Today, I’m going to contradict everything I said last week.

Well, sort of. 🤷

This is the second installment of a 3-part series addressing the style elements that, when used in combination with each other, will make your writing pop harder than a Cardi B twerk.

They are:

• Conciseness ✅

• Vivid imagery 👈

• And rhythm (next week…)

Last week, we discussed the virtues of conciseness. But if you focus on conciseness alone, you’ll end up with stories that sound like memos. 

The trick is to blend it with vivid imagery and rhythm. And all of these things feel like they contradict the shit out of each other. So, ya know, there’s that. 🙄

But if you can just trust me, I promise I’ll show you how it all comes together in the end.

Today, we’re going hard on vivid imagery…

-Kristin 🍷

🍻 In today’s issue:

✏️ Sentence School: F*ck reading. Give your audience an experience.

🥃 The Writer’s Pour: Practice writing with action, sense, and specificity.

🎙️ Drunk Talk: I got screwed this week. And not in the fun way.

🤖 Robot Pals: My entire DBA tech stack. It’s more than you think.

A picture doesn’t have to be a thousand words

You’ve probably heard this a thousand times— 

SHOW. 👏 DON’T. 👏 TELL. 👏

Telling states facts, while showing paints a picture that invites readers into an experience.

This matters because readers don’t connect with abstract statements — they connect with images, emotions, and action. So instead of just telling them how someone feels, you must show the small, human details that bring it to life.

How do you do this?

• Use action — what’s happening physically?

• Use senses — what does it look or feel like?

• Stay tight — swap the abstract for the specific.

Use action — what’s happening physically?

When emotions show up in your story, don’t label them — show us what happens in the room when people feel them:

❌ “She felt uneasy.”

✅ “She kept glancing at the exit like it owed her money.”

Readers trust action more than adjectives. Describing physical action is “proof” of the emotions you claim your subjects are experiencing.

For instance, in last week’s issue of Drunk Business Advice, instead of saying “I shy away” every time I feel ready to partner with someone, I said:

✅ “I crawl back into my solitary hole.”

The first is a vague AF. The second is vivid action.

Use senses — what does it look or feel like?

Use concrete sensory details to yank your reader out of their chair and drop them into an emotional experience:

❌ “The coffee was strong.”

✅ “The first sip hit like a jolt of electricity.”

❌ “The breakup hurt.”

✅ “Everything felt sharp, like my whole body was holding in a scream.”

Don’t tell me the room was “uncomfortable” — make me feel the flicker of fluorescent lights, or hear the fake cheer in someone’s voice.

Just pick one vivid, specific sensory moment. That’s all it takes. A single detail that smells, tastes, or stings can anchor the entire mood.

Stay tight — swap the abstract for the specific

Vivid imagery only works if it’s sharp. And this is where conciseness begins to blend with vivid imagery.

Getting specific doesn’t mean rambling on about every little detail — it means stripping away the filler until the image lands hard:

❌ “She had a strong emotional reaction to the news.”

✅ “She cracked.”

❌ “A large number of unread emails had built up in his inbox.”

✅ “212 subject lines screamed in bold.”

❌ “It was the kind of silence that made people feel awkward.”

✅ “The silence hummed.”

Specifics create credibility… humor… pain… recognition. The more precise the image, the more universal the reaction. That’s the paradox of specificity — the tighter you get, the more people relate.

So yes, you can absolutely paint a vivid picture while also being concise!

Dive into some exercises to put what you’ve just learned about vivid imagery into practice. 👇️

Here’s an example…

👆️ Y’all — both of these examples contain the SAME NUMBER OF WORDS! This is proof that you can paint a vivid picture while also being concise.

Click here to see an example.

Beehiiv screwed me this week

And no, this isn’t a misspelled comment on insect sex.

If you don’t know, Beehiiv is an ESP (Email Service Provider). It’s the platform I use to publish Drunk Business Advice and Drunk Writing Advice.

Like most off-the-shelf tech platforms, it’s packed with features for newsletter creators, including:

• Email automations

• Referral programs

• Content management systems

• New subscriber flows

• And landing page builders

When I launched my newsletters, Beehiiv’s landing page builder was garbage. I put up with it for a bit, then built my landing pages elsewhere.

Even so, everything else —welcome surveys, content pages— still ran through Beehiiv. And it all synced perfectly.

Until last week. 🤦

A few months ago, Beehiiv rolled out a beta version of a new landing page builder. I tested it. It rocked. But in a live environment, it broke everything. So I reverted back, no harm done.

I figured I’d wait until the beta ended, and update everything later.

But Beehiiv had other plans. When the new builder launched officially last week, my drafts went live — without warning. And it was a damn disaster.

Hours before my first live podcast (😬), I was scrambling to patch my busted website. I’m still fixing details — like making the Drunk Writing Advice library easier to access. Right now it’s a maze (sorry about that).

I still recommend Beehiiv. It’s a solid choice for anyone launching a newsletter.

But remember — starting a newsletter involves more than just writing the damn thing. You need to develop great tech systems, and you need to babysit them. 

So make sure to budget time for that shit.

While we’re on the topic of ESPs…

This isn’t strictly AI-related, but a lot of folks ask me about the tech stack I use to produce Drunk Business Advice.

Welp. Here it is. 👇

As you already know, a shit-ton goes into publishing Drunk Business Advice each week. And I’m constantly evolving this process.

Now that Beehiiv has launched its new landing page builder, I will likely migrate off Squarespace entirely. 

NOTE — I’ve traditionally used Wix as my landing page builder for other projects, but when I tried to do that, the Beehiiv email signup plugin failed. I opened support tickets with both Wix and Beehiiv, and each of them pointed the finger at each other. So I moved to Squarespace, where the plugin worked.

At $30/month, I’m thinking about ditching Senja entirely. That’s a lot to pay for a single function. Beehiiv should really update their testimonial feature to mimic Senja, and include it in their premium subscription.

While I’m not interested in using Substack as my ESP (my good friend Chenell breaks down the reasons why I’ve stayed off that platform brilliantly here), I plan to copy her approach, and use it simply as a discovery platform for a little while.

And finally…

I’ve used Canva every damn day since 2016. It might be my favorite platform — ever.

If you have any questions about my tech stack, hit reply! I’m always happy to share my honest review of any platform I’ve tried.

I don’t take my place in your inbox for granted.

It’s an honor to be welcomed into your world, and I know I have to work to continue to earn it, week after week. So if you have feedback, or if there’s a topic you want me to cover, just hit reply and tell me!

And if you love Drunk Writing Advice, consider sharing it with a friend. 🥰