The Grasshopper #37: Notes on My Substack Newsletter Experience in 2022
And my writing plans for 2023
I started the Grasshopper in March of 2022 as an outlet for writing other than my fiction and the political and topical writing I do on Medium. The plan, as my blurb said, was to write about being a writer, a creative, and about the occasional weirdness of the world.
After 36 weekly Wednesday issues, and nearly weekly more informal Sunday issues, I have written quite a lot of content here, somewhere around 75,000 words, a decent length book’s worth of stuff about writing, writers, readers, and the lifestyle of trying to make a living of sorts as an artist creator.
I’m pretty open about what constitutes being a creator with the focus, in my case, on all forms of writing except technical writing, which is the one aspect I have not done. Though I was a marketing guy for the most advanced tech writing platform, Herreto (fka EasyDita), which I will not try to explain. That aspect of my life is behind me, by intent.
Naturally, with a New Year approaching, all that end of year stuff, lists, resolutions, things to change, etc., comes to mind, but I am not going to do a round of my best stories of 2022 because I’m lazy and the selection would be too subjective coming from the author.
But this week between Christmas and New Years is my slowest week on Medium, readerwise. People have stuff to do besides sitting and reading stuff online, at least I hope you do. Nevertheless, I’m still sitting here on Christmas morning writing. But I’m thinking about some new stuff I want to do.
First, last Sunday I shared an article I asked the AI, ChatGPT, to write on Covid in China, with my notes about first impressions of the bot’s skills, which are impressive. I see widespread societal implications of this and they are not speculative, they are real right now. And I want to explore and write about that.
So I’m adding what Substack calls a Section, essentially another newsletter under the umbrella of The Grasshopper, called The Prompt. Subscribers will automatically receive it as part of your Grasshopper subscription and it will appear in the menu bar of the newsletter as a section. You will be able to opt out.
The plan right now is for these pieces to be published randomly as they are written, not too often (I’m getting close to being maxed out at 7000-10000 words a week between my various projects, which is a little nuts). ChatGPT is going to change everything professional communicators do and make us question a lot of things that simply didn’t exist even a few months ago.
One of my themes here is the importance of getting paid for your writing, and putting it out there on a public platform. Both are vital to succeeding and growing as a writer. Getting paid is a validation that the work we do offers value to readers. It probably won’t make us rich, but it should at least pay for the coffee.
So, in 2023, you’re going to see a paid subscriber option for The Grasshopper and it’s sister publication(s). I’m working out the details, but free subscribers will always have access to the current issues. More on that to come.
Feedback
While I’m talking about new plans, I need to mention a goal I haven’t addressed: reader feedback and communication/community. So far it has been limited to likes and the occasional comment or someone buying me coffees (often five cups at a time, which may be how I keep writing all this stuff).
I’d love to see more feedback, suggestions, questions, criticism, etc. On Medium, where my topics are often dealing with challenging events and opinions, I get quite a few comments and have many regular readers, which is very gratifying, even when they come from the occasional troll.
For some reason, the few negative comments usually read like the writer was drunk, with typos, incomplete sentences, and broken logic. I can’t imagine why (snarky).
Substack offers a Slack-type chat feature where I could open a discussion thread. There are two reasons I won’t do this. The first is time. To make it work I’d need to be responsive in real time, more or less, for it to have any dynamism as a conversation.
Second, what if no one came to talk? Wouldn’t that be a sad situation? Lonely writer staring at iPad wondering why no one likes me. Boo-hoo. So, no to chatting for now.
But if you want to talk, write a comment. I read and respond to all of them and I’d like to hear from you. I know you’re out there!
Stacking up the articles
This holiday weekend has not seen the business of the world slow down and I have been writing about Russia, DeSantis, the GOP in 2023, and other scintillating topics. Because this is a very slow week for readership, those pieces are stacking up in my vast Google Doc pile, waiting to be published. But I have to get them out there this week because they have expiration dates.
This need to write, edit and publish on a tight schedule is the nature of my writing on Medium. There is lots of discussion, too much discussion, there about how frequently you need to publish to be successful. I’ve found, after publishing over 850 articles, that my sweet spot is daily, which I’m ok with.
But the reason for that frequency is not about gaming the system, in my case. It is because my subject matter is fluid and contributing factors change. I’m observing and writing opinions on history, in real time as I see it, and it is coming at us a lot faster than it used to, unless you were a journalist.
I mentioned earlier that the only kind of writing I have not done for money was technical writing, but I have to correct that. I do not do journalism, though I probably read way too much of it and have the utmost respect for the unbiased and probably weary journalists trying to keep up with the mania.
If we ever get a chance to look back on the Covid era, with any degree of objectivity, I hope it will be recognized that journalists, at least those trying to be objective, are among the heroes. In a time of extensive and intentional disinformation, they are tasked with sorting out the truth from the lies.
That’s it for 2022, quite a year. If I just look at word count, it was certainly my busiest year as a writer and I have to say I have enjoyed every minute of it. The writing, not the events, which have been tumultuous, a word I find myself using a little too often. But it fits.
My prediction for 2023? It will be the Year of the Storms, literally. This year saw hurricanes, floods, fires, and the bomb cyclone that is still crippling my neighboring city of Buffalo. I see that storm as a precursor to what is to come, and it will illustrate how strange the weather will be.
But I may be wrong. I hope so. Cheers! M
1219 words