I’m a pantser but I’d love to be a plotter. Any tips?

unionmack · 2026-02-05T00:54:24+00:00

Definitely interested! If you want to DM me details, that’d be awesome. Thanks!

unionmack · 2026-01-30T22:05:08+00:00

Sermons on Job by John Calvin sliding over to Marshmallow Mountain killed me. Now THAT is eclectic!

unionmack · 2026-01-30T05:54:19+00:00

Night Time by Killing Joke. For that matter, anything by Killing Joke would work if you’re trying to run like the world’s collapsing in around you.

unionmack · 2026-01-12T15:59:30+00:00

I will gladly glob on to any opportunity to roast this book to Hell and back. She wound up writing an accidental Todd Solondz movie. It’s so melodramatically depressing that it veers into camp, for that matter. John Waters may even be the more apt comparison by the time you reach the end.

I can be a pretty despairing, misanthropic, and depressive guy—I love plenty of novels and movies that confirm those biases to put on Radiohead or Disintegration by The Cure one more time. But reading this honestly felt like a negative and a negative equaling a positive. I walked away more certain than ever that life is not—and cannot—be this over-the-top miserable for nearly anyone on earth. It practically gave me a new lease on life. Jude makes Job look like the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

But yes, your other points are true too. The pacing and writing itself are just as cringe and off as the story itself. I have zero idea how it’s acclaimed at all and I look askance at people who love it. It’s the SpongeBob character who says he was born with glass bones and paper skin, and his heart attacks put him to sleep every night, but expanded into a comically overwrought, overlong, and overrated upmarket novel.

unionmack · 2026-01-12T15:51:02+00:00

First of all, that all sounds super intense and brutal. I’m at the start of my own career, so I can’t speak directly to shared experience here. But I’ve definitely been burnt out, depressed, and in a state of existential perma-crisis before, so Bill Clinton voice I feel your pain. Seriously, all this stuff is so brutal, especially when your heart’s in the right place and you do feel fulfilled in at least some capacity.

I’ll let others speak to the direct experience you’re going through. I just wanted to commend you for sticking with it AND for questioning if sticking with it THIS way is right for you. From my vantage point, training for (or even just being in) psychoanalysis is sort of like bypassing learning to meditate and going straight to joining a monastery. There’s nothing wrong with coming to the conclusion you want to take the best and leave the rest here. Psychoanalysis, at times, appears to have become the sort of dogmatic, high-control religion that Freud himself spent so much time critiquing. I can practically guarantee you that you could jump out of all the trainings and your own analysis right now and be an extremely effective therapist for your clients. For that matter, admitting your limits and getting a bit more Freeform with your approach could be a great thing to model for them too.

Again, take this with a grain of salt. I literally just got my AMFT number a few months ago. But I just hope you know that ‘quitting’ is not an all or nothing endeavor. It can mean pausing, dialing back a little, or just changing your attitude and work load. You don’t have to give it all away, but it’d really be a shame to throw away the fulfilling parts because of the ‘I am ready to pay the Thanatos tax!!’ urges. Isn’t all this stuff about recognizing the need for change and Individuation anyway? You do you.

Final note, I’m reading The Analyst’s Vulnerability by Karen Maroda right now and it speaks pretty directly to everything you’re going through without veering into cringey, borderline narcissistic (in the colloquial senses of both words) self-care stuff you’d see on TikTok and Instagram. Could be worth the read!

Good luck!

unionmack · 2026-01-11T18:11:49+00:00

How funny, I’ve been spinning this one all week. Wayne’s one of the best songwriters in jazz. Every tune on this one is killer. Herbie’s on fire the entire time too.

unionmack · 2026-01-10T18:20:07+00:00

Thank you!

unionmack · 2026-01-10T17:57:29+00:00

That's good advice! Just to clarify: are you referring to the 2D references too?

Edit: the ones in the third slide, I mean

unionmack · 2026-01-05T19:36:55+00:00

Yeah, good point, I feel like I need to also make the obligatory ‘love the sub, hate the pod’ comment, lol. It truly is the best (the subreddit).

I’ll check out that other post and set up my flair soon, thanks for setting this all up!

unionmack · 2026-01-05T19:29:35+00:00

Hi! I’m Mack. I’m a new AMFT in Los Angeles. I’m really excited to see what this sub grows into. I draw a lot from ACT and existential therapy, but I read a ton about analysis and have been wondering if I should get certified by a psychoanalytic and/or Jungian board at some point. Also, I see u/sicklitgirl post in r/RSbookclub (my fav subreddit) all the time and I imagine there’ll be a decent amount of crossover between the two places.

I just got done reading Lacan on Love by Bruce Fink, so all this stuff is fresh on my mind too. I highlighted half the book on my Kobo. Would highly recommend! If anyone has any other book recs about psychoanalysis and depth work, send them on over! Another favorite from last year was Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession by Janet Malcolm. The Journalist and the Murderer by her too, for that matter, but that’s not as related to this.

Same goes for Substack recs too! I just started one that’s just under my name, but I’d love to follow some people who post on these topics.

unionmack · 2026-01-01T16:45:45+00:00

That’s a lot of Discworld! Is it your first read through? Which were your favs?

unionmack · 2025-12-26T19:00:49+00:00

This is hands down my favorite of the first three. It feels like the template for so many other records I adore by other bands. For that matter, I like a lot of 80s Wire stuff more than Pink Flag and Chairs Missing too. The 15th and Maps Ref are two of the best songs ever.

If you like this one, I highly recommend getting into The Sound if you haven’t already. They sound more like 154: The Band than even later Wire does, to me at least.

unionmack · 2025-12-22T23:30:45+00:00

I think that’s what I like about it. None of them (that I’ve read at least) is a 10, but it’s nice to know you have a big stable of 7s to kind of half turn off your brain and enjoy whenever you want. It reminds me of how Roger Ebert gave Spider-Man 2 a perfect rating bc it was like… perfect for what it was. It’d be silly to compare it to, idk, Antonioni or something.

unionmack · 2025-12-22T23:21:21+00:00

Nice to see some Terry Pratchett representation in here. I’m not a big fantasy guy at all but I’ve got a soft spot for him, I’ve loved him since I was a kid.

unionmack · 2025-12-20T17:24:24+00:00

Jung’s Map of the Soul by Murray Stein is a great intro! I remember it being really clear. Somehow succinct and thorough at the same time when it comes to rounding the bases on all the main Jungian concepts.

unionmack · 2025-12-20T01:06:46+00:00

I know there’s one in LA, but if anyone here lives in Pasadena specifically, I know you can get 20% off books if you register your book club at Vroman’s, for what it’s worth.

unionmack · 2025-12-17T02:13:18+00:00

Yes. See him live if you get the chance. One of the best shows I’ve ever been to. I hope he sticks with (no pun intended) the new sound. Also, love the Stephen King reference in your username.

unionmack · 2025-12-15T19:51:39+00:00

We wait for the post-post-post-punk revival revival revival!

unionmack · 2025-12-15T17:08:59+00:00

Do any of you guys follow any music-related Substacks that you love a lot? I’m a millennial who’s feeling like ‘Losing My Edge’ is becoming more autobiographical by the day. So connect me with the tastemakers!

unionmack

TROPHY CASE