Twitter, I can’t help them. They’re in pain and I can’t do anything.

I hate that.

I know it’s all a lot better now than it used to be, there’s support and medication and websites and doctors and telephone hotlines etc, and I know all those things do actually help, but it takes so long, it’s so hard for those people grimly hanging on, waiting for things to get better.

They will get better, they’ll go back to their lives and social media platforms and be greeted with cries of delight from all the people who love them, but for now, they just feel irredeemably shitful. And that sucks.

My heart goes out to all of you.

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On a completely different and far more selfish note, we hope you enjoy this, the third commercial issue of The King’s Tribune. The feedback we’re getting seems to indicate that you are, but the sales figures are telling us that not enough people know about us yet.

Getting a new magazine off the ground is like trying to throw bluestone slabs in the air. Our marketing budget wouldn’t cover a good night out on the tiles, it wouldn’t cover cleaning fluid for the tiles the next day, so we’re almost entirely dependent on word of mouth for publicity. We’ve always said we’re not a charity case, we don’t keep going because anyone has a moral obligation to support us, we keep going because enough people like what we do enough to pay $8.95 a month for it.

Having said that, we do need some help in finding more of those people and if you’re reading this you are the person we need help from. Tell your friends about us, pass copies around the office, give someone a gift subscription for Christmas (email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for details). If we can’t increase our circulation in the next few months we may not be able to keep going. And that would be a shame, because we’re awesome, or hadn’t you noticed?

Have a lovely Christmas Tribune fans, and hopefully we’ll see you all back here next year.

Love to all who love us, and a month in a Kardashian reality show to those who don’t.

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Coming up in future King’s Tribunes: Malcolm Farnsworth, Dee Madigan, Ben Harris-Roxas, Dominic Knight, Bronwyn Hinz and more from all our fabulous regulars. Enjoy!

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