One Year on Substack

some reflections on the past as well as some plans(?) for the future

Well, it’s been a minute. Hello! I’m not dead.

Things have been a little chaotic lately (last week a freak storm blew out our power for a day and a half, so that was fun, what with the 90F heat and all), and writing has kind of gone to the back burner over the past month. I’ve also been strangely pulled toward writing fiction again, so what little writing time I have had has gone in that direction. In the midst of all of this, I noticed that this month marks my one year Substackiversary (is that a thing?) and it seemed like a good time for an update.

It’s been a really great year. Leaving social media and coming to Substack has been the best thing I’ve done for my writing (and overall mental health) in years. It’s been wonderful connecting with all the brilliant, talented writers in this space, away from all the noise of the legacy hellsites. I’m excited for the next year.

Speaking of the future, I’ve been mulling over what to do with my own publication here for awhile. I came to Substack without any real plan. I just wanted to write, and really, that’s still what I want. I didn’t really expect anybody to read what I posted here, and I had no intention of “marketing” my work; I’d had enough of that rat race, thanks. But here we are, one year later, and there are a lot of you. I’m blown away, honestly. It’s both encouraging and humbling to know that you look forward to and enjoy my work. I am sincerely grateful. It means a lot.

That brings me to a question I’ve been considering lately, and that is the question of monetization. Until this point, I’ve kept my Substack free for a number of reasons, some practical, but others fear-based. I’ve never liked the idea of asking for money, as I’ve never felt that my writing “deserves” it (whatever that means). Maybe it’s that I always feel I could be writing more or better or whatever. But frankly, I think I’ve just been afraid to do it. So, that might become a thing in the future. Possibly. (But don’t worry, there will still be plenty of free stuff!)

In the meantime, I seem to have begun a sort of unofficial hiatus. I had no intention of doing this, but as I said, my muse has been drawn to fiction lately, and my time is finite. Will I publish any of this fiction? Who knows. But this means you may see fewer articles from me here in the near future, as I don’t want to throw out half-hearted content just to have something to post. This isn’t Instagram. (And not to worry—any monetization will only happen once my writing consistency kicks back up again.)

However, since writing has slowed, and since I’m celebrating one year here, I thought I’d do a little roundup of some of my best/most popular posts from the past twelve months, in case any of you were desperately craving some of my content during my unplanned absence.

Let’s start with my very first post on Substack: Survival is Insufficient: The Value of Art in a Dying World. This is actually an old article, written pre-Substack for another blog, as a reflection on the COIVD times. I published it here because, on some fundamental level, it’s what inspired me to start this little publication in the first place.

Next we have Feed the Machine, or, “You’re a Content Creator, Harry” in which I begin my journey toward disillusionment with legacy social media, specifically Instagram.

In Fandom Culture: A Dark Neverland, I discuss the corrosive nature of adult obsession with children’s stories and the damage that this has done to our culture and our art.

Continuing along the path towards liberation from the tyranny of the doomscroll, I Shut Down Social Media for Two Weeks: Here’s What Happened.

As I made my way down this path, I began to see a new trend popping up—and not just regarding social media, but as it pertained to things like lifestyle, education, art, and work. I discuss this briefly in Independence Is the New Status Symbol.

As I mentioned earlier, I enjoy fiction. Not just writing it but reading it. I’ve actually spent more time in the fiction world as a writer and developmental editor than I have in the nonfiction/social commentary world. I analyze some of the underlying causes for the problems with modern fiction in Avatar, Orthodoxy, and the Sacrifice of Story.

At this point, I had finally come to the decision that it was time to flee the digital casino once and for all. I wrote about what led me here in Why I’m Quitting the Dopamine Prison (aka Instagram).

I continue this train of thought with more specificity towards its impact on the muse in Social Media and the Creative Doom-Spiral.

Speaking of the muse, what has happened to modern art? I offer my theory in Modernity and the Death of the Romantic.

And, to end on a less grim note, I discuss where we can find peace and hope and solace in the midst of this demoralizing landscape in Sunlight and Spearmint.

Again, I just want to say thank you to all of you who’ve stuck around to read my weird little commentary feed. I don’t really know what I’m doing here, but it’s been fun. I’m looking forward to writing more and connecting with you all as we pick our way along the fraught paths of the perilous realm over the next year (and beyond).