Pivoting Into the Wind
World-Weary has never been a more accurate title!
Right. So. The world has gone nuts, and my hopes for a little stability this year have been utterly dashed.
Since the election, and the economic threats against my country that have come with it, I’ve had to make some decisions about World-Weary.
I’m reconsidering my content strategy and the platforms I’m working on. I’ve had to make some adjustments to how I post and when. Most of my old readers are aware of this already, but anyone looking at my old content might be confused if they’re just joining the party.
Last year, I was working off of a loose schedule for my content. I’d been choosing a topic every month and doing a deep dive over the course of several weeks, covering serious issues and providing context.
For example, one month was dedicated to articles about winter survival for the poor, and another month was dedicated to gun violence and regulations. I’d pick a topic and make a plan for the month, dedicating each Wednesday to an article and every second Friday to a short podcast episode.
Sadly, I’m having some trouble bringing those podcast episodes over to Substack due to the way Ghost handles those audio files. Ah well. If I wind up starting over from scratch, so be it!
That provides an opportunity for me to consider how I want to do it from now on, and if I want to make any changes.
Change is the spice of life right now, but someone added way too much pepper for my tastes.
But honestly, I'm galvanized. And I feel like this ship needs to turn around and return to its roots. Besides, I was burning myself out a little because I was so rigid about my plans.
Back in the day, World-Weary was all about reacting to current events and providing context and education on how those events impacted people's lives. It was also a place to provide information on activism and human rights, tips on how to get involved, and so on.
I think we're going to need that now. I think my month-long deep dive alone is a bit too boring for the turbulence we will encounter now.
So, new rule: I'm going to talk about whatever the fuck I want, and I'm going to talk about it whenever I want.
I used to only post once a week on Wednesdays. Screw that. I'm going to let my bitch flag fly, and if y'all got a problem with cursing, this ain't gonna be the place for you.
I'm angry. I think most of us are.
I've been trying to be professional and restrained and keeping my actual voice out of everything except Unfiltered. My paid subscribers are used to hearing my backwoods Maritime redneck chatter by now, but the free readers may not know about that.
Screw it. I'm hyped up and ready for a fight, so let's fucking go.
And for my paid subscribers, don't panic: Unfiltered isn't going away, at least not yet. As much as I've been saying that I'm a little burnt out on the podcast and want to replace it at some point, I haven't found the thing yet.
Maybe starting from scratch will help reinvigorate me. We’ll see!
Let me know if anyone has ideas for something they think would be cool. I’m considering a monthly paid chat or something of that nature to have a retrospective discussion and cathartic bitch fest. Thoughts?
But, either way, brace yourselves. I'm going to be ranting and raving and throwing posts willy-nilly. I'm not going to worry about consistent Wednesday writing anymore.
When I have something to say, I'm gonna say it loud 'n proud. I hope you'll do the same.
Right now, I’m going back through my old content and fixing it up. Some of the posts were a little broken from importing them over to Substack, so I’m polishing them back up one at a time.
It gives me a chance to update and revise some of the older ones, too. It’s tedious work, but well worth it. Bear with me, I promise I’ll get back to posting regularly soon! I’ve got plenty of ideas and a handful of drafts to dig through.
There’s no shortage of things for me to get angry about, and as always, I’m open to suggestions.
I’m happy to see so many new faces who want to hear what I have to say. You guys rock, and I hope I live up to your expectations.
Solidarity wins.
Go for it. As far as the podcast thing, as I said, all you have to do is make a .mp3 file, like before and post it in the podcast tab on your Substack page. Which you will need to activate in your Substack page settings. It works like a charm once you have it all set up.
We'll be here waiting in the wings when you're ready.