Formerly The Grasshopper, June 23, 2024
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An Open Letter to My Readers (and No, This is Not a Pitch)
Just touching base and curious
If you read my newsletters, you’ve undoubtedly seen my pitch which is always at the end of each issue, so you probably know I have two letters, one of which has evolved over the years from a writing advice thing (The Grasshopper) to my political opinion writing (The Witness Chronicles).
Those two are basically the same newsletter due to a mistake in how I set them up that I can’t undo, without screwing up subscriber access.
The other letter addresses my issues with drinking and improving my life. The Remarkable, a recovery letter, is strictly a labor of love with a tiny readership and that’s fine. It is basically an experiment in being open about a tough topic. These days my issue is not front and center as it was when I started, so publishing has been more sporadic and depends entirely in whether I feel like I have something valuable to contribute.
The Witness Chronicles, which is what most of my readers are here for, is me sifting through the news to try and make sense of what I find during a year unlike any other I can remember, except possibly 1968, but I was still a kid back then.
Substack, the platform that makes this kind of homegrown publishing possible, has grown into a phenomenon these days with thousands of writers trying to build a way to express ourselves and hopefully make a few bucks in the process. I’ve been publishing on it for over three years beginning with The Grasshopper.
Those three years have gone by in a flash. We were still crawling our way out of Covid when I started and there was a primal need to reconnect with community. I’d already been writing regularly on Medium for several years and I still do. But if you read The Witness Chronicles you’re basically getting all of my Medium writing without a paywall.
I’d like to transition away from Medium, in part because it feels like a garbage dump sometimes, with a glut of side hustle baloney and bad derivative writing. But I do have a decent Following of paid members (about 7000) and it makes me a little money. Quite a few of those followers signed up for my substack stuff, which I really appreciate.
So, now a few questions, specifically related to The Witness Chronicles, which is my focus these days. Is the near daily publishing schedule too frequent? It wasn’t my intent but this year, with its constant threat to democracy in the US, keeps throwing news at me that I need to comment on.
I really appreciate your comments, even when they seem to come out of left field or challenge my sense of logic. I certainly do not expect all readers to agree with my often strong opinions and many do not. But the comments are generally contributions to a dialog and rarely threatening or angry, which says a lot about the Substack reader community.
I sincerely hope that we get past this upcoming election with our democracy intact, though that is far from certain. If we do, I may have to find something else to write about, which would mean the country has regained our collective sanity. I would happily live with that though realistically the damage may take years to undo.
So I said no pitch but I am going to put in a simple request. My newsletters always have a Share Post button. If you read something that strikes a chord and you think it might with someone you know, please spread the word or use the restack rotating circle symbol below the piece to share on Notes, the Substack Twitter lite discussion.
Regarding Notes, I was never much of a Twitter user, and in the post Musk X era have no intent on becoming one. But Notes has a charm of its own and I suggest checking it out if you haven’t.
And stay cool. We’re in the thick of a heatwave here in the northeastern US, not my favorite weather. But compared to many other places we are sitting pretty with no torrential rains, flooding, forest fires, or tropical storms, so I guess I can live with a little heat!
Thanks again for reading and your support. Writing is a solitary occupation, which I love, but knowing my stuff gets read is a big deal.
Martin Edic
~ I write The Grasshopper, an occasional letter on the creative life and it’s sister, mostly daily publication The Witness Chronicles, a place for my articles on politics and climate. They share a free and paid subscription. I also write The Remarkable, a recovery letter, about my addiction and reentry experience. I don’t paywall any content in these, however this is how I live and I strongly believe all writers and creatives should get paid, if we provide value. Your support with a paid subscription helps make that happen.
If you want to show support but don’t want to commit to a subscription, you can always buy me a coffee!
Believe me, it makes my day. M
First of all, Martin, I enjoy reading your insights and am glad you're still on Medium. I'm an "old dog" like you, and have a similar take on the news of the day, and like to hear fresh ways to interpret what we already know or agree upon. Having skipped around a few of the blog and writer sites, I find that I no longer care to fall for click bait titles, rehashing some forgettable news item or exaggerating some generally unimportant tidbit. As much as I support and wish the success of sites like Daily Kos and Raw Story, the stories rarely teach me much that is new, but just rehash some news item. Medium, and Substack, on the other hand, feature articles that really teach us something -- beyond opinion. I am aware that several writers talk of leaving Medium, or already have, due to Medium's pay policies. This is unfortunate for me, since I so much enjoy the interactions with so many decent and bright people, who write so much that is worth reading. The difference between a site like FaceBook, which I almost never use, is that the general social chatter on Facebook bores me to tears. So for as long a you keep turning out your "stream of consciousness", I'll keep reading what you have to say. The best compliment I can think of is that you always make sense.
I like your writing. It’s authentic and clear, insightful and easy to read. Every day works for me. I also happen to agree with your views on things, although I am less hopeful about the near future.