When I announced to my husband that I was thinking of starting a newsletter, he was skeptical to say the least, reminding me that I have a blog, three Instagram handles, a Twitter account, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles. It’s true that there’s no dearth of platforms through which I can both write and reach my readers. Besides, I have a knack for starting things and not sustaining them.
Even as I write this I am unconvinced of my reasoning and conflicted about my objectives, but reminded of a blog post that I wrote years back called Publish or Perish. The post itself was about what to consider before pursuing a PhD (something that I am once again toying with the idea of, but more on that later). Academia or not though, the message is a profound one; one which I have learned the hard way as a writer.
After a three-year hiatus from blogging, I finally started to rebuild my voice this year, with my comeback post, Hello World 2.0 explaining my reasons for letting the platform perish. While there have been sequels, my record has been sporadic at best.
Mind you, that the intention behind starting substack is not to abandon my blog once again. The purpose here is two-fold.Â
The first is to create a more direct conduit into your inboxes: a place to compile and deliver the myriad musings across the miscellany of social media channels that I have taken to.Â
The second, is to carve a new authorial space that alleviates the pressure to craft complete narratives: a place to ponder but not too profoundly, to ruminate, but not too reflectively.
As a college counselor, I usually kick-off the essay writing process with students by assigning them a free-write draft. "Don't worry too much about structure and flow" I tell them. "Just focus on getting all of your ideas down. Take us into your head so that we can understand your experiences."
Hopefully, this newsletter will serve as my own free-write essay draft; a glimpse into the half-baked musings in my head; an endeavor to publish rather than perish. And most importantly, an opportunity to prove my husband wrong!