The Grasshopper Sunday Edition: Rebirth
Just a few notes on the year ahead
Typically I write these a day or two ahead, but with the holidays things got reordered and I’m sitting here on New Year’s Day morning writing a quick note to my readers, rather than a full issue. No resolutions this year other than to stay healthy and to be more compassionate to the world.
I live in Rochester, NY, sixty miles from Buffalo, which is recovering from last week’s insane snowstorm that killed at least 39 people in that town. Even though we are only sixty miles away, we only got 1.7” of snow compared to their 55”. And we went from a windchill of -17 to a high of 62 in just two days.
With crazy weather becoming the norm everywhere, I suspect I will be writing more and more about climate change over at Medium in the coming year. Every year of being a writer leads to changes and they seem to be accelerating as I get older. This time last year, I did not have a newsletter and The Grasshopper was only a notion.
But that notion has now become an integral part of my writing life, with two issues each week, typically 1500-2000 words/week. Even a few years ago I could not imagine this life with me writing and publishing every day, making a few dollars, and then seeing both my Follower count on Medium and my subscriber list here growing steadily.
One of my themes here is that you have to get your stuff out there where readers can find it. Even having a few readers will change your idea of writing, for the better, because it is no longer just a self-indulgence. Instead it becomes an intimate dialog, even when you start to reach thousands of readers. The experience is always one on one.
Another theme is doing the work. You can be fearless in your writing because it is so malleable. There is a saying in carpentry, measure twice, cut once. Good advice, but unlike a bad cut made in a 2x4, writers can infinitely change things. Which can become a problem if you have even a smidgeon of OCD perfectionism.
The great thing about publishing your stuff is that it now becomes a done thing, something that no longer belongs to you, which means that you can move on to your next project instead of fiddling with things over and over. There is a lot to be said for finishing things, but many would-be writers never finish things.
One of my end of year things I’ve done was to scroll back through my work from the past year to try to see where patterns changed. It was pretty fascinating to see articles in there that I completely forgot about, some of which attracted thousands of reads. And to see tipping points where things changed seemingly overnight.
One such point happened here with The Grasshopper. I launched last April and sent my first issue to an email list I had on Medium, and got about 80 subscribers. Then, in August I started putting a little blurb at the end of my Medium articles pitching the newsletter to other writers on the platform. And something happened.
I now have over 500 subscribers, which seems a little miraculous, and the list is growing every month. Substack is very good about writer support and community building. They send several emails a week highlighting other newsletters, with interviews with publishers, and with tips and new product news. And they seem to have found a reasonable voice as a company, no small accomplishment.
This sense of community is very important to writers as we tend to be inward-facing much of the time. That’s necessary to do the work, but knowing you’re not the only one out there is pretty important. And knowing that 500 readers may get to read this is pretty cool too. I recommend it.
That’s about it for me today. New Year's Day never really feels like a holiday to me, in part because I’m happy to get past the holiday season and back to whatever normal is these days. But I’m very grateful for my readers here and will be working to provide useful insights into writing and the weird beauty of the world. M
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A rather inspiring article overall in my opinion. My reluctance to publish, and reach for readers, seems to be an intuition that once I begin I will shortly run out of things to say and would continue to write and post simply to keep the ball rolling rather than having much of any substance to contribute. I am impressed by several writers than can roll out a stimulating offering on a regular basis. I think I am at a point where I seem to have lots to learn so I am more comfortable as a reader than I am as a writer.