Hello everyone and no one!
I have been very in-my-head about posting something here because I don’t know what to say, or what would be a good first post. I thought I’d have to come up with a grand idea since this would have to be the post that drew everyone into subscribing to my substack, because if I could nail the first post, people would know that there are more good things coming.
But I realized that’s not a realistic way to think about things. I know I sure as heck wouldn’t subscribe just because someone had one good initial post, which made me think about why I would subscribe to someone… They’d need to have at least a few posts. This would help me figure out if I like the way they write, the way they make their posts, the frequency that they post, the subject matter, the whole thing, you know? The only time I’d blindly subscribe is if I knew the person IRL and wanted to show my support. I’m not doubting that I have friends that would subscribe, but for now, I want to build something up first.
So I guess the point of this is post is to say I’m starting, which is a funny thing to write because I’ve said that so many times, that I’m starting again. But I think I want to really do it this time. I’ll tell you why, and be warned, it is equal parts silly and pretentious.
Maybe the irony of something like Instagram as a social network is that it isn’t, especially with the recent announcement that they’re focusing more on “videos” and “entertainment” because honestly, I haven’t seen anything funny with what people are pumping out, and the whole thought about recycling concepts and sounds for reels with a little personal and relatable twist legit makes me depressed. I just see the same joke told over and over again, with different people, and it wasn’t even funny the first time and that’s so sad. but is that entertainment? It isn’t to me, and I don’t know how much I want to be a part of that.
But I can’t entirely leave, because there are some things I do enjoy, and people I like following. But I know I want to see different things. And it’s not like me posting here is a huge jump or a revolutionary move. I am following other people in doing this. but I know that I want something different, and maybe you do to. And maybe that’s why you’re here.
I originally thought I’d use my website to make posts but I really don’t think anyone would see them. How frequently do you tour individual blogs and websites? I know for me, it’s like once every 6 months that I go through my bookmarked blogs. And I don’t think that many people use a feed like blogger anymore. And Tumblr is a hellsite that I don’t think would serve my purpose for this so I’m staying away from there. So that’s why I’m using substack, so you can see these posts when they happen, and I can do whatever I want. I will say though, once I figure out what I’m doing and integrate some stuff I want to have on my blog, I will be combining the two, in the way that I’ll have partial posts in substack that will link to the full post on my blog. That’s always been my plan, but I can't do that without knowing what I want to post on my blog.
Speaking of knowing what I want to post… I don’t. Not yet. So I’m just going to post whatever I want (pictures, thoughts, things following a loose narrative…) and see where this goes. My intention is to do this every week, but we’ll see. I hope I can keep this interesting and potentially engaging, but again, we’ll see. Or I guess, I’ll see, because I’m not telling anyone about this yet.
Well, I've run out of things to say and no one is going to see this so I’m signing off now bye love you!
-r