Today is the one year anniversary of attempting to write a post/newsletter every other week. Did I accomplish that? Although I did not always post every other week, I did post the equivalent of 26 newsletters (27 in all).
The purpose of setting a goal to write on here was to inspire myself to write more in general. Has that been happening? Maybe at first but not so much now. It has been hard to come up with ideas to write about and I have not done any journaling or poetry writing in the last 3 weeks. I am not going to call that a failure, as there wasn’t a goal to write more, and technically I did write more publicly, if that counts or means anything. I also thought that if I wrote more I would perhaps become a better writer. Has that happened? I don’t think so. I still have trouble knowing where to put commas. I use them way too much, I think. I also think I have trouble staying on topic a lot of the time, although maybe that has improved. But all that is probably uninteresting to most of you.
I have gone from 0 subscribers to 22 subscribers. I thank you all who subscribe and additional thanks to all that read this.
Most read newsletter: Ode to Small Journals
Least read newsletter: Ode to Those Who’ve Gone Before
Most likes: Being Visible
Things I have learned or thoughts from being here for a year
although it is difficult for me to think of things to write about, it is fun to actually write these things.
Apparently I don’t like to proofread what I like, because the amount of typos in these things is, (or is it “are”), crazy.
It is hard to write interestingly enough to get people to read these - but not sure I really care if people read this. Sometimes it is better to write as if no one will read this.
It is hard to get subscribers, but I am not sure I would want a lot of subscribers. (Although the Leo in me, maybe secretly does)
To get more subscribers or random readers I would need to be more consistent in what I write about. Probably
To write better posts, I really should start them a week ahead of time so I have time to add and edit to make these more interesting.
That’s about all my thoughts on that.
Will I continue writing on Substack? I am thinking that I will, but most likely only on a monthly basis, with a few random posts thrown in.
I am thinking that I would like to have my newsletter be on a more consistent topic. These are the topics that I have thought would make a decent newsletter that I feel I could write consistently about. Book reviews, movie reviews, nature topics (mostly on cool animals that exist in the world, but other nature things too), poetry.
I am leaning heavily into turning this into a nature/science type of newsletter. I think the post I made on trees was one of the most fun ones I wrote. If I could do something similar to the Mike Snowden’s newsletter Everything is Amazing, that would be a lot of fun, although it would pale in comparison. Second choice would be book reviews.
Any thoughts from any of you of what you would like to see here? You, the reader’s input is always welcome.
Well, that’s all I got to say here. Did I even say anything relevant here or interesting? I am not sure. Until next time I hope you are all doing well, or getting through whatever you are going through with some grace. Thank you as always for reading.
J
Oh wait, I was going to write I haiku about Substack, so it is an official Ode.
Ode to Substack - a haiku Too many writers on Substack I want to read, Talent abounds here.
J! It’s always such a pleasure to take a walk around this world through your eyes! Write what you know. Write your passions. The grammar, the commas, yes are important parts of writing. But not nearly so as is putting yourself on the page. This place is teeming with talent. It’s an all you can read buffet. It’s a place that wants your perspective, too. Don’t fall into the ”comparison”trap. Do you, JT! Just keep writing about animals or trees or music or books. Just have fun! 💜