Taking Account
Let's Take A Moment To See Where We Are
Nothing is permanent.
This occurred to me about this newsletter the other day when I read a story about how all social media changes and adapts and inevitably becomes something different from what it once was - think Twitter or Facebook.
The bottom line being, the article recommended that all Substack writers periodically download and save copies of their work. That way, if Substack goes *poof* I’ll still have copies of all the posts and articles that appeared here.
Makes sense.
So that’s what I did, and in doing that I figured I’d bring all of you, my dear readers, into the fold. Let’s take account of this strange, hyper, little community we’ve created here.
Since we first launched on Nov. 1 2022, we have published 620 articles, poems or posts, counting this one. (That’s astounding to me by the way!)
Of those 620, 512 have been in a row. We began publishing daily on Nov. 1, 2023 and have not missed a day.
If we take the average of about 300 words per post, that means that since we began, we’ve written 186,000 words, give or take!
Our most popular top three posts in terms of engagement, comments and likes are:
The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894
Sometimes, I run across a note or phrase or reference to something that just makes me sit up and go, “What’s that now?”
Interviews By Uma: Ashley Suppa
Musician Ashley Suppa of Plush is spreading the Love, Light and Power
Interviews By Uma: Kat Leon
Front Woman and Lyricist Kat Leon of Holy Wars on the Healing Power of Music
In fact, five of the top ten posts are Interviews By Uma, so that ought to tell you something. Nothing beats the number one post about 19th Century Horse Poop, however. Really, would not have predicted that one!
The most popular posts by theme are music, libraries and parenting.
We have near 600 subscribers! (That’s also amazing!)
Some things that have worked, and some things that haven’t -
We’ve lost many subscribers because we publish every day. Turns out, some of you don’t like getting an email every day. I understand. Some of you have told me that you save them and read three or four together in one sitting. That’s neat! Some of you stick around ‘cause you’re awesome and just pick up reading when you have a chance. Thanks for that!
Not sticking to a particular theme has made gathering subscriptions more difficult. Readers, it turns out, are mostly interested in niches. All the How to make a successful Substack posts say you should write about one thing and one thing only! I would die of boredom if I did that so this crazy random Day By Day thing isn’t going to end soon. But hey, if you don’t like one topic, all you have to do is wait until tomorrow!
Bringing Little Bean in as a writer, reader and consultant is the best thing I could have done. I love having her here and it’s opened so many doors for us as well as helping her learn to think and read critically.
Doing occasional calls out to all of you, dear readers, has been one of my favorite things to do here! We’ve written about many of your ideas and suggestions. I love reading your comments and try to get to all of them. And remember, if you want to reach out but are shy about leaving public comments, just hit reply in this email and you can just send me a private email!
In the end, this little forum has given me an outlet to be a dad and a writer and a neighbor. Sometimes it’s funny, other times serious. Often I just ramble. And usually, there’s typos. But given that my book writing has slowed down, this community continues to be a source of inspiration for me and I thank you all for that.
So, where do we go from here? Well, if you’ve read this far, I’ll make two asks of you.
First, can you help us reach 600 subscribers? We’ve found that one on one recommendations works very well! Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell complete strangers!
Second, what works for for you? And hey, what doesn’t? What do you look forward to here? What do you roll your eyes over and pass by? Let us know! We appreciate you all and want to make your daily experience here something you look forward to.
Ok, sound good? You’re all the best of the best! Let’s keep moving forward!
Oh, and just in case you were wondering which of our 620 entries did the absolute worst, was the least read and received the smallest engagement, it was this one. I’m not sure why! We love rocks!
Names on Stones
New Hampshire is covered with dozens (most likely hundreds) of Memorial Stones, small tucked away plaques all across the state, that speak to the history of locals that somehow made an impact on the country or world. We tend to overlook these little rocky history books, just pass them by on the way to our picnic or swim or the restroom along a highway p…
I, too, particularly enjoy the library posts, as well as the slice of life posts (everyday things, like walking the dog and Little Bean's friends being over). I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that the rock and roll posts are the least interesting to me. I know, I know, it's awful, because I can read in your every word just how passionate you are about it. Honestly, rock and roll and "heavier" (if that's the right term) music has just never been my thing. But, that's just me, so please don't change your approach based on just one opinion.
I enjoy your varied content. It's fun not knowing what to expect next! (Although I am partial to the library posts.)