Halfway

11 thoughts on six months of weekly writing

Jun 25, 2022

Newsagents and tenement flat with sign saying Halfway — It always amuses me that there are places called things like Halfway, solely defined by being in-between.

Writing is a useful tool for achieving clarity. However, your ideas can only be verified when exposed to the world. At the beginning of 2022, I resolved to publish one article a week for an entire year. Previously, I had been writing lots of fragments and not finishing them because I had neither the pressure of a deadline nor a venue in which to host them; it was disheartening. By using Substack, I had a frictionless way to get the ideas out and the weekly schedule felt doable.

And it has worked. We are now halfway into the yearlong experiment—with 26 done including this one and 26 left to do—so I thought it would be good to reflect on the project so far and see where there is room for improvement. As always, I would love to hear your feedback on the kind of things you'd like to see.

1. Lists posts are low-status

My early posts tended to include lists, informed by my sense that people are too busy to read long paragraphs and just like to scan headlines. Based on feedback I've received, people associate these kind of list posts with Buzzfeed or self-help blogs, so don't fully engage. Thankfully, I quickly grew out of such things ... almost.

2. A realistic deadline makes everything easier

Saturday, my self-imposed deadline for each post, is also my day of rest. Writing this blog doesn't feel like work so I usually write the draft of next week's post on Saturday afternoon, happy in the knowledge that I have a whole week to tweak it. It is also Parkrun day, which provides a space to clear the mind of publishing anxiety, because ...

3. There are always typos

Some writers on Substack only send the first paragraph as an email, forcing people to click through to the web version of the article. They know that once an email is sent you can't change that version and all those readers will be rolling their eyes at your careless blunders. I am very grateful to have Laura to check that I haven't said anything totally inane and Ellie to assiduously point out typos and repetitions.

4. My mind has been changed by writing

Since I have been writing regularly, I find myself thinking in sentences. I play with word order in my mind and can feel the ghost of a paragraph start to appear. Is this how writers think? Evelyn Waugh talked in his Paris Review interview about having a whole novel complete in his mind, but I always assumed he was an exception.

5. Substack can be demoralising ...

I subscribe to a lot of Substacks and am always impressed by the quality of the writing. There is so much interesting stuff out there that you can become disheartened about your own efforts. Thankfully, treating it as an experiment helps alleviate any sense of screaming into the void.

6. But being part of a Substack scene is encouraging

I would rather luxuriate in ten blogs than skim-read fifty and secretly enjoy when writers switch on their paywall to indirectly reduce my burden. As in the classic noughties-era of blogging, it helps to have (or feel you have) a personal connection to the writers you read. I have shook hands with Scott Alexander, been in a reading group with the guys behind The Fitzwilliam, know Ben from my London days, and encouraged friends IKM and Chris to start posting. The more time you engage with writers, the better you can understand their references and expand your own.

My subscriber growth. Don’t flatten the curve!

7. Readers are easy, subscribers are hard

This newsletter is completely free and will remain so. There is no possibility of me giving up my day job anytime soon. It's notable that my most popular post so far is the one I put the most effort into. I actually went to the city archives—twice! That post has over 650 reads, the tweet that inspired it has over 18,000 impressions, and all this activity resulted in about 3 additional subscribers. My personal policy is to sign up to anything that looks vaguely interesting and then unsubscribe if it proves to be dull, but I understand that most people don't want to receive any more emails.

8. I think I'm getting better

Scott Alexander has been wondering if his writing is getting worse. His move to Substack has been financially successful, but has made less impact than classic posts like Meditations on Moloch. One idea was that he is getting juiced and is running out of ideas, like the band that spends years on their first album and then has six months to write the second. It is still early days on this blog, but I like to think that I am still learning and can rectify the writing habits that make me cringe.

9. A fixed word count is a mixed blessing

I never know whether to call this thing I'm producing a blog, a newsletter, a substack post, an article or something else entirely. Secretly, I think of it as a column and columns generally have a fixed word count that can fit inside the pages of a newspaper. I hit upon 1,000 words as my 'commission', which is long enough to have space to think but short enough to be read in five minutes or so. There are a couple times I have been more verbose than necessary in order to hit the word count. Likewise, a few times I would have liked to have gone on for much longer. It feels about right for now though.

10. The podcast is a side benefit

Some people see a mystery red button and just have to press it. I see the 'Podcast' button on the Substack dashboard and need to make a podcast. It has been fun to do interviews and make connections, but it possibly needs to become its own thing rather than just be an adjunct to the blog. Just as no one needs more emails, no one can consume more podcasts.

11. "If anyone else likes it, it's a bonus"

Because the blog was set up as a year-long experiment, I don't worry too much about what people think or how many readers I am getting. To avoid becoming a prisoner of others’ reactions, you have to follow your instincts. Nevertheless, here are some questions about the project which I open up to my readers:

What do you want to see more or less of in my column?
Do you like the variety or prefer if it was focused on one topic?
Have you listened to any of my podcasts? If not, why not?
How many other blogs to do you read regularly and what are your favourites?

The Archive (so far)

Here is a complete list of the first 26 posts (plus podcasts) that avoids Substack's annoying infinitely scrolling archive.