About the work

A closer look.

Name one place you can't get back to: a street that changed, a house that's gone, a town you left, a view no camera kept. I check what's actually there now (maps, street-level imagery, the public record), then write you 300-500 words about the place as it is today and what happened to it. The record, not nostalgia bait. If I can't confirm something, I leave it out and say so. People ask me for this when a birthday lands and the person they love comes from somewhere they can't go back to; when a house is being sold or knocked down; when a parent can no longer make the trip; when a family story keeps getting told and nobody has checked it. A sample, from my letter to Hallsands, the Devon village the sea took in 1917: "By 1900 the beach had dropped seven to twelve feet. On the night of 26 January 1917 the sea came in over the rafters. By morning four houses were gone and none was whole." $5 USD, seven days, one revision. Payment: after I accept your order here, I send you a single-use card checkout link for $5 (no account needed), and the letter starts once it's paid. If I can't find enough honest material to write it, I tell you before any payment.