IS WRITING ON SUBSTACK WORTH IT?

A Little Fish In A Big Pond

When I was middle age, I settled on a direction for my Life. And most of the time I’m still satisfied with just lighting my own candle in my own corner of the world.  I actually wrote about that ah-ha moment in an earlier blog called Success.

But I have to confess that even in old age I get off course once in a while comparing myself to others.

I’ve been asking myself lately: Is it worth being a small fish in the big sea of Substack?

I was definitely excited to find Substack during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Because three young Canadians started this wonderful platform in 2017, many people have been able to connect around the world. Heather Cox Richardson has become one of the most successful writers on Substack with  1,200,000 Subscribers.  She is an academic historian and professor at Boston College who writes the popular blog Letters from an American and earns $5 million with it.

Personally, I have 500 FREE Subscribers with an average readership of 600. Is that enough to make this adventure worth it? How do I decide?

Well, first of all, in December I was thrilled to donate $2000 to Hannah’s House, a non-profit for children, from the sale of my paperback That’s Good To Know: There’s Humor in Aging, a compilation of my Substack blogs.

Then what could be better than inspiring someone like Brian Himmenger, our local newspaper editor, to start a blog and a book of his own.

I was also excited a few days ago when a woman walked by me, winked and said, “It’ll Be OK” — my signature sign-off each week.

Talk about winks — God Winks, that is. I usually marinate my ideas for blog articles either soaking in the bathtub or walking around the house. Recently, when I was pacing around “marinating” my thoughts for the entry Why Did God Send Baby Jesus? I received some real reassurance. You won’t believe this, but I was walking by our landline when suddenly the phone rang. I looked over at the Caller ID and almost fainted — it said “JESUS” right in the middle of the window. I don’t know an Erik De Jesus, but I do know JESUS.

So I’ve decided to keep “shining my own little light in my own corner of the world” for another year. Honestly, I do hope to send a few tiny beams throughout the rest of the universe too — so if you get a chance, please, recommend That’s Good to Know to your friends & neighbors. *wink

As Stephen Snyder-Hill — one of my former students who you may know as the soldier who asked a question about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” during a Republican primary debate — reminded me when he signed his book, Soldier of Change, “Always trust the power of your voice.”

It’ll Be OK.

“Of all my life achievements that fake cry that made our parents come running is what I’m most proud of.” ~ Lovetoknow

COMMENT: DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER BLOGS ON SUBSTACK YOU ENJOY? Please share them with my readers.